But this defeat only hardened the purpose of the fishing birds. They still continue to hunt for Auk. Watch any of them if you will while on the sea-shore. See how tirelessly Tern is searching as he skims over wave after wave. Will he ever find Auk? At any rate, he will not give up. But then, when we think of the broad expanse of the Great North Ocean, and its many rocky islands, we cannot but feel that Auk is pretty safe after all. He has found a good hiding-place somewhere. You who have been believing that Auk has been extinct for half a century, now know that it is not so. But where is he? There is only one whom you can ask: that is Black-head. He will tell you nothing. Try it and see. His only reply is a laugh: “Gone! Ha! ha! ha! Gone! Ha! ha! ha!” * * * * * Nay, speak no ill; a kindly word Can never leave a sting behind; And, oh, to breathe each tale we’ve heard, Is far beneath a noble mind; For oft a better seed is sown By choosing thus a kindlier plan; Then if but little good we’ve known, Let’s speak of all the good we can. --Anonymous. [Illustration: WITH THE EDITOR] WITH THE EDITOR There is no holiday which appeals so directly to the boy as does the Fourth of July. Easter with its spirit of hopefulness, Thanksgiving with its bounty of turkey, or even Christmas with all its cheer and good will, does not, for some reason, reach the same depths of the boy nature as does the boom and sizz of fire crackers. There is something of the savage in him which delights in this almost barbaric method of commemorating the courage of his forefathers; for the Fourth of July is pre-eminently a day of courage. Without doubt we all admire bravery, but, while we are honoring those who so willingly exposed themselves to the bullet and bayonet, let us not lose sight of that courage which, though silent, was in reality the strength of the American Revolution--the courage born of conviction. It was this spirit which spoke through Richard Henry Lee when he proposed that the United Colonies, with a few poorly-armed troops, should renounce their allegiance to the most powerful nation in the world. It was this which prompted John Adams to second the movement in Congress, and there, by his eloquence, to uphold it day after day in the face of an opposition so strong that Jefferson compared it with the ceaseless action of gravity. The desire for independence was not bred of impulse. No one foresaw the danger of thus defying England more clearly than those who cried out for the separation. They knew that it would expose them, individually and collectively, to all the penalties of treason. But they had become convinced that it was right, and, to them, that fact was sufficient.