that these little wild animals would come to you? Disbelieving in
mesmerism, have you yourself the power to charm or fascinate the lower
animals?"

"Why, not at all, Doctor. Let me explain. First, as to the chipmunks.
There was nothing wonderful about that, for though they are wild, they
know me as well as though they had lived in the house with me. One day
I found a dead chipmunk, and later I found the nest of young ones in a
tree. I took food to them from day to day, and they grew to know me.
Were it not that I have not been in the woods since the funeral until
this morning, so that it is several days since the little fellows last
saw me, they would have shown even greater friendliness than they did.
I have often had them run up to my shoulders, and perch there eating
what I would give them."

"But what you tell me only makes me believe the more that you exert
some power of fascination," said the Doctor, laughing jestingly. "You
must teach me the secret of charming animals, Leon. Really you must."

"I will do so gladly. It is very simple. The animals, the little ones
I mean, are afraid of us. Banish their fear, and at the same time
excite their instinct to take food where they can find it, and your
desire is accomplished. For example, take the fish. If I go to the
edge of Lake Massabesic at a certain spot, the fish will jump out of
the water in their anxiety to receive food from my hands. I can even
take the little fellows out of the water, and when I drop them in
again, they pause but a few moments before venturing within my reach
again. How did I train them to this? I noticed that from my habit of
throwing the old bait out of my boat when landing, the fish had made
the spot a feeding place. I threw them some crumbs of bread, and they
hurried to the surface to snatch it, diving swiftly down again to eat.
I tried an experiment. Holding the bread in my hand, I dipped my arm
deep into the water, and allowed it to remain motionless. For a long
time the fish were very shy. They stood off at a distance, and gazed
longingly, but they did not approach this strange object. I crushed
the bread into small bits and withdrew my arm. In a moment they were
all feeding. After doing this a number of times on successive days, at
last one fellow, more venturesome than the others, made a swift dash
forward, and grabbing a bit of the bread from my hand as quickly swam
off with it. Others, observing his success, followed his example.
W