The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-12-04

Dog win Eat.
Foxes quoth ammo Dominoes'
Howe, as he paused in his operations
over the carcass of sheep to stare at
the haze-shrouded Green mountains, be-
hind the farm; foxes are like human
beins. 1 carlate If you keep EN- round
about where they have society they may
improve their manners. like. an git re-
fined
An if you put 'em where there amt
anything but wilderness, an nobody
near enough to be sociable and supply
the chicken coops, well, they revert to
barbarism. just like man. Put him in
community an he's bound to put his
best foot forward. Put him in the trail
ends of civilization an he becomes orn-
ary.
All of which, coming from Ammo Dom
inoes'' may be taken as good. old-fash-
toned. robust New England gospel, both
as far as foxes are concerned and men
likewise. For Ammo Dominoes' is an
athority. even in Vermont, where there
are many who aspire to that distinction.
LeastwiSe. nobody around the southern
end of the mountains up here denies his
supremacy, says James II. Powers in
the Boston Sunday Globe, writing under
Il Wilmington lNt.1 dateline.
LamceIOt Leads al the Rest.
Ammo Dominoes' calls himself
that because. he will inform you, most
everybody hereabOutS does anyway, so
what's the use bein' uupolite an differ
in "A. ID. H0we is an old foX-hunter,
and Just now he is engaged in improving
his personal relations with 10 of the most
sagacious members of the wild animal
F.,,r 10
cage. beside of his farmhouse.
Ammo Dominoes' has the whole of
Mallory Mort D'Arthur parading
around his fox pens. for he has a streak
Il poetry in his soul, has this kind-eyed.
wcather-beaten mountain farmer and
trapper.
For instance. there is Launcelot, who
has a sly look on his countenance that
would do credit to his iliuStrious name
sake of the Table Round, and who is a
great lady-killer. To see Launcelot, /
ears erect and medtative CLINT in his
eyes. permitting his lady-loye to che n
up apples thrown into the pen, is to dit
cover that not ali wisdom lies with hui
man beings, and that q fox may have q
way of his own.
Galahad. Geraint and Enid, Sir Kay
the Seneshal-about oil of the leading
characters of that most famous bundle
of legends. with the exception of King
Arthur himself. are to be seen summing
themselves on Kennel tops.
But. like all characters of romance.
they vanish when one tries to improve
ones acquaintance For, with two or
three exceptions. they are as shy as
though they dwelt in their native wood
lands.
Eat Out of His Hand.
Il don't boast much of the pen" said
Mr.. Howe You see. l went out into
the woods and cut the poles and
stretched the wire myself. In fact, l
buildcd about the whole of the shebang
myself Ii keeps 'em in and the curious
out And any of the curious who think
that they can fool around my foxes have
got something to learn about bear-traps.
( too" Ut appears that Mr.. Howes
/ knowledge of human frailties Is acute be-
( fore one has talked long with him about
his enterprise.
/ When you get them in pens, at first
I they are frightened 10 death, almost.
/ They run like Gagged animals at a menaS-
/ erie Then. if you have sense enough to
1 put them in i place where they will see
! life going by, they lose some Of their shy
ness and become contented. | put my
pens near the road for that reason, and
it has had fine effect" he explained.
AT eating time. when they are hun
/ CRY. some of them will even eat bread out
Of my hand. now. But they wouldn't at
first and they won't now If anybody
He showed us the truth of his declara-
ton by feeding some of the animals. As
hey had not had breakfast, they were
! hungry and his appearance with some
otis of meat was the signal for a general
/ and lightning-like activity in the pens.
Black pups fought with their compan-
ions. Old foxes ran up and down with
the excitement. Some of them yelped
with anxiety. But for the most part the
shrewd-eyed beasts confined their actiyl-
ties to dashing about on the side of the
cages farthest from their master and the
photographer and myseif.> Only when
we withdrew a bit did they calm down.
Apples and Bread and Milk.
'They are stronger than you would
suppose" went on Ammo DOminoes.
As if a proof were asked of this. one OF
the yiXeus ran up to the wire where he
stood and slashed a chunk of meat from
the piece he held toward her Her teeth
were like razors.
They viii eat anything that a dog
viii eat. and some things he won't. APP
pies. for instance. They love raw meat,
bur they look over everything they get
from strangers. Finicky about their di-
gestion you know" said he with a
twinkle. One man l know had some sill