, it's well my master wasn't in it;
Oh! I never, never, never, never, never, see a sight so shockin;
Here lays a leg, and there a leg--I mean, you know, a stockin--
Bodies all slit and torn to rags, and many a tattered skirt,
And arms burnt off and sides and backs all scotched and black with dirt;
But as nobody was in 'em--none but--nobody was hurt!
Well, there I am, a scrambling up the things, all in a lump.
When, mercy on us! such a groan as makes my heart to jump.
And there she is, a-lying with a crazy sort of eye,
A staring at the wash-house roof, laid open to the sky:
Then she beckons with a finger, and so down to her I reaches,
And puts my ear agin her mouth to hear her dying speeches,
For, poor soul! she has a husband and young orphans, as I knew;
Well, Ma'am, you won't believe it, but it's Gospel fact and true,
But these words is all she whispered--'Why, where _is_ the powder blew'"

* * * * *

THE NATURALIST.

* * * * *

MODE OF DESTROYING EAGLES.

In those parts of the Highlands of Scotland where eagles are numerous,
and where they commit great ravages among the young lambs, the following
methods are used for destroying them:--When the nest happens to be in a
place situated in the direction of a perpendicular from the edge of a
cliff above, a bundle of dry heath or grass inclosing a burning peat is
let down into it. In other cases, a person is let down by means of a
rope, which is held above by four or five men, and contrives to destroy
the eggs or young. The person who thus descends takes a large stick with
him, to beat off or intimidate the old eagles. The latter, however,
always keep at a respectable distance, for powerful as they are, they
possess little of the courage which has in all ages been attributed to
them, being in this respect much inferior to the domestic cock, the
raven, the sea-swallow, and a hundred other birds. Sometimes eagles have
their nests in places accessible without a rope, and instances are known
of persons frequenting these nests, for the purpose of carrying off the
prey which the eagles carry to their young. A very prevalent method by
which eagles are destroyed, is the following:--In a place not far from a
nest, or a rock in which eagles repose at night, or on the face of a
hill which they are frequently observed to scour in search of prey, a
pit is dug to the depth of a few fe