“Little Birds.” Events, and Persons. Stanza 1. Banquet. 2. Chancellor. 3. Empress and Spinach (II. 325). 4. Warden’s Return. 5. Professor’s Lecture (II. 339). 6. Other Professor’s song (I. 138). 7. Petting of Uggug. 8. Baron Doppelgeist. 9. Jester and Bear (I. 119). Little Foxes. 10. Bruno’s Dinner-Bell; Little Foxes. I will publish the answer to this puzzle in the Preface to a little book of “Original Games and Puzzles,” now in course of preparation. I have reserved, for the last, one or two rather more serious topics. I had intended, in this Preface, to discuss more fully, than I had done in the previous Volume, the ‘Morality of Sport’, with special reference to letters I have received from lovers of Sport, in which they point out the many great advantages which men get from it, and try to prove that the suffering, which it inflicts on animals, is too trivial to be regarded. But, when I came to think the subject out, and to arrange the whole of the arguments ‘pro’ and ‘con’, I found it much too large for treatment here. Some day, I hope to publish an essay on this subject. At present, I will content myself with stating the net result I have arrived at. It is, that God has given to Man an absolute right to take the _lives_ of other animals, for _any_ reasonable cause, such as the supply of food: but that He has _not_ given to Man the right to inflict _pain_, unless when _necessary_: that mere pleasure, or advantage, does not constitute such a necessity: and, consequently, that pain, inflicted for the purposes of _Sport_, is cruel, and therefore wrong. But I find it a far more complex question than I had supposed; and that the ‘case’, on the side of the Sportsman, is a much stronger one than I had supposed. So, for the present, I say no more about it. Objections have been raised to the severe language I have put into the mouth of ‘Arthur’, at p. 277, on the subject of ‘Sermons,’ and at pp. 273, 274, on the subjects of Choral Services and ‘Choristers.’ I have already protested against the assumption that I am ready to endorse the opinions of characters in my story. But, in these two instances, I admit that I am much in sympathy with ‘Arthur.’ In my opinion, far too many sermons are expected from our preachers; and, as a consequence, a great many are preached, which are not worth listening to; and, as a consequence of _that_, we are very apt _not_ to listen. The reader of this paragraph probably heard a sermon last Sunday morning? Well, let him, if he can, name the text, and state how the preacher treated it!