1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
2l3 
Hope Farm Notes 
HOW COUSIN WOODCHUCK PLA YED 
SANTA CLAUS . 
This story is for the little folks, those of 
of us who still lnive faith and believe some 
things, which older people have grown away 
from. If these older people do not like 
It they need ndt listen. If they don't be¬ 
lieve, we would rather not have them spend 
their time over it. 
What Started It. —Once upon a time, 
'way off in a lonely place in the woods among 
the hills there lived a farmer. He had 
a very small farm, which was a clearing he 
had made with his own ax, and lie had a 
hard job to make a living, but lie did his 
best, lie had two children. One was quite 
a young lady, a woman grown, and the 
other was a little bit of a boy. You little 
folks don't know how much grown-up people 
can grow to think of a little boy or little 
girl, but we older people do, and I can tell 
you that Farmer Hood man thought every¬ 
thing of that hoy, because lie looked just 
exactly like his mother, who had died when 
the little fellow was a baby. Of course, 
this farmer thought: his* daughter was p.retty 
nice too, but there was a young man 
from town who began to come to this farm 
Sundays and holidays, and the farmer saw 
that her feelings were soon to be divided 
up, and he could not expect to have more 
than half of them, and so he thought more 
and more of the little boy. 
And there were other people in these 
woods too. Judge I.ynx lived with His wife 
under a rock down in a low place. Old 
Wolf on the hill had liis den in a dark 
corner, where he lived with his wife and 
three cubs. Then there were Charlie Crow, 
’Squire Possum, Mr. Muskrat, Johnnie Hoe, 
Mr. Firefly and Simon Snake living in their 
nests and holes, and most important of all 
in a big hole by the wall in the clover Held 
lived Cousin Woodchuck and Brother Rabbit. 
There was snow on the ground at Christmas 
time, and In all these homes that I speak of, 
people had an eye out for Santa Claus. Some¬ 
times when night came the boy would stand 
at the window and look out. lie could see 
the high cold hills, the dark woods and the 
bright moon sailing along the sky. but he 
could not see the sharp tittle eyes in the 
shadows of the trees or along the fences 
where the animals of the woods were watch¬ 
ing ills home. 
A Lost Hoy. —The farmer made up his 
mind that little Dick, that was' the boy's* 
name, should have a Christmas tree. Wil¬ 
liam, tljaj was the young man from town, 
said he would cut the tree. Of course, Mary 
went' along with him and little Dick thought 
he would go too and keep them company, 
though very likely they didn’t need any. 
It was late in the afternoon, and the shad¬ 
ows came early in that part of the country, 
and they climbed 'way up to the top of a 
high hill before they found the right kind 
of a tree. William cuf it. and ns tin* dark¬ 
ness came down they started home. William 
and Mary were so busy talking that they 
forgot all about little Dick. lie thought he 
knew the way home, and so he started to cut 
across. He got to the top of a big Hill and 
stenned on a log, when all at once it started 
down hill and he went along with it. There 
never was a sled that went tis fast as that 
log did. It is a wonde.r tt didn't hit a tree 
and kill little Dick, but. it slid on and on for 
a long time, and finally landed him under a 
grove of pine trees. The worst, of it was it 
made no marks on the snow, so that no one 
could trace little Dick by his footprints. 
It was so dark that lie could not see a thing, 
and getting darker all the time. You can 
think what it would mean to you to be lost, 
in the woods away off far from home. Little 
Dick began to cry, and I don't bla'me Him a 
bit. for he knew what terrible creatures 
Judge Lynx and Wolf on the hill were. As 
for Mary and William, they finally looked 
back and saw that 'little Dick was gone. 
Then they went almost crazy with fright. 
They ran home, but Dick had not come and 
Farmer Goodman went back witli them with 
a lantern, and they wandered over the hills, 
calling for Dick, but not a word did they 
hear from him. You little people don't know 
yet what it means to go hunting over hills 
and valleys seeking to save those that are 
lost. I can tell you though that Mary and 
William knew what it meant before morning 
came. 
Charlie Crow Helps. —While lit lie Dick 
sat under the tree crying.- who should come 
flying home but Charlie Crow! He had not 
had much to eat that day, and in* was still 
hungry, but when he saw the boy crying he 
slopped and lit on a tree and watched him. 
