The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-03-29
GRANDFATHER'S MINK.

Sixty years ago the brooks in the
State of Maine were the homes and the
hunting grounds Of large numbers of
minks. They had not then learned to
fear men, and, simple and unsuspicous,
they were easily enticed into the dead
fall'' traps that the hunters set for
them. Nearly every farmers boy OF
that time was an amateur trapper, and
most of the boys were successful in Sc
curing a substantial pack of fur in each
of the long snowy winters.
But these arm-coated little quadru-
pedS are much less numerous to-day
than they were sixty years ago, and are
not so easily trapped. They seem to
have learned something of the danger
Gus ingenuity of man, and to have be-
come wary. Like the partridge of the
cleared lands, they have developed
shyer instincts.
For this reason it often happens that
when the boy Of to-day tries his hand
at trapping his success is not encour-
aging. Aliddle-aged or old men who
note his unsuccessful attempts, remem-
boring the numbers of mink they used
to catch when they were boys, are in
w ldu2 IL SbG iIlill, CbllOl W llllnldIG
that he does not know how to do it. To
prove their assertions they sometimes
tell large stories of the quantity of fur
they used to take in a single week.
Such, at least, was the experience of
my Cousin Addison and myself when
we tried to trap otter and mink on the
BROOKS and ponds on the old farm in
Maine. We spent a good deal of time
and took very little fur; and grand
father, who viewed our operations and
our frequent neglect of farm work with
a not altogether approving eye, rather
more than limited to US that the mantle
of his youthful skill as trapper had
not descended upon his degenerate
grandsons.
where in the world are those boys,
mother?" he would sometimes ask
''They are not huslling. They have
hardly touched an ear of corn this week.
and they are not in the potato field more
than half the time; and those potatoes
ought to be dug
81 guess they're pottering round the
pond or the Mill Brook with their mink
traps, grandmother would say.
''Mink-traps! Nonsense! A deal of
good it does for them to set traps! They
naNeii c"''ShV d niInN thlS Iail' ana
ting a trap. Why, when | was q boy
I've caught over thirty minks in one
fall in that brook. | only had couple
of hours once in every three days, and
here those bows of our'n are fussing
ootnh q r,inIeH' '''''- INV ''''-o anu ''oii !
- 60, Nh Mi ,o,,o.4o1 a..
49,, iie SO 'Li1 oon elS",
b ioH ~ U.s. i,"il oIv " IlienuilnesS ana
' 'i oi. eiG lii'.oi4''a ueil5L NJ "liich
afta,. ~ H. 1aa - W. ~ 'noiloiS 10y
sonpitiIe ,,oi,tS '-i''''
We 1yaro forcod 70 boo,. +boso ir,,,
tatione On c,,y. Sill ,yitbon+ ra,,1,, r.
tnII tho t,rtb tbara u,as It'll td co.,,
We tneu, thot orordfo+h l W. Soy
how nod co,,o5t loo ,,i,,,,I,a,.l s.
mini And ,ybon ,vo enoo ,en,lt,,rod -
snnros+ tbat nir voro 80 U ~
ana hoIdar in +hoso oarl,i doIil tlo.'
tho,, ava now, o,.nodfo ICY Wy 'i'''N
.:poobi Wiz ~ sow ,''I on ~ on1,. .ho
otba,. 49,, ,.;o.h33 80 - nv 'no
bT-tho L32, ~. 80 ia ''t az Dl0? IN
byyo s'l ja,,i H' ti";J . io"A" 'nolo Ill
And Ky ~ TO- nU, +,o W. 1 A.,
,,,irl- vor.,'' uoiI un b5 ~, my" tnaU
all sn,,,ne,. VI BIT noi+h m"u il'eu 'nele
otbor iiuina, 49, oo,lid Nv We nol any
coutioms i;f,l Ill fafIa cG ;tu nav gov 'no
W., 80 Wv. -oii'" nv T." u up
"hen d poy' grahuiather had caught
ia on Ine pahhs Oh tnlS very brook
~ ~ common coA-IraPs, suGn as we used
W SCI LOT Stripeu sluirrelS. MS traps
were u nary Woou poarus' three leet
ioHg ny a lool IN helght' ana We're
t pa.tou WIN LIZ Irput ihey nau spring
- n9 W nolu tne 'uroP oo"h "heh
d. 80 ,'
DuC ~" we snou,u as soon nave eX-
Pe?teu W SeV d hlinh III Iiito parlor StoVe
as in'Q "a d ooA-elaP' iney are nuc n, 100
wary Ior any suc i. clumsy ct 1evlce, ms,
n III i, L,, - 'Ialo Vi uevelopnenI tnat
All oiu h''iileIs are very $40" 10 peiieVe'
~ a. M l9t e eh coulu nave