WISH-TON-WISH. 



EMMA M. GREENLEAF. 



ONE bright May morning Wish- 

 ton-wish sat on the mound in 

 front of his family burrow. 

 Wish-ton-wish was a lively 

 young prairie-dog and he wanted to 

 talk with someone. 



Presently Madam Talky came out of 

 her burrow and ran up to the top of her 

 mound. 



"Good-morning," called out Wish- 

 ton-wish; but Madam Talky did not 

 even turn her head his way. I dare say 

 she thought to herself, "Humph! A 

 chit of a fellow like that isn't worth my 

 time." 



Now Wish-ton-wish was an only boy 

 in a family where there were five other 

 children, so that he had come to be 

 lieve, as only sons often do, that he was 

 wise enough to talk with a very Solomon 

 of prairie-dogs. The silence of Madam 

 Talky didn't hurt his feelings in the 

 least. Presently he called out again 

 and this time with greater tact: "How 

 are your charming daughters this morn- 

 ing?" 



O, you should have seen the change 

 in Mrs. Talky. She turned her whole 

 face toward Wish-ton-wish now and 

 fairly beamed upon him. 



"Very well, indeed, thank you," she 

 answered; "you must call to see us." 



And this time I dare say she thought 

 to herself, "Why, I can hardly realize 

 that the young fellow is about grown 

 up; how fine he looks, too; his family 

 must have great confidence in him to 

 let him be sentinel when he is so young." 



Wish-ton-wish thanked her politely 

 for the invitation, and said that perhaps 

 he might call that afternoon. 



"Have you heard that Mr. Grizzle 

 Prairie Dog has been found?" asked 

 Madam Talky. 



"No, where?" said Wish-ton-wish. 



"O, in a very strange place," madam 

 answered. 



"It was Mr. Talky that found him. 

 At least we feel pretty sure that he did. 

 It was this way: Mr. Talky often has 

 ( attacks of dyspepsia, and last night he 

 ate so much timothy hay for his supper 

 that he had to run back and forth in 

 our burrows for exercise, ever so long 

 before he went to bed. He put his 

 head out at the end of the longest bur 

 row to see if the moon was full and 

 there stood two boys with a gun and a 

 dead hawk. He heard them say they 

 wanted the hawk for a 'collection.' 

 Then one of them said, 'Wish we could 

 have shot it before it caught that prai 

 rie-dog.' Mr. Talky was so dreadfully 

 startled that he whirled round and fairly 

 flew back through the burrow to his 

 nest, but we feel sure it was Mr. Grizzle 

 that the hawk had caught." 



"How many enemies our race has!" 

 said Wish-ton-wish with a sigh. "Have 

 you told Mrs. Grizzle the sad news?" 



"Yes, I told her before sunrise this 

 morning; but she's got used to it now 

 and doesn't feel so bad. He had been 

 missing two days, you know. I saw 

 her going after clover with Mr. Reddy 

 Prairie Dog. You remember Mrs. 

 Reddy was eaten up by a coyote last 

 week." 



"Dear me, dear me," sighed Wish- 

 ton-wish again, "how many enemies our 

 race has!" 



Just then there came a warning yelp 

 from a sentinel some distance away. 

 Madam Talky and Wish-ton-wish and 

 every other prairie-dog in sight echoed 

 the yelp and then each one of them 

 leaped into his burrow like a flash. 



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