New Britain herald., 1920-02-07

table by the side of Mrs. Shepard and
 standing erect on his rear legs beg for
 food, taking almost anything, eN
 cept fish and meat, that she might of
 fer him. When Mrs. s. was moving
 about the room he would occasion , ally take her dress skirt in his teeth
 and shake it playfuIly like a puppy,
 at the same time giving a low growl.
 She used to pick him up, hold him in
 her lap and handle him freely in the
 same way as one would handle a pet
 cat. Whenever she put her hand down towards him with one finger ex- tended. he would rise. up and hook his teeth gently over her finger to have her lift him from the floor. He never pressed or pinched her finger with his teeth so as to hurt in the :, least and in fact he never bit any person hard enough to leave a mark
 of any kind.
 During the first summer of his
 adoption as one of our pets, he dug a
 burrow beneath the basement walk
 from the inside, and after q time
 dragged pieces of cloth rags there
 in to make himself bed. Every few
 days he would have housekeeping
 time and draw every bit of his bed
 ding out of his burrow to the base
 ment floor and when he had fixed it
 to suit himself drag it back in again.
 At one time q few towels and nap
 kins were missing and we suspected
 that Chubby was tho thief So we
 watched and waited for another of
 his housekeeping days. At last one
 came when We found the stolen ar
 tcles in his possession as he was
 in the act of drawing them out of
 his burrow. We took pains after
 that not to leave any such articles
 where he could get them.
 Each year on the approach of cold
 weather in the fall, Chubby was miss
 ing from his daily rounds He was
 in his .burrow. taking his long winter
 sleep, to be seen no more until spring.
 How delighted we always were to
 welcome him again as he first came out of his hole. We never knew him
 to come out on the traditional ground hog day. nor on any day in the month of February. Of course he was not quite as fat when he first appeared in the spring as he was when he re- turned in the fall. At any time of the year we never knew him to have on soiled or shabby clothes. His hair was always clean gloss. In fact no cleaner animal ever lived than Chub l by always was in every way. Our Lady ManX, the cat which used to 1 ring the door bell. and Chubby were l both living with us at the same time. | I do not remem Der that they paid any 1 particular attention to. each other, l but they always lived peaceably with | out any trouble whatever.
 Tn the summer of 1876 Chubby | dug a new burrow for himself back /! of our barn and retired into it for 1 the winter in November of that year. On the day before Thanksgiving we rem owed from Bristol to our present | home on Lake street in this city and : as Chubby was then in winter quar- ters we had to leave him. In the spring of 1877 Mrs. Shepard went over to Bristol and inquired of. the family then living in the house if i Chubby was out? "Oh yes" they re- piled, The is all around. here every day" She went into the garden and called Chubby, Chubby" and soon she saw him running towards her. In a minute more he had reached her and apparently he recognized her as she picked him up in her arms and then brought him with her to New Britain on the. cars. After he had been here a few days we let him out of the house and very soon the boys were firing stones at him with evi- dent intent to kill There was at that time a stone wall on the south SlOG of Lake street. opposite my house. One day Mrs. Shepard saw a man take a large flat stone from the wall, | lay it on Chubby and then step on 1 the stone in the endeavor to crush Chubby to the ground. Mrs. Shepard requested him to let the animal 1 alone and he did so saying that he did not know that it was her pet. to annoy Chubby was hap to give our pet woodchuck the run of our grounds without dan ger of his being killed.
 From first to last Chubby never roamed far from our premises and always appeared 10 be perfectly con- tented with no desire to escape and shift for himself. The danger to l which he was constantly subjected. 1 when outside of the house. made it 1 necessary to confine him within doors. He had already dug a burrow under the run of the basement during the night. He made so much noise 1 tumbling over barrels and other things and it seemed so cruel to keep him in confin ement that we carried him over to Mine Hollow where there were numerous burrows and let l. him go free. That was the last we r ever knew of our Chubby. but still he had a warm place in our hearts, and Mrs. Shepard. still regreting his departure. often remarks that he was i Ioa nSf net Sl1 h.aH