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Wild Northern Scenes - Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod by S. H. Hammond
page 82 of 270 (30%)
above the ridgepole, was a weather-cock, fashioned out of a piece of
board in the shape of a rooster. 'Father,' said the little boy, one
day, 'what makes that rooster always point his head one way when the
cold wind blows, and the other way when it is warm and pleasant?' 'He
always looks towards the place where the wind comes from,' replied the
father; 'when he gets too warm, and the sun is too hot for him, he
turns his tail to the south, and the north wind is sure to come down,
cold and chill, to cool him off.' 'Does he call the cold wind, father,
and will it come when he looks, that way?' was the next inquiry.
'Certainly,' replied his father, carelessly. That was a wrong and a
foolish answer.

"That little boy, relying in his simple faith upon the wisdom and
truthfulness of his father, believed for a long time, that the
weathercock on the top of the barn, could bring the cold north, or
the warm south wind, by turning upon its perch. He was cured of his
error only by being laughed at for his simplicity. Parents should
never deceive their children by a careless or a wrong answer to the
simple questions put to them by these little searchers after
knowledge."

"I remember," said the doctor, "and it is one of the earliest
incidents which my recollection has treasured, that I was out one
evening in autumn, with a boy older than myself, gathering hazel nuts.
The sun had sunk behind the hills, and the shadows of twilight were
gathering in the valley. It was a beautiful and calm evening, the
solemn stillness of which, was only broken by the 'tza! tza!' of
thousands of katydids among the bushes. I asked my companion what it
was that made the noise I heard, and he, supposing that I referred to
sounds that came up occasionally from the lake, after listening for a
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