ey are."

"No; I've always thought myself that line was not quite fair to the
dogs either, but the verses mean that we mustn't blame animals for doing
things that it is their nature to do."

"And yet, Grandma, I am not allowed to do naughty things because it is
my nature to."

"Ah, but, Tattine, there lies the beautiful difference. You can be
reasoned with, and made to understand things, so that you can change
your nature--I mean the part of you that makes you sometimes love to do
naughty things.

"There's another part of your nature that is dear and good and sweet,
and doesn't need to be changed at all. But Betsy and Doctor can only be
trained in a few ways, and never to really change their nature.

"Setters have hunted rabbits always, kittens have preyed upon birds, and
donkeys, as a rule, have stood still whenever they wanted to."

"But why, I wonder, were they made so?"

"You nor I nor nobody knows, Tattine, but isn't it fine that for some
reason we are made differently? If we will only be reasonable and try
hard enough and in the right way, we can overcome anything."

"It's a little like a sermon, Grandma Luty."

"It's a little bit of a one then, for it's over, but you go this minute
and give Betsy and Doctor a good hard hug, and tell them you forgive
them."

And Tattine did as she was bid, and Doctor and Betsy, who had sadly
missed her petting, were wild with delight.

"But don't even you yourselves wish," she said, looking down at
them ruefully, "that it was not your nature to kill dear little baby
rabbits?"

And Tattine thought they looked as though they really were very sorry
indeed.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tattine, by Ruth Ogden

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