“’I’llis won't do." said he. “here is a lost 
boy. and unless I do something Lynx and 
Wolf will have him before morning. I had 
some of Farmer Goodman’s corn, and now 
I must do something for his boy, but. what 
can 1 do?" 
Just then be heard a little buzzing sound 
in the air. and who should come flying by the 
tree but Johnnie Bee. Charlie Crow called 
him and pointed out the boy. 
“That is a good boy,” said Johnnie Bee,” 
“and we must do something to save him.” 
“Hut how?” said Charlie Crow, “It is 
getting late, and old Wolf always walks out 
at night.” 
"1 am going to call Cousin Woodchuck,” 
said Johnnie Bee. “He is the only one I 
know of to help us out," and lie flew like a 
Hash over the woods to the hole by tins wall 
in the clover field. 
Cousin Woodchuck is* a great hand to sleep 
In the Winter, and lie was bundled up in tied 
when Johnnie Bee got there. Brother Rab¬ 
bit was out playing in the snow, but Cousin 
Woodchuck was so fat and had such short 
legs that he did not dare to go far from his 
hole, because old Lynx was after him. 
Johnnie Bee was nearly out of breath when 
he got to the hole, but he found Mr. Firefly 
outside, and got him to go down into the 
hole and show his light, so that they could 
see what was going on. lie told about little 
Dick and asked Cousin Woodchuck to come 
and help. Now I can tell you that Wood¬ 
chuck hated to go. You see all the rest of 
them could fly or run fast if Wolf or Lynx 
came, while he could neither climb a tree 
not* run, and he would surely be killed if 
they got him outside, ft was a hard thing, 
but Cousin Woodchuck is one of those peo¬ 
ple who always stand by their friends, and 
finally he said, “I will go.” 
Now, I am sorry to say that while they 
were talking a yerv bad old rascal was lis¬ 
tening at the mouth of the hole. That was 
Simon Snake, who always did what he could 
to help Judge Lynx. The minute he heard 
what was up and knew that Woodchuck was 
going out lie started on the run to the lonely 
place where Judge Lynx lived. 
“Come on, come on," he said, “Cousin 
Woodchuck and a nice fat boy are down here 
under a tree, and you can get them both.” 
Judge Lynx jumped up in the air. he was 
so excited. His wife puf in a word or two 
to send him oil' in good spirits; “You go and 
catch that Woodchuck right away ; I am half 
starved and don’t you dare to come back 
without some meat.” On their way they 
called up Woif on the hill, and all started 
on (lie run l'or the tree where little Dick was 
crying. 
Cousin Woodchuck Plans- In the mean¬ 
time Cousin Woodchuck and Johnnie Bee had 
reached the place, and they picked up Sammy 
Squirrel on their way. Little Dick still sat 
under the tree, crying as hard as he could, 
and Cousin Woodchuck saw that something 
must be done right away, so lie told Mr. 
Firefly to fly around the tree three or four 
times and light his lamp as often as possible- 
When little Dick saw Mr. Firefly’s lamp a 
thought came into his head, just as Cousin 
Woodchuck knew it. would. Little Dick re¬ 
membered what ids father had told him. to 
build a tire if he ever got lost. He felt in 
his pocket, and, sure enough, there was a 
box of matches. He got some dried wood 
and started a tire, and it: was a lucky thing 
lie did. because just as the flames began to 
Show u|) along came Lynx and Wolf. Dick 
could see their eyes shining out under the 
tree in the dark, but they are always afraid 
of a tire, and so they did not run in and eat 
Dick uj) as Simon Snake told them to do. 
Cousin Woodchuck was hiding in a log. and 
he could see that little Dick was getting 
sleepy. If he once went to sloop and let the 
fire go out that was an end of all of them. 
Sure enough, little Dick began to nod. and 
soon he fell over on the ground sound'asleep. 
The fire began to go down and Lynx and 
Wolf crawled out from under (lie tree and 
along th(> snow toward him. It was high 
time to act, and so Cousin Woodchuck told 
Johnnie Bee to run up and sling I lie boy. 
Johnnie did this just as light as he could, 
but the trouble was that lie broke off the 
end of his sting, so that he could not do if 
again. Little Dick woke up just in time to 
see Lynx and Wolf on the hill crawling up 
to him and lie put some more wood on the 
fire. 
Tommy Turtle Helps. Then old Simon 
Snake thought that tie must play another 
kind of a game, so lie called Lynx and Wolf 
out under a tree and laid out his plan. 
