Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1902-08-29
WOODCHUCK TO BURN
CLEVER SCHEME OF MAINE MAN
Is WELL REWARDED.
lce-Cream-Filled Pet the Means OF
Keeping His Larder Well Supplied
With the Toothsome Dainty-sim-
pie But Deadly Trap.

II Peleg Sprague hadn't had ten
der heart he never would have been
able to discover how to catch more
woodchucks than he and his family
could eat, says Linn (Maine) cor
respondent of the New York Sun.
Just because he was good to tame
woodchuck of his own and tried TO
elieve it from agony, he was able to
study the habits of wild woodchucks.
and thereby learned fact in natural
history which has cleared the farms
of an annoying pest and has furnished
the neighborhOod with palatable roast
woodchuck since early in June.
One morning when Sprague was
driving his cows to pasture he found
e poor, emaciated woodchuck lying in
the dust of the highway, nearly dead
for want of water. The animal had
started for stream with its compan-
ions and its strength had given out
before it could reach the nearest
brook.
1t was not in Sprague's nature to
see anything suffer, so he picked up
the dying creature, and, taking 1t
home, fed it on warm milk and clover
until it was able to care for itself.
By the time heavy frosts fell the
wooddchuck was as large as bull
terrier and nearly as serviceable in a
rough and tumble fight. 1t grew so
belligerent that Sprague resolved to
have a woodchuck roast the following
Sunday, but was foiled in his plan by
the woodchuck's going into winter
quarters two days before 1t was to
be executed.
Coming out lean and hungry in the
spring, the woodchuck devoted its
endeavors to putting on fat, in which
it was encouraged by Sprague, who
knew how good is roast woodchuck
when taken in conjunction with boiled
onions and hard cider.
The first warm Sunday that arrived
in June Sprague hunted up his freezer
and made ice cream for himself and
family. Having more than could be
eaten, and wishing to fatten the wood
chuck as rapidly as possible, he gave
the surplus cream to his pet. The
woodchuck, being unaccustomed to
eating ice at any time, was taken with
sudden chill, and would have suf-
fered an attack of pneumonia had not
Sprague wrapped it in warm blankets
and placed it on sunny hillside to
recover.
While the sick animal was lying in
the grass suffering from ague, wild
woodchuck came along looking for
fresh clover No sooner did it hear
the teeth of the pet animal chattering
with cold than it took the sound as a
challenge to fight and went in with
fury. The sick animal, being as
saulted at time when 1t could not
defend itself, beat a hasty retreat to
the house, followed by its victorious
enemy, who thus came within easy
range of club in Spragues hand, and
was served up as roast woodchuck at
Mondays dinner.
Sprague keeps can of ice cream
constantly in his ice house since
then. Whenever he feels the need
of roast woodchuck for dinner he
gorges his pet with ice cream and
sends it to the hillside, where it's
teeth chatter so loudly with chills and
fever that every wild woodchuck comes
from it's hole to join in deadly COM
bat. AS one woodchuck cannot hope
to win against host, the pet falls
back to it's Notifications in the cellar,
thus giving Sprague a chance to Sc
lect the latest animal in the herd.