Wallace carved the chickens, and when all had been helped, Phonny began to talk about the squirrel.
“I suppose you consider it as boyishness in me, Cousin Wallace, to like to have a squirrel,” said he.
“It is a very harmless kind of boyishness, at any rate,” replied Wallace.
“Then you have no objection to it,” said Phonny.
“None at all,” said Wallace. “In one sense it is boyishness, for it is boys, and not men, that take pleasure in possessing useless animals.”
“Useless!” said Phonny, “do you call a gray squirrel useless?”
“He is not useful in the sense in which the animals of a farm-yard are useful,” said Wallace. “He gives pleasure perhaps, but cows, sheep, and hens, are a source of profit. Boys don’t care much about profit; but like any kind of animals, if they are pretty, or cunning in their motions and actions.”
“I like gray squirrels,” said Phonny, “very much indeed, if it is boyishness.”
“It is a very harmless kind of boyishness at all events,” replied Wallace. “It is not like some other kinds of boyishness, such as I told you about the other day.”