MY SQUIRREL NEIGHBORS, 



When Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail moved 

 in the big butternut tree in my 

 next door neighbor's back yard I think 

 I was a witness of the event, for surely 

 such scurrying up and down the tall 

 trunk, such whisking in and out among 

 the bare branches, such peering of 

 bright eyes into every crack and fissure 

 •of the rough bark, and' above all such 

 incessant and excited chattering could 

 signify nothing less important than the 

 inspection of new premises with a view 

 of occupancy. 



Just why a pair of youthful red squir- 

 rels should forsake a sylvan home tO' make 

 their abode within the sound of whir- 

 ring factories and jangling street cars 

 would be hard for us humans to guess. 

 Whether the pretty bride had high no- 

 tions and wished to have her fling amid 

 city life; whether the dapper husband 

 had astutely measured his chances in 

 the business world and decided to locate 

 where things were doing, or whether it 

 was with the thought of metropolitan 

 advantages for their future offspring — 

 at any rate, there the couple were, bag 

 and baggage apparently, and soon feel- 

 ing thoroughly at home in the cosy 

 ''sky parlor" which a wind storm, tear- 

 ing off a hollow limb, had prepared for 

 them. 



Perched high up in the portico of this 

 apartment, leaf-hidden as spring ad- 

 vanced, and looking down upon the 

 broad gables of the dwelling house at 

 the front of their special domain; to the 

 right, upon the gnarled and wide-spread 

 apple tree which every Maytime snows 

 its petals upon my grape arbor; to the 

 left, upon the long row of sweet peas 

 nodding familiarly over their wire net- 

 ting to the denizens of Cottage Street ; 

 to the rear upon the blazing line of nas- 

 turtiums straggling from the turf edge 

 down over the masonry embankment to 

 look at themselves in the brook that 

 prattles past, and lastly looking upon 



the stretch of fresh green grass filling 

 the space between, I think the Bushy- 

 tails must have congratulated them- 

 selves upon a well-chosen abode. 



Mr. Bushytail displayed his satisfac- 

 tion and good spirits by many a rollick- 

 ing tear — tail in air like a banner — over 

 the housetop and into the maple trees 

 bordering the street, where he gave free 

 acrobatic performances to the delight of 

 all children and grown ups who hap- 

 pened by. Offerings of chestnuts and 

 other edibles were placed in the maples 

 for him ; and after once catching a 

 ghmpse of his inquisitive little nose 

 thrust against the screen of my cham- 

 ber window I kept a ''quick lunch" al- 

 ways at his disposal on the window 

 sill. 



Mrs. Bushytail seldom accompanied 

 her husband on these revels. I un- 

 derstood her preference for seclusion 

 later when I chanced one morning to 

 see her leaving home for a brief airing, 

 wafting backward as she went many 

 sharp admonitions toward the knot 

 where her husband sat, jaunty and self- 

 sufffcient, ostensibly keeping guard (.out 

 in what a hap-hazard, irresponsible 

 manner any mother will understand) 

 over three tiny balls of reddish fur which 

 seemed to show a terrifying tendency 

 to come tumbling from their nest. 



Carrying such a burden of anxiety 

 with her, it was hardly to be expected 

 that Mrs. Bushytail would greatly en- 

 joy her outing; but whatever pleasant 

 anticipations she may have had were 

 speedily crushed. Hardly had she taken 

 her harassed and preoccupied way as 

 far as the roof corner, and thence by 

 an easy drop into the young walnut 

 tree in my yard, when l^ichold, there on 

 the ground below was Muggins, the 

 petted Maltese aristocrat living across 

 the street, who possessed on this par- 

 ticular day an unmistakable hankering 

 for a game dinner. 



220 



