a disintegrated 

 state. 



It was on a 

 winter's day, in 

 a walk on the crusted 

 snow, during my early 

 boyhood. Returning 

 by the brink of a 

 stream, I noticed a 

 little gray mass 

 of fur on the 

 snow, which on 

 examination 

 disclosed nu- 

 merous bones 

 of what I took 

 to be field-mice and 

 parts of the anatomy 

 of a mole intermin- 

 gled with the hair. 

 No vestige of flesh 

 appeared in the mass, 

 and I fell to wonder- 

 ing what manner of 

 disease is this with 

 which the mouse 

 world is afflicted that 

 should consume the 

 ■* flesh and leave noth- 



