142 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Grandmother's supply of English 

 was not so limited, neither was her ob- 

 ject teaching. She kicked the bag of 

 skunks away from that stove and as- 

 tonished The Dane with a flow of 

 words that must have discouraged him 

 if he had ever contemplated using our 

 language with fluency and rapidity. He 

 retired to the barn a sadder and 

 smellier man. He had not succeeded 

 in pleasing my grandmother but sup- 

 posed I, a boy, would be more sympa- 

 thetic. I was more susceptible 1 ad- 

 mit. Uncle Gib and Dutch Willie 

 came to the rescue with clubs and dis- 

 patched the skunks. I did not stay to 

 count them. I should have done so to 

 verify the observations and settle the 

 dispute as to whether there were sixty, 

 seventy-five or ninety. However, who 

 cares for a trifle of thirty or forty 

 skunks when the limit has been 

 passed? There were too many for me 

 and no one who has not had the ex- 

 perience can imagine the awful odor 

 after the death of sixty, seventy-five or 

 ninety skunks with a club. Grand- 

 mother did not set the table for Dutch 

 Willie, Uncle Gib and The Dane for 

 several days. They slept in the wood- 

 shed and ate their dinner from a bas- 

 ket. This experience with sixty, sev- 

 enty-five or ninety skunks capped the 

 climax of my trio of boyhood experi- 

 ences. 



Naturalist that I am, for several de- 

 cades I have been willing to leave fur- 

 ther investigations to my brother nat- 

 uralists. It would be selfish not to 

 leave them some subjects for sole 

 study. 



* * * * 



A VISIT TO A SKUNK FARM. 



I have recently had three more sur- 

 prises, all associated with one skunk 

 farm. I had read in suburban and 

 country publications that if you fail in 

 the practice of law in the city, or in the 

 discounting of notes, or in the whole- 

 saling of dry goods, you can hie away 

 to Elysian fields, raise skunks, enjoy 

 the delightful zephyrs of spring 

 breezes, the glorious prospects of sun- 

 rises and sunsets, and have a fat pock- 

 etbook, because skunks' skins bring a 

 good price. But after all I had read it 

 was difficult to mentally picture skunks 

 in connection with anybody except 

 Dutch Willie, Uncle Gib, The Dane 

 and the dog, Daisy. So I was sur- 



prised to find that skunks are associ- 

 ated with prosperity. I had known in 

 my boyhood men who obtained a live- 

 lihood by catching skunks and selling 

 their skins, but they were not associ- 

 ated in mind with the type of man de- 

 scribed in the magazines. 



It was an up-to-date automobile that; 

 called for me. Mr. Irving M. June of 

 Riverbank, Stamford, Connecticut, had 

 kindly volunteered to show me his 

 skunk farm. I recalled my early im- 

 pressions and hesitated. It was a lit- 

 tle surprising to be taken to the farm in 

 such a fine automobile. That was my 

 first surprise. My next was a bright 

 faced, attractive little girl of about 

 twelve years, my companion in the- 

 automobile. I inquired where she lived, 

 and her answer was also surprising: 

 "In a tent with the skunks." Of 

 course, I had in mind that barn with 

 the sixty, seventy-five or ninety skunks, 

 and that was about the most unex- 

 pected statement that could be made to. 

 me. Whew ! How my heart went out 

 in pity to that girl as I thought of her 

 living with sixty or seventy-five- 

 skunks. I thought I was about to re- 

 peat the experience of my youth, and 

 then upon second thought decided that 

 there must be something different 

 whereby this bright young girl in white- 

 dress and slippers can live in a tent in 

 the yard with sixty or seventy-five- 

 skunks. And then it occurred to me 

 that I had not had extended experi- 

 ence with those skunks of my boyhood. 

 The whole number came upon me all 

 of a sudden. Possibly if I had begun 

 with one skunk as had the girl I might 

 have become accustomed to the com- 

 pany and gradually as the family in- 

 creased I would not have minded sixty 

 or seventy-five. I wondered if my 

 stomach would behave any better than 

 it did that morning when I saw dead 

 skunks in every direction. As I ap- 

 proached the cages with my camera I 

 wondered what I could hold to my nose,. 

 But here I met the third and greatest 

 surprise. I could detect not the slightest 

 whiff or trace of disagreeable odor. 

 The whole thing was as delightful as 

 cages of rabbits or, as The Dane ex- 

 pressed it years ago, of "kitty, kitty,, 

 kitty, kitty." I wished he might 

 come back and see that here one could 

 freely handle the little skunks and they 

 did not behave as they did when he- 



