Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/20

xii lifted proudly as much as to say, "There! You see I beat you to it!"

I was born and lived on the Frontier during my childhood. Neighbours were scarce, and children were scarcer, so I sought the wild kindred for a playmate.

Wild animals were abundant, and I soon found companions among the wild Rocky Mountain goats and smaller creatures. I can't remember the time when I didn't love them. Wild animals have always seemed intensely human to me. I am in sympathy with their struggles for existence, their fears, their sorrows and their loves. Little baby animals are intensely human and appealing. Helpless little bundles of Love they are to me.

They are so interested in the many things that impress themselves upon their consciousness. The wind moaning through the pines fills them with fear and trembling and they anxiously seek the shelter of their mother's warm comforting presence and mew questioningly while she soothes their fears with kisses and caresses. Her babies are very dear to the wild mother; so