The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1888-07-12
THE GROUNDING.
An Animal That Is a Good Deal
Smarter Than He Looks.
Pou one Amused Himself with q Trap
Another Had Lots of Fun with
Fioek Of saEa-Ioua
Crows

hug?' asked State Printer T. 2. Me-
cr> IF not. don L YOU ever do it.
the first place. il YOU catch YOU
grounding you won't know what {
% do with il. for the skin is no 200
and the meat will spoil soap grease
ln the second place. YOU would neve
catch one. for although the grounding
looks like a churklc-hrad he's smarte
than mustard plaster. Yon will onl
risk your trap il you try 10 catch
grounding. for the chances are tina
the sly old hibcruaior will come out O
his hole. spring the trap with sticl
or by tossing a stone on the plate an,
then lug IL OF = mile or 80 and bury IL
A friend uf mine once set tran I,
catch ground-hog. and the ground
hog limited 60 him two OF three time
that he didn't want the trap aroun,
hi digging 10y carrying il away hal
mile and hanging IL on bush. Blu
my friend Thought De knew what wa,
best for that grounding than IN,
patiently protesting r,,dent did him
self. and 80 kept on setting the tran
right in front Of the entrance 10 the
woOd-chuck s dwelling-place.
''One morning hc went 10 look 70,
H. and when he got within long gun
shot Of the hole be saw the xruund-hoa
dragging the trap hy its chain of
acru,s the field in the direction Of nv
friend barn. The owner Of the barn
Thought he would umu~e himself bv
quietly watching the gruund-hog to see
where he intended 90 hide the tran.
Tho grounding dragged the trap
straight Ia the barn. which was nearly
half mile away. and INV friend crept
along within easy distance Of IL. The
woOdchurk took the trap around the
corner 81 the barn. Nv friend had a
Young bird-dug chained in kennel
b"hind the barn. He crept on after
the grounding. and pcrkIng around
the corner. Saw the cute little beast
steal up 90 one side 81 the kennel and
slyly shove the trap Ia front Of the en-
trance. Then y gave the kennel kick
with both hind feet. Out bounced the
dog. slapped both fore feet in the tran.
and snap >hc went The dog was
caught. aud while hi master was re-
leasing the yclPing pup the ground
hog siR''ic away. aud my friend SAYS it
looked exactly n II il were shaking
all over with ghouli,h glrc. The trap
per took that hint right home with him
and made up his mind that unless he
quit trapping for that grounding it
would he trapping for him next. aud
~ h. quit
MAY I've yuu never went ont after
crows with a gun? D,sn't go aud waste
your time doing that either. Crows
have a nice eye for gun and big
nOse for powder You can make a
wooden gun ~ near like real gun
that il would fool the best gunmaker
in the country, but il won't fool crow.
You can shoulder that wooden gun and
start out thinking YOU will scare all the
crows ont Of the ncighborhoodo on sight.
hut they are on To YOU at once.
Speaking uf crows aud ground-hogs
puts me in mind Of funny thing saw
once while / WAS driving 10 Bedford
Springs. Il WAS in July. and the road
was hot aud dusty. WAS driving
along, thinking what colossal fame and
fortune awaited the man who should
invent q. bccr kcg that yOu could carry
under your wagon scat. and that would
keep beer icc-culd and fresh on tap
while the mercury was dallNing with
the top Of the thermometer. when l
heard lot Of crows making a big fuss
over in field Of wheat siubble of to
one side If the road. There were about
fifty in the flock, and they were
Ccntered about certain spot on the
field, aud individual members were
darling up aud down and Ia and fro,
aud all the time using language that
certainly would have been shocking if
translated into English. The noise
made by the combined threats Of the
fifty excited crows may be imagined by
any one who has ever been within
listening distance Of flock Of crows
unusually disturbed. The way they
were handling themselves and iawing
made it plain that they had much more
serious business on hand than their or
binary drudgcry in corn-iicldS and their
day-lung tusslcs with non-combative
scarecrowS. ! stopped my horse and
proceeded Ia observe ~ we'll ~ could
s.sH IN g 81
rumpus was all about / wasn't long
in discovering that a grumd-hog was
the unfortunate creature Of all this dis
turhance. The grounding has a. SEN
Sitive palate To she grain that tum-
hles down ia the stubblc as the COW
has. and be had inherently ventured
from his hole to feed little The
crows had discovered him, aud, look
ing upon him a. an intruder, had at
once set about eircting him. The
buirow was on piece Of
elevated ground nc one edge Of the
field, and hc was seeking to show the
crows that be- meant no uflcnse by try
ing his best Ia get out Of the stubble
and back TO his own threshold. The
rrows did not mean 70 be propitiated
by this effort Of the grounding. and
they assaulted him on every side with
sharp beaks and vicious claws. The
progress Of the grounding homeward
was consequently painful and slow.
Now and then his cquanimity would
be upset by some particular savage on
'laught Of the crows. and then he
would turn and show fight; hut that
1nly increased the dimensions Of the
picnic the crows were having. As
good luck had il for the wOOdchnCk,
be wasn't far from his hole. and by
and by he reached il. aud he went in
his front door as if he had never been
70 glad to rearhihis humble abode be
lore.
"The sudden. disappearance Of the
yrOund-hug caused great CONSERVATION
imong the crows. aud il was some time
before they could make up their minds
he had been whisked out Of
light In the air or the bottom had
dropped outi>omcwhere and let him in.
DBe big old icrow few around among
he Others land went through what
seemed 20 he some sort Of inspection as
9 he rather suspected that some one Of
hem had swallowed the grounding at
gulp But by and by they seemed 10
agree that the missing poacher had
sOue into the hple al the edge Of the
ield, and then they flew Al it and
,icked into il and Swore like politi-
.ianS They nnieted down nfiera time