The Squirrel's Right.


"THY commandment is exceeding broad."

Some time since, while walking through a

wood, I passed under a large hickory tree.

Just then a red squirrel popped up from

among some old logs, and, frisking his bushy

tail about in a lively manner, went up the

tree like a dart.

Ah! Thought I, little squirrel, you have

a nice store of these nuts laid by somewhere

for winter. When I was a boy, I

used to find such stores, and the habits of

squirrels are alike the world over.

But again, I thought, God made the little

squirrels, and this is the way he feeds them.

They are creatures of God, and they have

rights just as sacred, in their place, as are

those of man. Suppose, in some way, I

were to be robbed of the store of wheat

and vegetables I had laid by for my family's

use in the coming winter, would I not think

I had been unjustly used; that I had been

robbed,  that some one was guilty of a

theft. Then I thought of the text at the

head of this article: and remembered that

the commandment says, "Thou shalt not

steal." I wonder if it would be stealing

to take this little fellow's store? Ah! I

would rather add a few ears of corn than to

do so. Children, we should respect the

rights of all the creatures that God has

made, and never wantonly cause them pain

or distress, nor deprive them of the life

which God only can bestow.





ADOLPHUS SMITH.