In Buffalo Days 
above the ground. These poles were much 
resorted to by the buffalo to scratch against, 
and before long a great many of them were 
pushed over. A story, now of considerable 
antiquity, is told of an ingenious employee 
of the telegraph company, who devised a 
plan for preventing the buffalo from dis- 
turbing the poles. This he expected to 
accomplish by driving into them spikes 
which should prick the animals when they 
rubbed against them. The result somewhat 
astonished the inventor, for it was discovered 
that where formerly one buffalo rubbed 
against the smooth telegraph poles, ten now 
struggled and fought for the chance to 
scratch themselves against the spiked poles, 
the iron furnishing just the irritation which 
their tough hides needed. 
It was in spring, when its coat was being 
shed, that the buffalo, odd-looking enough 
at any time, presented its most grotesque 
appearance. The matted hair and wool of 
the shoulders and sides began to peel off 
in great sheets, and these sheets, clinging 
to the skin and flapping in the wind, gave 
it the appearance of being clad in rags. 
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