126 SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS 



of wild nature, she brought to my very door ! 

 It was tonic and exhilarating to see her whirl 

 away toward the vineyard. I also owe a mo- 

 ment's pleasure to the gray squirrel that, finding 

 my summer-house in the line of his travels one 

 summer day, ran through it and almost over my 

 feet as I sat idling with a book. 



I am sure my power of digestion was improved 

 that cold winter morning when, just as we were 

 sitting down to breakfast about sunrise, a red fox 

 loped along in front of the window, looking 

 neither to the right nor to the left, and disap- 

 peared amid the currant-bushes. What of the 

 wild and the cunning did he not bring ! His 

 graceful form and motion were in my mind's eye 

 all day. When you have seen a fox loping along 

 in that way, you have seen the poetry there is in 

 the canine tribe. It is to the eye what a flowing 

 measure is to the mind, so easy, so buoyant ; the 

 furry creature drifting along like a large red 

 thistledown, or like a plume borne by the wind. 

 It is something to remember with pleasure, that 

 a muskrat sought my door one December night 

 when a cold wave was swooping down upon us. 

 Was he seeking shelter, or had he lost his reck- 

 oning ? The dogs cornered him in the very door- 

 way, and set up a great hubbub. In the dark- 

 ness, thinking it was a cat, I put my hand down 



