THE TIMID LITTLE GROUND HOG
It was not often that the little Ground Hogs were left alone in thedaytime. Before they were born their mother had been heard to say thatshe had her opinion of any Ground Hog who would be seen out aftersunrise. Mr. Ground Hog felt in the same way, and said if he ever got torunning around by daylight, like some of his relatives, people mightcall him a Woodchuck. He thought that any one who ate twigs, beets,turnips, young tree-bark, and other green things from sunset to sunriseought to be able to get along until the next sunset without a lunch. Hesaid that any Ground Hog who wanted more was a Pig.
After the baby Ground Hogs were born, matters were different. They couldnot go out at night to feed for themselves, and their stomachs were sotiny and held so little at a time that they had to be filled very often.Mr. Ground Hog was never at home now, and the care all fell upon hishard-working wife.
"You know, my dear," he had said, "that I should only be in the way if Iwere to stay at home, for I am not clever and patient with children asyou are. No, I think I will go away and see to some matters which I haverather neglected of late. When the children are grown up and you havemore time to give me, I will come back to you."
Then Mr. Ground Hog trotted away to join a party of his friends who hadjust told their wives something of the same sort, and they all wenttogether to the farmer's turnip patch and had a delightful time untilmorning. Mrs. Ground Hog looked after him as he trotted away and wishedthat she could go too. He looked so handsome with the moonlight shiningdown on his long, thick, reddish fur, and showing the black streak onhis back where the fur was tipped with gray. He was fat and shaky, witha baggy skin, and when he stopped to sit up on his haunches and wave hispaws at her and comb his face-fur, she thought him just as handsome ashe had been in the early spring when they first met. That had been in aparsnip patch where there was good feeding until the farmer found thatthe Ground Hogs were there, and dug the rest of his vegetables andstored them in his cellar. Such midnight meals as they had eaten theretogether! Mrs. Ground Hog said she never saw a parsnip afterward withoutthinking of their courtship.
She had been as handsome as he, and there were many other Ground Hogswho admired her. But now she was thin and did not have many chances tocomb her fur with her fore paws. She could not go with him to the turnippatch because she did not wish to go so far from her babies. Thinking ofthat reminded her to go into her sidehill burrow and see what they weredoing. Then she lay down and let them draw the warm milk from her body.While they were feeding she felt of them, and thought how fast they weregrowing. It would be only a short time before they could trot around thefields by themselves and whistle shrilly as they dodged down into theirown burrows. "Ah!" said she, "this is better than turnip patches or evenparsnips."
When they had finished, their mother left them and went out to feed. Shehad always been a hearty eater, but now she had to eat enough more tomake the milk for her babies. She often thought that if Ground Hogbabies could eat anything else their father might have learned to helpfeed them. She thought of this especially when she saw the Great HornedOwl carrying food home to his son and daughter. "It is what comes ofbeing four-legged," said she, "and I wouldn't be an Owl for anything, soI won't grumble." After this she was more cheerful.
When she left the burrow she always said: "I am going out to feed, and Ishall not be gone very long. Don't be afraid, for you have a goodburrow, and it is nice and dark outside."
The children would cry: "And you will surely come home before sunrise?"
"Surely," she always answered as she trotted away. Then the childrenwould rest happily in their burrow-nest.
But now Mrs. Ground Hog was hungry, and it was broad daylight. She knewthat it was because her children grew bigger every day and had to havemore and more milk. This meant that she must eat more, or else when theywanted milk there would not be enough ready. She knew that she mustbegin to feed by day as well as by night, and she was glad that shecould see fairly well if the sun were not shining into her eyes.
"Children," said she to them, just as they finished their morning lunch,"I am very hungry and I am going out to feed. You will be quite safehere and I want you to be good while I am gone."
The young Ground Hogs began to cry and clutch at her fur with their weaklittle paws. "Oh, don't go," they said. "Please don't go. We don't wantto stay alone in the daytime. We're afraid."
"I must," said she, "or I shall have no milk for you. And then, youwouldn't have me lie here all day too hungry to sleep, would you?"
