The Tragedy of the Flying Squirrels 



robins and the rabbits were all old 

 friends that never failed us, but the 

 addition of these two tiny aviators of 

 the woods to our regular summer col- 

 ony was quite the event of an ever 

 memorable season. Whence they came 

 nobody really knew. I dubbed them 

 Hansel and Gretel. Some mother 

 must of course have sent the little 

 wanderers from some far country into 

 this remnant of a once extensive forest, 

 and here they were seeking, like the 

 children of the old-time fairy tale, 

 nuts, berries and adventure. Here, 

 too, like the babes which the genius 

 of Humperdinck has immortalized in 

 melodious opera, they were destined 

 at last to be overcome by the spell 

 of an evil genius — one vastly more 

 powerful even than that of the fabled 

 witch of the Ilsenstein. Indeed, they 

 fell into a sleep at last from which they 

 have not yet awakened. 



They seemed to have no fixed habita- 

 tion as the season progressed, but 



[lOl] 



