THE OPOSSUM 107 



he caught a possum by one of its fore feet- 

 The poor thing was badly crippled, and he kept 

 it in a barrel for a couple of weeks and fed it, to 

 try and make amends for the injury he had 

 done. Then he gave it its freedom, though the 

 injured foot had healed but little. 



Soon after he set his trap in the same hole, 

 and to his annoyance caught the possum again, 

 this time by one of the hind feet. He brought 

 the quiet, uncomplaining creature to me by its 

 prehensile tail, and asked me what should be 

 done with or for it. I concluded to make a 

 hospital for it in one corner of my study. I 

 made it a nest behind a pile of magazines, 

 and fed and nursed it for several weeks. It 

 never made a sound, or showed the least uneasi- 

 ness. or sign of suffering, that I was aware of, in 

 all that time. By day it slept curled up in its 

 nest. If disturbed, it did not " play possum/' 

 that is, did not feign sleep or death, but opened 

 its mouth and grinned up at you in a sort o! 

 comical, idiotic way. At night it hobbled about 

 the study, and ate the meat and cake I had 

 placed for it. Sometimes by day it would come 

 out of the corner and eat food under the lounge, 

 eating very much after the manner of a pig, 

 though not so greedily. Indeed, all its motions 

 were very slow, like those of the skunk. 