"N-no," said they; "but you'll come back soon, won't you?"
"Yes," said she, and she shook off their clinging paws and poked backthe daughter who caught on again, and trotted away as fast as shecould. It was the first time that she had been out by daylight, andeverything looked queer. The colors looked too bright, and there seemedto be more noise than usual, and she met several people whom she hadnever seen before. She stopped for a minute to look at an Ovenbird'snest. The mother-bird was inside, sitting there very still and brave,although she was much frightened.
"Good-morning," said Mrs. Ground Hog. "I was just admiring your nest. Ihave never seen it by daylight."
"Good-morning," answered the Ovenbird. "I'm glad you fancy my nest, butI hope you don't like to eat meat."
"Meat?" answered Mrs. Ground Hog. "I never touch it." And she smiled andshowed all her teeth.
"Oh," exclaimed the Ovenbird, "I see you don't, for you havegnawing-teeth, rather like those of the Rabbits." Then she hopped outof the nest and let Mrs. Ground Hog peep in to see how the inside wasfinished and also to see the four speckled eggs which lay there.
"It is a lovely nest," said Mrs. Ground Hog, "and those eggs arebeauties. But I promised the children that I would hurry. Good-by." Shetrotted happily away, while Mrs. Ovenbird settled herself upon her eggsagain and thought what a pleasant call she had had and what an excellentand intelligent person Mrs. Ground Hog was!
All this time the children at home were talking together aboutthemselves and what their mother had told them. Once there was a longpause which lasted until the brother said: "I'm not afraid, are you?"
"Of course not," said they.
"Because there isn't anything to be afraid of," said he.
"Not anything," said they.
"And I wouldn't be afraid anyway," said he.
"Neither would we," answered the sisters.
There was another long pause.
"She said we'd be just as safe as if it were dark," said the big sister.
"Of course," said the brother.
"And she said she'd come back as soon as she could," said the secondsister.
"I wish she'd come now," said the smallest sister.
There was another long pause.
"You don't suppose anybody would come here just to scare us, do you?"asked the second sister.
"See here," said the brother, "I wish you'd quit saying things to make afellow afraid."
"You don't mean that you are frightened!" exclaimed the three sisterstogether. And the smallest one added: "Why, you are, too! I can feelyou tremble."
"Well, I don't care," said the brother. "I'm not afraid of people,anyhow. If it were only dark I wouldn't mind."
"Oh, are you afraid of the daylight too?" cried each of the sisters. "Soam I!" Then they all trembled together.
"I tell you what let's do," said the smallest sister. "Let's all stoplooking toward the light end of the burrow, and cuddle up together andcover our eyes and make believe it's night." They did this and feltbetter. They even played that they heard the few noises of thenight-time. A Crow cawed outside, and the brother said, "Did you hearthat Owl? That was the Great Horned Owl, the one who had to hatch theeggs, you know."
When another Crow cawed, the smallest sister said, "Was that his cousin,the Screech Owl?"
"Yes," answered the big sister. "He is the one who used to bring thingsfor the Great Horned Owl to eat."
So they amused themselves and each other, and really got
along very wellexcept when, once in a while, they opened their eyes a little crack tosee if it were not getting really dark. Then they had to begin all overagain. At last their mother came, and what a comfort it was! How gladshe was to be back, and how much she had to tell them! All about theOvenbird's nest and the four eggs in it, and how the Ovenbirds spenttheir nights in sleeping and their days in work and play.
"I wonder if the little Ovenbirds will be scared when they have to stayalone in the daytime?" said the smallest sister.
"They would be more scared if they had to stay alone at night," saidtheir mother.
"At night!" exclaimed all the young Ground Hogs. "Why, it is darkthen!"
"They might be afraid of the darkness," said their mother. Then thechildren laughed and thought she was making fun of them. They drank somemilk and went to sleep like good little Ground Hogs, but even after hewas half asleep the big brother laughed out loud at the thought of theOvenbird babies being scared at night. He could understand any one'sbeing afraid of daylight, but darkness----!