1 2 The Woodchuck 



had been mown and a tempting new clover crop was 

 spread before them. There was nothing to do now 

 save to eat, bask in the golden autumn sunshine, and 

 eat again. With a few weeks of this sort of life there 

 came a wonderful change in their appearance; their 

 cheeks were distended, their fur glossy, and their 

 skins stretched with fatness. 



When September was well advanced, they could 

 eat no more, and had only to wait and doze away the 

 time until about the first week in October, when 

 Mother Nature would put them sound asleep. The 

 blood began to flow more slowly through their veins, 

 a sleep crept gradually over them which they could 

 not resist, and finally, side by side in their snug retreat, 

 they curled themselves into balls of fur, and fell asleep. 



Warm summer days followed with their mellow light ; 

 Indian summer came and went, but the slumber of 

 the woodchucks was unbroken; and thus the cold 

 cheerless winter passed in one long dream of summer. 



