MEMORIES 75 



traps in the open field, but in banks, and especially in 

 gateways where the ground is hard. You must probe 

 about until you hit off a " run," and then, should you 

 find the inside smooth and round, you may be sure it 

 is a main one and much frequented. In such a 

 place as this. Spider, in February and March, when 

 the moles were running, would sometimes take two 

 dozen before he lifted his traps. He despised the 

 new spring traps, preferring a wire noose and a hazel 

 or ash "bender," which would fly up and swing the 

 victim clean out of the ground, where it would hang 

 like the fish outside the tackle-makers' shops, and 

 soon the bushes all about would become filled with 

 spitted moles. 



I am afraid as boys we did not take very kindly to 

 church. We were not allowed to walk in the puddles 

 by the way, and there was a rigidity, generally, about 

 Sunday that oppressed us. Sometimes, however, 

 it was a bit better. When there were friends stay- 

 ing in the house we were turned loose into a big box- 

 pew. This gave grand chances for the making of 

 paper pellets. We usually confined ourselves to 

 flipping these at marks inside the pew, but in 

 moments of great daring we chose a more tempting 

 target. The clerk sat immediately in front of the 