“Go back.” he said, “and pretend to have 
a light, and let one kill the other, and then 
run away. Dick will think there is no dan¬ 
ger and let his fire go out, and then you 
have got him.” 
They thought that was a good plan, so 
they went back in sight of the fire and made 
believe to have a tight. They howled and 
hissed and scratched and growled until final¬ 
ly Judge Lynx rolled over on his side and 
gave one terrible scream, then lie lav still 
like a dead one, but as we all know, lie was 
just making believe. Old Wolf looked at 
him a minute and then went limping away 
as if he was about dead himself. It was 
pretty well acted, and fooled everybody but 
Cousin Woodchuck, lie was up to ail the 
tricks that Judge Lynx could play. Little 
Dick thought he was dead, so he put some 
more wood on the fire and went to sleep 
again. Sammy Squirrel climbed a tree and 
dropped a nut on Judge Lynx, but he never 
stirred. Still Cousin Woodchuck was not 
satisfied, because lie knew if Judge Lynx 
was alive he would eat them all up as soon 
ns the fire went down, and it was going down 
all the time. Johnnie Bee went up and tried 
to sting little Dick again, but, as 1 said be¬ 
fore, the point of his sling was broken off 
and lie could not get home to put a new one 
on. What were they to do? Just as they 
were wondering and about ready to give up, 
who should come along but. Tommy Turtle. 
Tommy may be slow, but I can tell you lie 
Is very sure. 
“Come on. Tommy,” said Cousin Wood¬ 
chuck, “back up in front of the fire.” 
Cousin Woodchuck tied a long piece of 
straw to Tommy's tail and put the end of 
that straw on the tire and headed Tommy 
straight for Judge Lynx. Tommy knew by 
the heat that something was wrong behind 
him and lie started for the brook as fast: as 
lie could go with that long burning straw be 
hind him. Old Lynx still pretended to be 
dead. Tommy crawled right over him, but: 
lie never stirred, but when lie dragged that 
burning straw into Judge Lynx’s hair I can 
tell you right here that the old rascal came 
to life right away. You never heard such a 
howl as he let out. Ills hair was qll ablaze 
and lie ran like a deer. The first: thing he did 
was to run right into Old Wolf and set him on 
fire too. They both started on a dead, run 
for the river, blazing like bonfires* and howl¬ 
ing with pain. Their hair was all singed 
off and as soon as they put the lire out they 
started for home. When Judge Lynx got 
home ids wife threw him out of the den, be¬ 
cause he never brought any meat, and the old 
fellow had to sleep out in the snow. As 
for wolf. I don’t know what happened when 
lie got home, but there was' a terrible noise 
inside of bis den for a long time. 
A Happy Ending. — But that was not all. 
Farmer Goodman and William were just 
giving up their hunt in despair, when they 
say these strange fires running so fast: 
through the woods. Then they looked again 
and saw little Dick’s fire, and they ran ns 
fast as they could, and found the little fel¬ 
low sound asleep under the tree. It didn’t, 
take them long to get their arms around him. 
You never saw two men cry for joy as these 
two did, and right close to them came Cousin 
Woodchuck and his friends. Farmer Good¬ 
man carried Dick all the way home, and our 
friends followed close behind to see bow it. 
came out. I wish you could understand how 
happy that farmhouse was when little Dick 
came back. They gave him mince pie for 
supper and told him he could do just as he 
wanted to. What do you think he said? 
“SomelKidy down in the woods drove off 
those fearful things while I was asleep, and 
it must have been Santa Claus. I want to 
leave something outside ‘for him.” 
They let little Dick have bis own way and 
soon lie came out with a basket and left it 
by tin 1 fence. Then the lights went out one 
by one and all was dark, and out. from under 
the trees and the stone wall cajpe our little 
friends of the woods to see what there was in 
that basket. The cold air had made them 
hungry. There was* an apple for Cousin 
Woodchuck, a nut for Sammy Squirrel, corn 
for Charlie Crow, a piece of candy for John¬ 
nie Bee and Mr. Firefly, and a piece of bread 
for Tommy Turtle. When they got: through 
there was nothing left but an empty basket. 
“I tell you what, it pays to be Santa Claus,” 
said Cousin Woodchuck, and they all agreed 
with him. ’ n. w. r. 
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