My Boyhood and Youth 



they are very neat animals, their lips and fin- 

 gers were dyed red like our own, when the straw- 

 berries and huckleberries were ripe. We could 

 always tell when the wheat and oats were in 

 the milk by seeing the chipmunks feeding on 

 the ears. They kept nibbling at the wheat until 

 it was harvested and then gleaned in the stub- 

 ble, keeping up a careful watch for their ene- 

 mies, — dogs, hawks, and shrikes. They are as 

 widely distributed over the continent as the 

 squirrels, various species inhabiting different 

 regions on the mountains and lowlands, but all 

 the different kinds have the same general char- 

 acteristics of light, airy cheerfulness and good 

 nature. 



Before the arrival of farmers in the Wiscon- 

 sin woods the small ground squirrels, called 

 "gophers," lived chiefly on the seeds of wild 

 grasses and weeds, but after the country was 

 cleared and ploughed no feasting animal fell to 

 more heartily on the farmer's wheat and com. 

 Increasing rapidly in numbers and knowledge, 

 they became very destructive, especially in the 

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