18 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



close to the crack tried to make out what manner 

 of beast was inside. If it were either a little rab- 

 bit or a big hare I opened the door of the trap 

 wide enough to allow my hand and arm to be 

 thrust inside and soon had Bunny safely by 

 the legs. 



Sometimes instead of a rabbit there was a fly- 

 ing squirrel in the trap, and occasionally a 

 red one. These little creatures resented being 

 handled, so I put the trap on my sled and car- 

 ried it home, taking it to my room before open- 

 ing it. In a few days the squirrels were tame 

 enough to wander about the house, and after a 

 little refused to be driven away. The hares and 

 rabbits were colonized in the woodshed, and day 

 by day my menagerie grew. 



At first my parents applauded my success, 

 and even commented proudly upon it to the 

 neighbors. Later they became ominously silent 

 on the subject, and after an investigating red 

 quirrel had upset a bottle of ink on my father's 

 desk and, having waded through a puddle of the 

 liquid, tramped over the sheets of a sermon pre- 



