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ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
139

A sense of humour 1s a vastly saving grace. Long has it saved all the Corvidae from extermination at the hands of outraged man. The raven, the jackdaw, the magpie, the rook — what would their thievishness, their malignant mischief, earn were it not for their sense of humour? Thieves all, they are still Artful Dodgers and Charley Bateses, and we smile though they snatch our