THE WOODCHUCK 



On the mound of newly digged earth 

 before it, is that erect, motionless, gray 

 and russet form a half decayed stump 

 uprising where no tree has grown within 

 your memory ? You move a little nearer 

 to inspect the strange anomaly, and lo ! 

 it vanishes, and you know it was your 

 old acquaintance, the woodchuck, stand- 

 ing guard at his door and overlooking 

 his green and blossoming domain. 



Are you not sorry, to-day at least, to 

 hear the, boys and the dog besieging 

 him in his burrow or in the old stone 

 wall wherein he has taken sanctuary? 

 Surely, the first beautiful days of his 

 open-air life should not be made so mis- 

 erable that he would wish himself asleep 

 again in the safety and darkness of win- 

 ter. But you remember that you were 

 once a boy, and your sympathies are di- 

 vided between the young savages and 

 their intended prey, which after all is 

 likelier than not to escape. 



He will tangle the meadow-grass and 

 make free with the bean patch if he 

 chances upon it, yet you are glad to see 

 the woodchuck, rejoicing like yourself in 

 the advent of spring. 

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