Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-12

Everything from the woodchuck to
i the trick sentence is discussed In
letters received recently from readers
of This and That"
A gentleman living at Bethesda
Md, who says he knows that we "are
friend of Natures creatures" sends
the following dissertation on the
ground hog, In the course of which he
tells how to have sport with that little
animal:
Ezekiel, Ezekiel, you let that
| woodchuck go"
The father of Daniel Webster used
the above words after listening to his
two boys arguing for and against the
woodchuck. Ezekiel plead for the ex.
tinction of the whole tribe, while
Daniel plead to spare the life of the
ground hog because of the fact that
the creature was innocent of the
charges against him. The elder Web
ster, after listening to the arguments.
spoke the words given.
I'm the opinion of the writer, Daniel
was right. The little var1nnt is not a
marauder, he is not a murderer of
other small animals, he does not de.
stroy the feathered songsters, he is
not quarrelsome, because he has been
known to live in the same burrow
with snakes and polecats
He is, above all, courageous and
will fight in self-defense.
Some 80 years ago the writer. in
passing through a small grove of
young white pines, came across a spot
where some boys with a dog had been
digging for a woodchuck, but had gone
away without getting him.
Upon looking into the hole, we
noticed flies and mosquitoes lingering
hFuI tfwHrr
still there, and when a stick was
pushed into the hole the ground hog
took hold of it viciously.
1T was then just A, few minutes
until, with large stick, the ground
was removed from the mouth of the
animal, which growled and showed his
teeth in great anger. Taking a. fishing
line from my pocket, ] carefully placed
it back of his tusks and tried to pull
him out, but, the line breaking, /
placed four pieces under his tusks and
pulled again, breaking all.
Then, with small green pine root
about the size of a lead pencil, put
under his tusks. / pulled him out onto
the bank This is when he showed
his spunky hogship. He sat up
straight, with his little forepaws and
open mouth in readiness for trouble,
Il then took a stick about q foot
and half long and brushed away the
dirt from one side of his face and
then the other the little fellow all the
while snarling and swapping at the
stick, apparently disappointed because
he did not have a rough-and-tum
fight on hand.
After few minutes of this sport
with a. stick somewhat larger. I put
one end against the ground hogs
breast and pushed him over on his
back, when he slowly got UP and
walked away, looking back at me from
one side and then the other, evidently
wondering what kind of a guy l was,
anyway. Why should l hurt him?
&C. A. r."
From well known Washington
druggist:
Dear Sir: I am always interested
in your column and your philosophiz
Ing, but particularly in yesterdays
discussion of the rs in 'Blah.'
(Note-Nine out of ten persons, on
reading the following sentence. will
say there is only one f. in it: There
are thousands Of fakes in a box of
BlahBlah.' Try it on your friends.)
This was first brought to my atten-
ton about a year ago by DIR. w. S.
Newell. the oculist in this building.
After l saw one f. and had my error
shown me, he stated that he had tried