Brookings County sentinel. (Brookings, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1890, 1883-01-11
A Mouse Story,

"A correspondent III tue Aulr9nuachs
writes as follows: In the fall Of 1879 |
had occasion TO re- cover some pump logs
that convey water to my house from a
spring half a mile distant, part Of the
distance through the woods. The late
fall rains had washed the logs bare in
places, and not daring to trust them
through the winter | took two men and
set to work to cover the exposed places,
although the ground was frozen to the
depth OF six inches, as the rain had been
followed by a cold snap. Near the head
of the spring in the woods was a place
where dirt had been dug out of the bank
and wall of earth three feet high, with
roots and moss overhanging the edge
had been left, forming perfect protec-
tion from rain or snow. In digging in
this bank / uncarthed ball of leaves
about the size Of quart bowl and as
compact as dry leaves could be !n,.ae.
la examining tie place 1t appeared that
au excavation had been made about a
foot from the surface of the ground and
four inches from the face OF the bank,
and had been packed with beech leaves,
but cu iii layers from the outside toward
the center. As the ball of leaves rolled
out, picked 1t up and he AN to examine 1t
closely, concluding, of course, that it was
a mouse u st: but as | could find no hole
for lngress or egress Ill its smooth sur
face, my curiosity WAS much excited. |
began to take off layer after layer Of the
leaves until | came near the center,
where ] found bunch of fur about the
size and shape Of hens egg, which,
upon Close scrutiny, proved to be a
mouse, apparently dead and frozen stiff.
| made Il Iocular remark about the poor
fellow = taking so much pains to make
himself good comfortable place to
free re to death in, AMI laid the nest ON
log until dinner time, intending to
take it 10 the house. On my way to the
house found mOusie had begun to
hmber up a little, and succeeded by
careful manipulation III Strengthening
ont his legs and tail, SO that he looked a
good deal more like mouse than the
little wad of fur that ! picked out of the
leaves. On reaching the house l gave
the house TO my little girl, who was
elated. and began to fOndle and pity the
animal for having to stay out in the cold
until it WAS frozen to death. So she rat
dinner, when suddenly she spranG up,
exclaiming, "Oh, papa, it's alive. 1t
breathes, and 1t has opened its eyes.
Sure enough, mousie was breathing slow
ly, and blinking like veritable Rip Van
Wrinkle, after his famous nap. |
placed it Oh the floor, and by
the time we we're through dinner
it WAS hopping around as lively as
u cricket, although it acted little grog-
~ at first. But soon all drowsiness had
gone. and you would have thought by
its bright ewes and agile motions that it
had always been awake and jumping. l
made a nice little cage for 1t and fed 1t
plenty Of beech nuts, and it was great
pet, but | could not resist the tempta-
ton TO experiment with it. So every
few nights would put it out of doors,
and III the morning it would be as hard
as a butter nut, but upon thawing out it
would be as active as ever. One night l
left the mouse out the thermometer
marked 30o below zero in the morning,
and vet the little m0usie "came to all
right. fioze him eight or ten times i'll
the course of the winter, and he came
round each time, and kept fat and sleek,
but along toward spring he lost his ap-
petite, grew poor and finally died an ap-
parently natural death. The mouse was
of the jumping or deer mouse species.
His body was 81 inches and his tail 3.
inches long, of reddish color Oh back
and sides, and nearly white under
meath. He could easily clear four or
five feet ut leap, and never walked, but
always went with a hop and skip.
Many insects freeze up in the winter and
thaw out in the spring. and go on their
way rejoicing, but l was not aware be-
fore that aly animal the size of mouse
did it, but that Sc, ms to be the fact.