Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1921-09-01
Give IT TO MOLE
Little Animal Hereby Qualities as
a Samson.
Venerable Fisherman Tells Story That
Should Remove All Doubt Con-
cernIno the Strength OF the
Small Earth Dlsturber.

do you want to know the most
powerful animal for Its size In the
world?"
The question was asked just after
a venerable fisherman had landed a
fine eastern brook trout. says Howard
n. Wright in the Portland Orego-
nian. We were standing on the shore
Of one OF the lakes well back In the
Cascades.
had only a few moments before
unslung my pack at his cabin, and,
taking a trail that led to the lake, had
found him right in his glory !, Of
course. was interested In getting all
the data the old fellow had 10 offer
and we sat down on log and as he
produced Missouri meerschaum i
handed out box of tobacco. He pro-
ceeded TO fiji up with what he called
his favorite brand next 10 III. O.
That gave me q clew and ! knew
at once the ancient angler could tell
some big ones. He fired up deliber-
ately and crossed his legs in les-
urely manner.
"Well, sir" he started out, 81 reck-
on, according TO what one Of them
scientists told me that happened in
here a while back that the mole has
got 'em all stopped. l had been tell
ing some stories about being towed
around In q boat by big fish off'n
the Newfoundland banks and after /
got through he waited a little while
and then said:
swell, captain, have never had
lot of experience with big fish, but l
certainly had my eyes opened one
day. had accidentally caught live
mole. and for no particular reason
brought IL into the house and put 1T
on the floor 1t began TO wander
about the room and finally came up
against the leg OF chair which had
pened to be up close to the wall. The
mole smelled II over n little, backed
up a little shifted some and put his
nose in between that chair and the
wall and pushed her aside as If she
had been a puff ball.
"That certainly got my interest
90 ! said TO myself. "Looka here,
Mr.. Mole, We'll try you out and see
what your limits are" / hlpted
around until l found Webster's die
tionary and a big family Bible.
placed these on the chair and piled
other books on top of them until that
chair would hold no more and wait
ed for him to try 1t out
"'Pretty soon he came keeping
close to the wall. This time he never
stopped to sniff, but walked right
through.
THAT got me, but I scratched my
head little and when l saw Mr.. Mole
coming up for the third time jumped
on top OF the pile of books. But
II was no use; he kept right on go
ing and slid the whole business of US
right TO one side.
,.-"'Well, was somewbathmaZed, but
suddenly thought came TO me and l
went out and called in my neighbor,
a big, fat man. weighing few pounds,
under 800. He straddled aboard
ION came the mole, this time his
muscles fairly standing out to get into
the fray. But he was no foolhardy
young mole. He took time to size
up the situation, sort of shrugged his
shoulders and acted ms If he was spit
ting on his hands. Finally he poked
his nose in between the legs of that
chair and the wall and raised those
mighty shoulders. The chair creaked
a little, moved slowly TO one side and
the mole passed-but the chair broke
and the fat man came down with a
thud on the mole's back. And, do you
know, that mole hesitated only n mo-
ment and then started for the corner
Of the room, carrying the fat man on
his back"