THE HISTORY OF AN OLD FBIEND. 201 



some lake whose shores do not present suitable accom- 

 modations for shelter. Either they are so rocky as not 

 to be pierced, or they are so low as to be liable to be 

 submerged with the spring rains. No more discrimin- 

 ating judge of the security of such shores can be found 

 than my friend. No scenery fitness will tempt him. If 

 there is any liability of danger on shore he goes out to 

 the centre of the lake, or to a point in the lake from 

 which he can readily obtain good grass, and then he 

 builds himself a house. Sometimes he takes the end of 

 a half-submerged log as a proper foundation. At other 

 times the bottom of the pond, and yet again he will take 

 a mass of weeds as an anchor, and construct a house that 

 is to last for years on this slight support. His bricks are 

 eel-grass and twigs ; his mortar is mud and clay ; he is 

 his own architect, laborer, builder, contractor and 

 upholsterer. Gradually the house progresses, without 

 shaped like a dome, and within divided into many cham- 

 bers. The door is beneath the waters, and so nothing 

 but a diver can enter it, and being built on the open 

 water, and at a distance from shore, nothing will attack 

 it from above. It is formed and fashioned with a preci- 

 sion that no science could excel. In and out is the strong 

 eel-grass woven, and the clay that covers the walls is 

 patted down with many a sounding thwack from his 

 broad tail until it is as smooth as a plaster wall. At 

 length winter comes and bridges the lake, and makes an 

 easy access to the house for the wolf and the bear. How 

 is the Muskrat to save himself from their snuffing noso 



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