The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-09-17
A PLAYFUL BADGER.
HE WAS FULL OF LIFE, BUT REFUSED
TO BE TRAINED.
viii save you from this reproach.


Brief History of an Attempt to Make
a Pet of Him In a Colorado Camp.
Conclusion of the Crank Who
Tried to Do the Training.
81 have often wondered" said man
who is fond of animals, "why people
don't give more attention to the badger
He has lots of character.
"Once when l was younger l was a
bookkeeper for few months at grad
ing camp few miles south of Pueblo,
Colo. One day the contractor appeared
IN camp, bringing a badger which he had
caught on his farm.
"'You boys can put in your time train
ing him. said he.
1--WE were pleased enough, but the bad
ger gave us to understand from the first
that he wanted none of us, emphasizing
his decision by snap at Gleason's hand.
We managed to get collar and chain
attached to him, and tunbled him into
q big box.
"There he was on his guard every
moment and ready to charge any one or
ANYTHING that crowded him in the least.
He snarled and roared, and when he
tired of that he grunted like pig. lie
was absolutely without fear of anything
that walked or crawled. He tackled an
immense st. Bernard owned by one of
our subcontractors. Poor Rex had never
seen a badger before, and he was greatly
astonished. First he smelt Of the badg-
er's hind leg. Then he sat down and
gently waved one paw over the crea-
lures head. This the badger took as
direct insult, and the next minute he was
hanging on to the dogs nose. When
freed, Rex was not seen for two days
"Jim Gleason was the commissary
man. He had followed camp life for ~
years, and had developed into the worst
crank | ever ran up against. But for
some reason he was quite tickled over
the badger Maybe he recognized KIN
bred spirit. He said:
"T'll have that badger tame in two
DAYS. He's only scared a little; that's
ALL
"He told us of q coon he once caught
in Arizona and tanned so it followed him
about like a dog. Just before / dropped
off to sleep the first night he informed me
| in an offhand way that he'd teach the
badger to shake hands before 10 O'Clock
the next day.
"But when morning came the badger
was missing. The chain was in the box
all right, but the badger and the collar
were gone. Gleason felt bad.
"It's a COMPOUNDED shame he said.
| Il took a liking to that cuss, and was
going to give him a nice, easy time
| Let's look for him. Maybe he is around
camp yet
ale spent two or three hours hunting
for the badger, and when he finally gave
| it up he said mournfully, It's shame;
the poor little thing may starve.'
"When he turned in that night, he left
q piece of fresh beef outside the commits
sary door in hopes he said, that the
hungry little beast may find it The next
morning l was awakened by Gleason's
voice raised in loud and picturesque cuss
words. He was an artist at the business
when he set out to do a good job.
"Iook at that he said, and pointed
at a hole in the ground just outside the
tent. Then he dragged me into the tent
and showed me another hole just under
his desk.
"'The nerve of him. roared Jim, after
| / put meat out for him and done every
thing for him l could! He's in that hole,
and there's five pound piece of bacon
] in there with him. come in just in
time, and seen him get away with it.
1.-THE cold ingratitude of the badger
seemed to strike Gleason to the heart,
and turn all his kindness to gall. l asked
him when he was going to give the bad
ger his first lesson in shaking hands, but
he didn't seem to see the point. de
hunted up two pals and spent most of
the forenoon Juggling water from the
ditch and pouring it into the holes. Every
time he emptied pail he picked up
| club and watched the hole, ready for the
badger when he dashed out. But the
badger didn't dash, and finally Gleason
threw the pals at the holes in disgust
and passed it up as bad job.
"After dinner l started across the COM
missary tent to the sleeping tent, and my
foot went through up to my knee. Glea-
son started toward me, and he went
through too. Then we noticed little
round holes in different parts of the dirt
| floor. The badger was at work under
mining us.
"Next morning a big piece of beef had
disappeared. We gravely asked Gleason
to please put out a good lunch for the
| poor little beast that night. jim said
nothing all day. He appeared to be
thinking. When night came, he opened
his mouth long enough to tell me that
he'd show me the badgers skin when
| turned out next morning.
"Some time in the middle of the night
| / was awakened by an unearthly racket
| Ny first thought was that the men were
hanging the cook, proceeding frequent
| ly threatened. / leaped out to save the
| cook, but instead of a hanging bee l
found Jim and the badger enjoying
tete a tete in the commissary tent. The
! badger was in his hole, all except his
| head. Jim was on his knees, and be-
tween the two was a full side of salt
pork which must have weighed 70
pounds. Both Jim and the badger had
| firm hold at opposite corners. They were
putting forth their full strength and talk
| ing to each other. Their remarks were
so loud that the whole camp was reused.
| How long the show would have contin-
ued l can't say if jim hadn't forgotten
that he was barefoot and aimed a ire
mendous kick straight at the badgers
| fiat head He remembered just too late,
| and tried to kick both ways at the same
| time. The badger snapped at that bare
foot. Jim yelled and jerked. The pork
| came easy and Jim turned a new kind
| of somersault.
"We were holding ourselves in all kinds
of positions, too weak to say a single
word. Jim saw us for the first time, but
he said nothing just hiked back to bed
| The next morning he moved all the meat
down to the cook shack.
"T know when I'm licked he said.
I'll let the cook have part of the fun ]"
! New York Sun.