Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-12-28
ONLY A LITTLE MOLE.
BUT SEE WHAT WONDERFUL THINGS
MAY BE TOLD ABOUT 1T.
His Underground Home Shows That He
Possesses Remarkable Skill rs Builder.
He Has Some characteristics That Are
Not So Commendable.

He Has Some characteristics That Are
Not So Commendable.
There is a certain little friend Of ours
who builds his residence in very quiet and
retired places, for he does not court atten-
ton Indeed he rather seems to avoid it,.
He builds fortress but he is not a war
rior. He drives long tunnels, bat he is
not q miner He can calculate numbers
and distances, though he is not a rnathe-
Inatician. He never makes mistake in
his angles, though he has not studied
geometry He sometimes digs wells. but
he is not a professional well digger.
Nobody calls him the king Of beasts
but he can fight with more than the feroc-
ity Of the lion or the tenacity Of the bull
dog.
The little friend to whom allude is the
mole.
Ever since farming came into fashion
mankind has been tho sworn enemy Of
inolekind and has wagcd relentless war
fare against the little genius of the dark
The traps that have been set, the poison
that has been left in those Underground
highways, the cloyerly contriyed little
homes that have been turned inside out
by cruel spades--it would take n volume to
tell Of them And yet the little animal
that runs his long tunnel straight down
the potato ridges is well worth studying.
Tho round little body with its yelyety
fur, the long. elastic snout and the broad
Hpaddles" armed with strong claws are
familiar to every one by reason OF the
traps and snares above mentioned, but
people who think that blind as mole"
expresses total blindness reckon without
their host. Deep under the shoterlng fur
are two tiny points Of eyes which arc
somewhat discomposed by the bright glare
of day, but which are sharp and bright
enough to see all that is Co be seen in the
dusky shadows underground.
1t is much the fashion, too, to compare
people that are mean and sneGking with
inoles, but this is manifest injustice.
The mole lives underground because that
Is his home. He drives his tunnels as men
sond pioneers and build railroads into new
countries, and he is full of courage, with
nothing Of tho sneak in his disposition.
And such little builder as he is, with
only his nose for auger and his queer lit
tie paddles for shnycl and spade. There i5
the mound of earth, for instance, in which
he makes his fortress. The tunnels thai
he bores all over the farm lead back into
the fortress, where he intrenches himself
in time of danger. il you were under
a,,,1 ,ii-o 49,, o,d ,|,,Ia FoIIo,,, Li,
thro,ah tbosa dtrl- ,,oes,C,o, ,,o,, would
did vo,,rsoig ali A. o,co In a circ,,l,r cal.
lcry. How did the little homo builder ever
manage to draw that circle, wonderf
And there are five passages from this
gallery, leading upward in II slanting di
yoction To apofhnr and q smaller Gallery
moan tho roof ard tho Ifttle roopafririan
laid THE ar also win in,,isibic ro,nnneoes
for a. ID "a circ1o liI.o tba 1o,yor r,n1lorv,
Tcadino from tbis e,aIInr,, ara tbrno ,,,o.
sages slantinr downward into n Iarro
donnd room and thcra is bis NOTES.-The
stronobold whore ba sits Mt oase astbougb
he ,vero in n moated castle with tho dra1y.
BRIDGE nm
m reach bls re+reot Won m,,st toI,or,
ALONG como tnnnol that leods into the low.
or gallerv. van nerceive and tbon Won,
must tale onn of tho flve ua,sar,cs Ia tho
upper gallery, and then you must take one
of the three passages downward into tho
stronghold, and al that time he would
have hoard you coming, for his ears are OF
the sharpest, and before you could think
ho would be far away.
Who taught him to draw his fairy cir.
cies and hollow CUB his dome shaped roof
and smooth those earthly walls without
plaster or cement or troWelY VINO taught
him to mako the five passages at equal dis
tanccs apart2 Who showed him how to
make tho three other passages Mt equal dis
tances between themY Who taught him to
count at all, this tiny creature, shut out
from the sunlight and working his labo-
rlous way through unknown regions be-
meath our feetP
But, after all, this many chambered
castle Is not the end of his resources. He
provides u nursery for his little ones, too,
and carpets 1t with soft dried grasses for
their repose, ana he places tho nursery at
some point whoro two or three tunnels
meot, so that the mother and tho babies
may have the more chances for escape il
hard pressed by the enemy. What rea-
soner this little homo builder seems to be,
with his plans that look SO far into the
futurol
If you oxamino the skeleton Of tho litt,s
turnover. YOU will find that its shoulder
blades arc out Of MI proportion to the re-
mainde of it's anatomy so Iar,re are tbov
and strong, projecting above the backbone.
Tho bones OF the forc legs are short and
curved and st,ono and thorn ,vora ,,o,,o-.
full muscles in the neck and shoulders
which gaya these paddle foet THAR terribla