Nellie Tried

Trail Wood #115 Earl Plato

Nellie in her natural empathy tried to save a dying bird. We continue with Ed Teale’s record.
“A few minutes later as we come up the hill to the house, Nellie sloshing along in water-filled shoes and dripping dress, she relates the events that preceded what I had observed.
In a leisurely circuit of the pond, when she was drawing near the flay, tilted surface of Summerhouse Rock, a swirl of fighting grackles swept past her and out over the water. In the melee one of the black birds was borne down, driven lower and lower. Nellie saw it strike the surface with a splash, struggle with flailing wings but struggle in vain, unable to lift itself into the air again. At that time the floating bird was only five or six feet from the edge of the pond. Snatching up the first stick she could find, Nellie tried to reach out and pull it toward her. But a stiff wind carried the bird away. Second by second the gap widened as the helpless grackle drifted farther into the pond. As it continued its struggles Nellie followed until the bottom pitched steeply downward. But always the stick fell short of the ensnared bird. Its efforts grew weaker, then ceased entirely, and it floated lifelessly on the water.”
Ed, you have good wife. How much empathy do we have for injured animals?