creature: it will kill and carry off young chickens, pigeons, and other
defenceless things; besides making sad havoc among the grain and
eatables of every sort. It is often more than a match for a grown
kitten, or even a weak cat: and where they are in numbers, they have
been known to overpower a man. I confess, the rat is a very disagreeable
enemy, whom we may fairly get rid of when we can. But when it is
necessary to kill them, we should do it mercifully; do not put them to
needless pain. Why should you? Is it manly? Is it generous? Is it what
you think God will approve? Will it make you wiser, or better, or
happier to feel that you are giving pain to a poor creature?

[Illustration]




[Illustration]

CHAPTER VI.

BIRDS.


Having now, I think, mentioned all the "four-footed beasts" about which
I had any thing particular to say, I will pass on to another and still
more beautiful portion of God's handy-work--the birds. The account of
their creation is thus given: "And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great
whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought