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A boy was
once going home from school through the woods.
It was very early in the springtime, and nothing
green was to be seen save some moss on the edge of a
little brook, which was running over the stones and
talking to itself.
As the boy went whistling along, with his books, and
a small dinner pail slung on a pole at his back, he
saw by the new chips scattered about that
woodcutters had been at work there since morning. |
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Looking around, he saw a large white oak tree lying
on the ground. Thinking to make himself a whip out
of the green twigs, he set down his books and pail
and marched up to the tree.
He soon
discovered a large knothole in the trunk; and,
boylike, he must needs peep into it.
At first he saw nothing but a little hairy bunch;
but presently something began to move, and he saw
that he had found a squirrel's nest. Here was a
treasure for a schoolboy! There was four little baby
squirrels, their eyes not yet opened, curled up
together on a nice warm bed of moss, in the old oak
tree. He took them out and put them into his tin
pail, thinking to carry them home.
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But the boy had a very kind heart under his jacket;
and kind heart began to say to him that when the
mother of the squirrels came home, she would be in
great distress to find her babies gone. So he packed
them all into the hole again, and hid himself in a
bush that he might see what the old squirrel would
do when she came back and found her house knocked
down.
Before long he saw a gray squirrel running along the
stone wall with a nut in her mouth. She leaped down
the wall and over the ground as swift as a bird, for
she was in a great hurry to see her children.But
when she came to the tree she dropped her nut and
looked round in astonishment.
She went smelling all about; then she mounted the
stump to take a survey of the country. There she
stood a moment on her hind legs and snuffed the air
with a look of distress.But she would not leave the
spot. Again and again she mounted the stump, stood
erect, looked around keenly, and snuffed the air.
At last a lucky thought seemed to strike her. She
ran along the trunk of the fallen tree, and found
her hole. You may depend upon it there was great joy
in the moss cradle.She stayed a few minutes, long
enough to give the little ones their supper, and
then off she scampered on the stone wall again.The
boy followed in the direction she went, and hid
himself where he could watch.
She came back shortly, took one of her young ones in
her mouth, and set off at full speed to the knothole
of another tree. She came back again and again,
almost as swift as the wind, and never stopped to
take a moment's rest till she had carried the last
of her little ones to their new home.
The boy followed her, being careful not to go near
enough to frighten her, and he saw her climb and
place each little on safely in the knothole.
Afterwards, when he went to drive the cows, he
always went near that tree. And when he saw the happy
mother and her four little ones skipping among the
green leaves or sitting upright on the boughs, he
felt glad the he had not robbed the squirrel who had
been so careful of her young. |
