38 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
made for the purpose of retaining such wood 
dwellers as might fall into these creatures 
power. 
Several of the young animals gathered 
around it and examined me closely, apparent¬ 
ly to determine whether 1 was good to eat. 
Indeed, the youngest of them—what they call 
a “Polly”—tried to seize a piece of my tail, 
but was prevented by the older and greedier 
ones. 
They seemed to think that I was not fat 
enough to be eaten, for they furnished me a 
variety of food. Among the things offered 
were bits of apple, a kind of sweet stone they 
call “sugar,” which was very like clean ice or 
hard snow, a dusty sort of dry stuff known 
to them as “crackers,” and a few poor walnuts. 
Of course I did not feel like eating, but they 
would not leave me alone. They poked me 
with bits of stick, until, seeing a good oppor¬ 
tunity, I bit the young animal called a Polly 
on the end of one of her soft claws. Then she 
wanted to hurt me; but a larger one of the 
animals, known as a “Papa,” interfered and 
tied a soft white leaf around her claw, proba¬ 
bly so that she might not scratch me. 
By this time I heard a curious jingling 
sound and I was soon left alone. The jin¬ 
gling sound was evidently of much importance 
to these curious creatures. I heard it always 
early in the morning, at about midday, and 
after dark; and whenever it was heard, the 
animals, big and little, would leave me for a 
time long enough for eating perhaps a dozen 
hickory nuts. 
Except the continual staring and poking, 
nothing was done to me the first day. But 
at night there was a great slamming and 
banging, the lights were suddenly taken away, 
and the whole place became dark. 
Then bow I suffered! The air became very 
heavy and close. I could not sleep. The 
hole in which these queer animals sleep was 
terribly warm and oppressive, and I longed to 
be in the woods again. 
When the light returned the jingling sound 
was repeated. The Papa and the Polly and 
the rest entered the big hollow where I was, 
and repeated a form of words until I was able 
to remember it. They said: “Good morning, 
Papa,” “Good morning, Polly,” and then went 
out of the hollow. 
After another long time a third one of them 
came in and looked very pleasantly, at me. 
The Polly and the Papa came and stood look¬ 
ing in too. Then the larger one said some 
words to the others, and repeated something 
like “ Lethlmgo .” 
The Polly said, “ Whymama!” 
The other said again, “Lethimgo” 
Then the cage was picked up and carried 
out of the hollow and into the field where they 
lived. Next the Polly worked over one side 
of the cage until she had made an opening in 
it. 
Strange to say, none of them seemed to 
notice this opening, and of course I did not 
call their attention to the oversight. (Laugh¬ 
ter.) 
I waited until the Polly had run away to 
where the other creatures stood, and then l 
made a quick jump through the opening, and 
away I went! 
It did not take me long, I promise you, to 
make my way back to the woods. 
My observations while in captivity may be 
summed up as follows: 
I should advise you to avoid entering any 
of those peculiar square, hollow logs known 
as “traps,” as it is much easier to enter them 
than to escape from them. I am sure few 
would be clever enough to escape as I did. 
If you should be so unfortunate as to find 
yourself in a “cage”—which, you remember, 
is made of hard gray twigs—bite the soft 
claws of the creatures who poke you. 
Do not eat the stange foods known as “ crack¬ 
ers '' or “candy,” as they do not agree with 
any but men. 
Large men are known as the “Papa” or 
“Oh-Papa,” and the smaller ones as “Polly” 
or “Bobby.” The worst kind, I believe, is the 
“Bobby,” and the best and kindest seems to be 
the “Whymama.” 
These curious creatures all have a means 
of putting out the stars and moon at night, 
and prefer to sleep in very hot and bad air. 
They also run away somewhere whenever they 
hear a jingle, which happens three times a- 
day. - l7/ 
I thank you for your attention, and hope -to 
be in my usual health soon. 
After a vote of thanks the meeting ad¬ 
journed, much impressed by the boldness and 
learning of Professor Chipmunk .—From St. 
Nicholas. 
