Over on the further side, in the shallow eddy, the pool was
troubled a second, then there rose from it a wee sunfish, not
more than three inches long, rose from it tail first and began
balancing across the pool surface toward me, on his head. His
tail quivered in the air, and I could see his freckles growing
in the yellow transparency of his skin; yet, tho I watched
with wide eyes, he was two-thirds the way across the pool
toward me before I noticed beneath him the tip of the nose
and the wicked little dark eye of a water-snake. At sight of
him the demoiselles should have shrieked and flown away, but
they made no move. I, however, indignant, arose, and seizing
broken fragments of rock was about to lacerate him, and lose
his prey, when I quite suddenly thought better of it. Had not I
a few days before come down stream to the deep pool above and
carried off a string of perch, sunfish, pouts, and an eel? Had
not the water-snake also a right to his dinner?--WINTHROP
PACKARD, “Wild Pastures.”
(1705)
* * * * *
Some of the early settlers of this country bargained with the
Indians that for each fish-hook given, they were to give as much
land as a bullock’s hide would cover. But the settlers cut the
hide into thin strips, and made it cover a large area. William
Penn, when he first came to Pennsylvania, bargained with the
Indians that he would give a certain number of articles for as
much land as a man could walk around in a certain time. The man
covered so much more ground than the Indians believed he would,
that they became dissatisfied and threatening. But Penn said
to them, “You agreed to this way of measuring.” His companions
wished to force the carrying out of this agreement, but Penn
replied that that would be wrong toward these simple children of
the prairie; he asked them what they thought would be right, and
they simply demanded a few more rolls of cloth, to which Penn
agreed. Not only was war averted, but the Indians were pleased
with the fair and just spirit shown by the strangers, and became
their friends.--JAMES T. WHITE, “Character Lessons.”
(1706)
* * * * *
The story is told of a boy whose mother gave him some food
to feed the chickens and little ducks. While feeding them he
noticed that the ducks were scooping in nearly all the food. He
saw that their large bills gave them a decided advantage and
this he did not like. It did not exactly square with his notion
of justice, so he got hold of a knife with a good edge to it,
and just as fast as he could catch the ducklings he cut down
their bills to match the size of that of the chicks.
(1707)