Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-16
SQUIRREL ACROBATlC;;
HAS MUSTACHE, TOO
PADDY the Turnover" Is the Only
Animal of His Kind,
It's Said.

Have Won ever seen him turning somer-
eats in LAFAYETTE Square? II you haven't t..
YOU should look him up. To the onin-
ftiated all the parks and squares or the
city are more or less alike, with their
,-reen grass and greener benches. their
children and nurses policemen and boys
and girls. and other things and persons
one usually sees in parks everywhere.
But the freauenter of these spots of
yerdure in the otherwise asphalt areas
of the city knows that parks are as In
div,dual in their way as people are in
,heirs Each park In Washington has
something about it that distinguishes 1t
from every other park I'M the city In
enc park it may be the flowers; In an
other the children-or the lack of chill
dren: in one one thing and in another
another.
Features Lafayette Square.
In Lafayette Square it is this fellow
that turns somersets or summersets OF
somersaults or summersauits. all -FOUR Oh
which the dictionary and the law allow.
Any one of these bright days If you VIII
go cautiously treading through the
square, past the statue of Lafayette. with
the woman holding up the sword and evil
denflv
general has draped over his arm tany-
way, this is what they say, past Lafay-
etc to where Jackson is riding his al
legged hobby horse"-if you will fit past
these statues like sightseeing automc-
bile on a Sunday morning early before
anybody is up-fnally you Will come TO a
spot that has magic in it.
At least. it appears to have magic in
II. For if you are able to hit the spot
exactly, and stand there and walt long
he
out and commence to turn somersets.
First thing you know there will be
flash of gray across the green, a Scamper
and a scurry, a flip of tail in a hurry,
and this acrobatic squirrel will be before
you with bells on. OF course. he doesn't
wear bells-if he did one might suspect he
wasn't Mr.. Somersetting Squirrel at all.
but Mrs S. Squirrel.
When he catches sight of you, just like
any ordinary squirrel. he will first make
a tentative advance. Squirrels always do
that. make tentative advances. The
minute he sees you are watching him. off
he will scurry for the nearest tree
Just the Time to Look.
Now this is just when you want to keep
your lockers on him.. just as he starts
for the tree he begins to wind up. With
a peculiar Walter Johnson movement Of
his bushy tail two hind kicks with his
front legs ana TWO FORWARD KICKS WITH MS
hind legs, side twist of his head and an
aIl-over wriggle of his body, straight up
in the air he goes
Once he is in the air he does sort of
voIplane and turns clear over How he
does it is a mystery. Where squirrel
ever got the notion of doing such an IN
tricate aerial evolution is one of the I'M
solved problems of animal life, and of
Lafayette Square. The frequenters of
Lafayette Square swear that this is the
only squirrel in the city, if not in the
world, that can turn a complete SOM
ersault of its own accord. Nature alone
was it's trainer.
Some skeptical people when they first
see Mr. S. Squirrel turning over, are
inclined to think he is trained animal
that has escaped from captivity, but
after they have watched him cayort
around over the lawn, turning somer-
sets with abandon. evidently enjoying
his stunt more than his audience. If
that is possible. even these skepucs are
q. forced to admit that It looks too natural
to be artificial.
This famous somersetting squirrel of
Lafayette Square is alone in his accom-
plishment, officers who are stationed In
the park assert. They say there Is only
one of him-they can recognize him by
his nustaclle. He has mustache just
like policeman. He is called Paddy
the Turnover, and almost any day, II
YOU linger near Gen. Jackson's statue
long enough, you will hear some one
CALL Paddy, Paddy, Paddy And then
look sharp-for there he will come a.
somersetting.