224 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



Bryant also is correct in having the squirrel about in 

 winter, as in the following, from "A Winter Piece:" 



' ' From his hollow tree 

 The squirrel was abroad, gathering the nuts 

 Just fallen, that asked the winter cold and sway 

 Of winter blast, to shake them from their hold." 



Longfellow speaks of the squirrel frequently, but 

 especially in this familiar passage : 



" Up the oak-tree, close beside him. 

 Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 

 In and out among the branches, 

 Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree, 

 Laughed, and said between his laughing, 

 'Do not shoot me, Hiawatha !' " 



In our recent verse I have met with nothing better 

 than these lines from a short poem entitled "When 

 Chestnuts Fall," by Mr. Joel Benton : 



" The squirrel now, half-ambushed, sees 

 His longed-for largess in the trees ; 

 A keen frost chills each breeze that blows, — 



The squirrel starts, alert with joy ; 

 An allied frenzy stirs the boy ; 

 Marauders born they both agree 

 To burglarize each bounteous tree ; 

 And to their separate comrades call. 

 When, urged by frost, the chesnuts fall." 



I have not shot a squirrel for several years, and I 

 do not know that I ever shall do so again, though the 

 hunting instinct is very strong, and one does not know 

 what he will do when it suddenly comes upon him with 

 a whiff of autumn. But I shall not soon forget my 

 feelings at my last hunt. Bang! — splash! — thud! I 

 ran quickly over to the spot. There he lay, down 



