The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1951-12-06
Story of the Nuts

hOlOI VI tHN ANuto
Once upon a time there was wood
in which lived large number of hap
Ply, freedom-loving squirrels.
The squirrels spent their days eat
ing tender bark and nuts, and being
thrifty little animals, they stored
some of the nuts in hollow trees and
roots of old stumps for the cold days
when snow would blanket the ground.
In spite of this, however, hardship
would occasionally overtake the lit
| tie animals when the nut crop was
short or the winters unusually long
Then, of course, there were a few
squirrels who would rather play in
the autumn leaves than store nuts for
the months ahead, and these were
sorely pressed to survive.
Now, there was one squirrel named
"Frisky" known throughout the wood
for his ability to chatter and jump
two ways at once. ct had been said
by some that on occasions he had been
oCSi tanning NUS HUM HOliOW trees
where he had stored no nuts, but this
was said by his friends to be merely
character assassination due to
jealousy.)
One day Frisky set up a great
chatter and when all the squirrels
gathered to see what the noise was
about he began by saying, My
Friends, | have noticed your suffer-
ing this past winter. |, being much
more intelligent than you, as unde-
niably shown in my ability to jump
two ways at once, have devised a
plan which will guarantee the securi-
ty of all through the winters to come.
| have noticed that some of you store
your nuts in holes that are not
moisture proof, some store too many.
others do not store enough. NV plan
Ia forced savings, we might call it,
does away with all this. Instead of
each storing his own nuts as before.
all the nuts will be stored in the hol-
low Of the great oak tree. An agency
appointed by me will count and care
for the nuts. Each of you will bring
one nut out of each ten found and
place it in the hollow of the oak.
This will eliminate the necessity of
Wasteful private storage and ensure
nuts for all when winter comes and
snow covers the ground"
Many, not all (there are always
those who are behind the times and
oppose anything progressively thought
this great Utopian plan since it
would release them of much drudgerv
in the fall gathering nuts and hunt
ing for safe, dry place to store them
Now all they had to do was deliver
one nut in ten to the great oak and
they could spend the rest of the
beautiful autumn days playing in the
brown leaves and basking in the sun.
The measure was voted in.
Then Mr.. Frisky set about carry
ing out his plan. He found it neces-
sary to hire many squirrels to as
slst in cleaning out the hollow of the
tree. Others were engaged in count
ing and keeping records of the nuts.
He paid them from the nuts collected.
Of course, he himself was very busy
and could gather no nuts of his own.
% he found it necessary to eat MANY
OF the nuts. Close admirers and sup
porters of his plan, he felt. in all fair
ness, should be taken care of. so he
put them to work counting nuts that
had already been counted twice be-
fore.
All this cost great many nuts 50
the number Of nuts to be delivered was
increased from one to two out of each
ten. Now more nuts collected meant
more squirrels to count and conse-
quently more squirrels to pay.
Winter came-and the squirrels
having stored no nuts of their own
went to the great oak tree to get
some. They found no nuts, only some
fat nut counters.
Here my story ends almost, but not
quite like it began. Once upon time
there was a wood
A Grandpa Squirrel.