An American Parallel A good many years ago in America
it was proposed to drive a railway through the middle of the camp where the Boy Scout movement started. The grounds (at CoscOte) were very lovely_ in themselves, were a sanctuary for bird and beast and contained the full accompaniment of the Indian ritual. It was the centre of the first Boy Scout organisation ; and I never saw_ a place better fitted for its purpose. When the railway was proposed Mr. Thompson Seton went to a lawyer to get his advice as to the best method of preventing the act of vandalism. The lawyer said, in effect, with Complete gravity, " It might be best to shoot the first ' man who laid hands on your property. That would bring the matter into public notice ; and then public opinion would do the rest." Such vandalism as this at Selborne can be prevented by public opinion, and perhaps only by public opinion ; and it is to be hoped that in England, as happened in Atherida, public "opinion can be 'Stirred by less abrupt means than "the firing of a gun
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