The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-20
NOT IN THE NATURE BOOKS.
Things Jim Bennet Hal Learned Abont
HedEehogs, Addcrs and Eeis.

kt~eOBenOSb AOucEu bhV HsV''
GOSHEN, N. Y, June 49, know now
what the string Of round holes all In a
row along the sdes Of a lamper eel are
for said Deacon w. II. Hearpaas. editor
OF the Port Jervis Gazette. Jim Bennet
discovered 1t ON his last trip.
We've got a Carnegie library at o
! Jervis. and 1t has books full OF things
about nature, but not a single book OF EN-
has ever got ON to even q OF the things
Jim Bennett has come back from his trips
and told me about discovering. Not
even a single thing
take sroundhoRs. now. One time
Jim Bennett was on one OF his trips down
In Jersey. He came to q man sitting on a
rail fence. Jim said to the man:
"How are you on for groundhogs
down this way?'
Jim said the man frightened up In q
second and answered back:
s'Only fair to middlin'. thank you.
That is. as far as ] know. ! hain't heard
Of anybody oountin' up more than ninety
two squattin' onto him up to now.
There's only one on me and he can stay
on me an welcome till his natural dyin'
day. since what he done after he sot the
trap to ketoh my neighbours hired man an
ketohed my ohurn dog instead
-Now II 1t had been mt the man had
said that to I know I'd have hollered out.
'Crack-ee-e doodlei Jiminetty socksl'
or something like that. and the man would
have taken 1t for an i%nsinuation. and more
than likely ! wouldn't know nov any
more about that nature study than the
! Carnegie library does. but Jim Bennett
| he Just gave his head a shake and said
to the man:
1t isn't often a grounding makes
such a mistake as that
mo said the man to jim. 1t amt
often a grounding makes such a mis-
take. The way this un come to do it.
said he. my neighbor's hired man seemed
to have a grudge ag'in him and begun
to Set a trap for him.
THE gumption in that hired man
amt 80 big that you can notice it much,
OIL when he went to his trap mornin'
after mornin' and found the trap sprung
and drug ten foot or more away from the
Rroundhog's hole it would a struck him
that the grounding was givin' him notice
that 1t was protestin' ag'inst his shown
that trap under its nose, and he'd a quit
ana uRRedI the Trap uOIle.
drag the trap. all set for business. and
cover It up in the path where my neigh
boris hired man was bound to 60 trampin'
along pretty soon TO take a look at the
trap where he had sot it for the ground
hog. Then the grounding hid behind
a bush 50 as he could be nigh and chuckle
and stepped In the trap.
WELL so the man said to Jim Ben
net, of course ] hadn't the heart TO
stand there and see the hired man trapped
like that. 80 l started to kick the trap out
OF the path. Before I got to It,. though.
and friskin' to meet me-the best churn
dog in all Jersey. too, bar none!' said the
man. He came bouncin' along and be-
fore / could stop him he bounced square
In the trap.
II hurried TO git the poor oritter out,
He certainly did yelp and yell; and you
jest ought to seen that groundhog! He
come out from behind the bush where
he was hidin' and the tears actuIy run
down his cheeks az big as huckleberries.
my churn dogs legs was smashed and
no more to him Use than pipestems. so !
shouldered him and took him home and
dootored him up, a :, there we was.
be done. an no dog to run the machine.
al got up in the mornin' and was
goin' 70 go TO my neighbours to make
his hired man COME and take the place
O. the dog. he bein' to blame for the hull
business. when all al once the machine
started up and the chnrnin was on the
way rattletybang!
81 run out Of course to see what wHs
dom It. and I'll bet a coonskin ag'in a
ton o. hay,' the man said to Jim. that
you'd been jest as SUI 'prised ds ] wa If
you'd seen what | seen. fer what ! seen
was that grounding on the chuinin'
machine r%unnin' il fer all it was worth!
Every churn day after that till the
dog got we'll that grounding come in and
run the machine
sOh. and lots apd gobs Of things like
that Jim Bennet has brought back to me.
and now he has come from a trip over in
Pike county and tells me that he was
was q stream or a pond or something
like that. Something with water in it,
anyway, or there couldn't "a been
lamper cells there. There was a field
near by. which was lucky. for IL
there hadn't been a field there wouldn't
wouldn't "a made the discovery he did.
There was a blowing adder too, but jim
knew something about blowing adders
before that.
aOnoe when he came home from a trip
he brought back for me then note about
the blowing adder he saw at the roadside.
The blowing adder, you know. is the
funny snake that can hatten its head down
and spread it out as big as a buckskin
mitten and blow like O bellows.
This blower was lying at the roadside
and had just swallowed a toad or some
thing and was SO full Of dinner that it
wouldn't move when Jim Bennett prodded
il with a stick. Jim wanted to see Il move,
DO he touched q match to a bunch Of dry
grass that lay directly In front OF the ad-
der. The snake " moved, but when
the fire got close to Its nose It turned on
Its bellows, gave one puff and blew the
blaze out like you would q candle.
so he knew something about blowing
adders when he was on this trip somewhere
oyer In Pike county. He was passing
along. and by and by he heard soft and
melodious music like somebody playing
sweet and low on a flute. It came from
toward the spot where the water was.
Jim went to investigate. He looked
from behind q bush and saw a big Hamper
eel lying on It's side on the shore half way
out OF the water and O blowing adder
putting wind into and up and down that
scale OF holes in the lamper cells side,
bringing out q strain OF music from each
hole. Jim was just more than charmed
with the music. and while he croIohed
there listening to 1t out from the field
close by came a half dozen or more field
mice prancing and dancing, toward those
fascinating strains.
They were charmed too, and they
danced right along up to where the music
was. Suddenly the music stopped. Like
a daah tho II amman aal rnhha ppa ~ ~,