MISCELLANEOUS. 259 



him, and I resolved to get even with him before I let him 

 out. I stepped to the clump of water-hazels that stood a few 

 feet away, and cut two large, heavy branches, about five or six 

 feet long. I trimmed them up, returned to the milk-house, 

 and went to work on that dog, and whipped him until my 

 vengeance was thoroughly appeased. I then released him and 

 sent him home, a wiser and a better dog. 



On the hillside, a short distance from the house, i find the 

 remains of an old oak stump, in which I once bored a hole 

 and put a large charge of powder. It was on the morning of 

 the Fourth of July, and when I "touched it off" at daylight 

 the report woke all the neighbors within a radius of three 

 miles. 



Ifr the piece of woods just south of the house I once 

 pushed down a tall stump or trunk of a decayed tree, in 

 which was a flying-squirrel's nest. The mother flew to a tree 

 near by as the stump fell, and so escaped, but the young ones, 

 although nearly full-grown, were not strong enough to fly. I 

 caught up one of them, but no sooner had I done so than it 

 caught my thumb just near the root of the nail, and inserted 

 its sharp, cutting front teeth to the bone, above and below. 

 I had to choke him off with the other hand, and after that I 

 gave flying-squirrels a wide berth. On another occasion, 

 however, I caught a live ground-squirrel, and he bit a finger 

 nearly off before I succeeded in choking him to death. 



On a farm adjoining ours there stood an old deserted log 

 cabin. I was roaming around it one day to see what I could 

 find, when, looking through a large crack in the floor, I saw 

 a ground-hog busily engaged in burrowing in the ground. I 

 went out to the fence, got a large sliver off a rail and stabbed 

 him with it so vigorously that I succeeded in killing him 

 before he could get out of my reach. 



I continued my rambles through the neighborhood, visiting 



