THE NUTCRACKERS OF NUTCRACKER LODGE. I/ 



ence, and feeling himself at liberty to quarrel with every- 

 body and everything about him. Nobody understood him, 

 he said ; he was a squirrel of a peculiar nature, and 

 needed peculiar treatment, and nobody treated him in a 

 way that did not grate on the finer nerves of his feelings. 

 He had higher notions of existence than could be bounded 

 by that old rotten hole in a hollow tree ; he had thoughts 

 that soared far above the miserable, petty details of every- 

 day life, and he could not and would not bring down these 

 soaring aspirations to the contemptible toil of laying up a 

 few chestnuts or hickory-nuts for winter. 



"Depend upon it, my dear," said Mrs. Nutcracker sol- 

 emnly, "that fellow must be a genius." 



" Fiddlestick on his genius ! " said old Mr. Nutcracker ; 

 "what does he do?" 



" O nothing, of course ; that 's one of the first marks of 

 genius. Geniuses, you know, never can come down to 

 common life." 



" He eats enough for any two," remarked old Nutcracker, 

 "and he never helps gather nuts." 



" My dear, ask Parson Too-whit ; he has conversed with 

 him, and quite agrees with me that he says very uncom- 

 mon things for a squirrel of his age ; he has such fine 

 feelings, so much above those of the common crowd.". 



" Fine feelings be hanged ! " said old Nutcracker. " When 

 a fellow eats all the nuts that his mother gives him, and 

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