The Story of a Graysquirrel 



exercise of moving. Had he been capa- 

 ble of such thought he might have said: 

 "Thank goodness the wind has swept 

 the snow from the branches." He gal- 

 loped and bounded from one high over- 

 way to another, till a wide gap be- 

 tween tree-tops compelled him to descend. 

 Over the broad forest floor of shining 

 white he leaped, and made for the be- 

 loved hickory grove. Pine-cones furnish 

 food, so do buds of elm and flower-buds 

 of maple. Red acorns are bitter yet eat- 

 able, white acorns still better, and chest- 

 nuts and beechnuts delicious, but the 

 crowning glory of a chosen feast is nuts 

 of the big shag hickory — so hard of shell 

 that only the strongest chisel teeth can 

 reach thern, so precious that nature locks 

 them up in a strong-box of stone, en- 

 wrapped in a sole-leather case; so sought 

 after, that none of them escape the hun- 

 gry creatures of the wood for winter use, 



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