The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-02-28
BEECHER ON CHIPMONKs.

mood while rougher hands and stronger arms
than yours wrought at the task
II is an old, old wall Twenty years have
parties been at work at it, yes, forty years
or more. In those days, and on the farm
that 1 am thinking of, wall was built as
much to get rid of the stone as to form par
tition Great fiat slabs at the bottom were
quite buried under the SOIL which had gradu-
ally sifted in upon them. Then came the
great round boulders and stones of every
mould, worn smooth by the weather, or rather
stones which would have been smooth if
nature had not chosen them to practice
her pencil en-. For see, what color there is
in that dark grey heap of stones, when you
look closely--black, brown of many shades,
yellow, green, greenish white, red, and greys
of every tint-these show what an eye for
color nature has The colors are not laid on,
but grown on. They are the smiles and
bushes of lichens What luxurious lives these
stone MOSES must have, eating and drinking
the air, and putting their arms around stones
as a mother would around her babes, going
to sleep on them all winter, and laughing all
summer The wind cannot shake them for
they have no branches; worms cannot blight
them, as they have neither leaves nor BIOS
soms moles and grubs cannot cut off their
roots, as they have none. Their very names
are disused, and people call them weather
stains.
But away goes part of the wall to the pry-
ing of the crow-bar. Stand from underl
Here comes the heap-rolling, sliding, pitch
ing headlong, and behold You have uncov-
cred a city! Lazy, unsunned spiders drag
their big round bellies off in bewilderment
for hiding place. Centipedes wriggle right
and left in downright haste. Bright black
mailed bugs flash in the light for a second
and are gone. Ants, one, two, three kinds,
rush and race with fiery indignation. Here
are grubs, worms, coooons, webs, trails, that
indicate kind of highway here are nests of
leaves and sticks, and from cosy corner up
stairs, cupboard-like, roll out the shucks and
shells of former stores, and nuts of several
kinds fall down Cike old creeds in modern
hands, retaining their perfect form but with
all the meat eaten out of them long ago. And
so it is along the whole line Of wall, up the
slope, over the hill, far along the border of
the farm, it is one vast stone city for the
smaller folk. Here is your Petr@a, a city
hewn out of stone.
What joyis this wall to Trip and to Trips
young master! Trip has chased woodchuck
into the wall, and every day he lives in hope
of catching him. The woodchuck has spent
the summer there. He goes out every morn
ing for his clover, his salad, and his melons.
At suitable time Trip takes after him with
an alacrity of throat and leg that leave moth
ing to be desired and every time he reaches
the wall Just in time to bite at the shadow of
a tail. Alas! the world is full of shadows to
man and dog. Our opportunities vanish just
as we are prepared to seize them. Trip got
up earlier, but the clover-eater yet earlier.
Trip was in earnest, but woodchuck still more
so. Trip ran for another's life, but marmot
for his own. / can read in Trips eyes what
he is thinking:-"Thisi is Just my luck, always
minute too late; I'll catch him next time,
see if don't! He'sa coward anyhow" And
he trots back to the house with his tongue
out to brag to the other dogs what he almost
did. After all Trip is not SO unlike human
beings as one would think. Boys are not
smart enough to catch old rats, experienced
squirrels, woodchucks, and diplomatic crows.
Speaking of squirrels and boys, l am re-
minded of a letter.
NORTH BRANFoRp Conn, Feb. II, 1s7O.-Dear Sir
mate snd from aS e pebe m to be S
mid from the mouse to the mastadon, write yor
what 90 not beieye you have ever learned Ghougf
viz, something about the habits of the chipmonk o
or course you know it burrows in the ground, bu
do you knowlanything Of the subterranean labyrin
THAN windings, of Its chambers cells, etc. Of thu
berries Of Various % Kinds seeds Of
rye, corn, dog-wood, plums, ETC., sometimes foun'
in these cells Do you know that these subterra
mean passages from three to four feet below th
surface, so as to get below the FROST and are roc
or more In length, with divergng passages to thei
granaries or store-rooms, dormitores, sky-parlors
etc?
Do you know that by digging TO these Store-room
you will find perhaps peck OF walnuts chestnuts
corn, ETC., as the case may be? Do you know tina
the beds In their sleeping apartments are ft for
King to lie upon, being made up OF moss leaves, an
fine grasses? And lastly, do you know that q chip
monk can carry three wanuts in A. his mouth at I
have written In Wan. Yours truly r. CLARK.
Let me ask some questions of our Branfor
friend, who will accept our thanks for lette
which shows that he has eyes and habit o
using them. Do you know that the groun
squirrels name is Id2ntas shSatus Her
you have been all your life calling it chip
monk, or chipmuck, or chip, or chippin
squirrel, or ground squirrel, striped squirrel
to be told in the book it is written IdBaia
shtatus. How sweet is knowledge
Did you know that the Hackee, for that
another name, can carry seven hickory nut
instead of three? did. They eat three an
then carry four in the pouch and mouth
that's seven. Did you know that they alway
bite off the nib or sharp ends of the walnr
before empouching them? They do, an
they carry four instead of three only,
pouches and mouth.
Did you know that after retiring to the
subterranean apartments, when cold sets il
they do not come out again, not once, unit
spring returns, and yet they do not, like tt
marmot, go to sleep, but maintain life lih
DR.. Kane, in his ship, in the long Arct
night Do you know that the weasel is I'll
most dreaded and destructive of all chi
monks enemies, following him down throug
the winding of his hole, into his chamber
smashing his head with its teeth, and the
leaving his murdered corpse uneaten thoue
not unburied?
Especially, did you know that the first tin
hat II frad NJ