54 The Raccoon 



despised, but the muscles of the old ones are too 

 highly flavored and decidedly tough. 



But life is not all freedom and feasting for the rac- 

 coon. Not even when the corn is in the milk; for 

 then the hunting season is at its height. Raccoon- 

 hunting is one of the American sports in which there 

 is little dignity. In fact I never attended such a hunt 

 where there was any pretence of anything other than 

 confusion; and from what I have heard the con- 

 ditions must be very similar to those of the opossum- 

 hunt in Ihe South. But in reality it is a serious matter 

 to prepare for a raccoon-hunt; for your passage 

 through the wet com, the race across the stubble-field, 

 through briers and thicket, contact with the barbed- 

 wire fence, which you did not see in time, — ^all these 

 factors work toward reducing your clothing to mere 

 threads. The light unto your feet while you were 

 running came from a lantern carried by a friend, and, 

 as fate would have it, his body was often between you 

 and the light just when you most needed illumination. 

 Among the numerous pitfalls are the hollows that are 

 so often filled with water. Both, man and dog are 

 liable to get a good ducking, which is of course only 

 one of the many incidents of raccoon-hunting. 



The real old-fashioned raccoon-hunt is not a select 

 affair; it embraces the neighborhood. Nothing is 



