1872-82 'SPECIMENS OF MY CORRESPONDENCE' 243 



"memories" of literary favourites, friends, and 

 acquaintances, to carry with us to our home across 

 the Atlantic. By parcels post I have ventured 

 to send you a page of my wife's album, and we 

 shall feel grateful if you will enrich it with a 

 brief autographic contribution. We shall hail the 

 veriest trifle with very great pleasure. 

 ' I remain, 



' Yours most truly, 



' Since the old Park mole-catcher went to 

 earth,' the Professor wrote, 2 March i, 1880, 'my 

 plague of moles has returned, and my front lawn 

 is seldom free from one or more evidences, cumu- 

 lative, of the wonderful little tunneller's operations. 

 In our village there is a belief that " the 'Fessor 

 keeps a mole," and I have seen children, when 

 they come to play about the Pond, peer through 

 the light fence to see the " ' Fessor' s mole." Well ! 

 I have lately benefited by an unexpected ally. 

 A fine young cat, reared by the cook, has taken 

 to catching moles. She steals out in the gray 

 of the morning, listens, and sits where she 

 hears the little grubber coming near the surface, 

 and, when he pushes his head above the earth- 

 mound, Puss pounces upon him and hales him 

 out.' 



The mole-catcher in question, from whom the 



2 To Dr. Pearson Langshaw. 



R 2 



