by Jacob Abbott
HOW TO KEEP A SQUIRREL
Jonas contrived to tighten the wires of the lender, by weaving in otherwires so as to secure the little prisoner this time; and when he wasfairly in his temporary cage, the boys were so pleased with his gracefulform and beautiful colors, especially the elegant stripes on his back,that they begged hard to keep him; and they made many earnest promisesnever to forget to feed him. Jonas said, at last,
"On the whole. I believe I will let you keep him, but you must do it inmy way."
"What is your way?"
"Why, after a day or two, we must carry him back to his raspberry-bush,and let him go. But you may give him a name, and call him yours, and youcan carry some corn down there now and then, to feed him with,--and thenyou will see him, occasionally, playing about there."
James and Rollo did not exactly like this plan at first, but when theyconsidered how much better the little squirrel himself would like it,they adopted it; and Rollo proposed that they should tie a string roundhis neck for a collar, so that they might know him again.
"I can get mother to let me have a little pink riband," said he, "andthat will be beautiful."
"It would be a good plan," said Jonas, "to mark him in some way, but hemight gnaw off the riband."
"O no," said James, "he could not gnaw any thing on his own neck." Rollothought so too, and they both tried to bite their own collar ribands, byway of showing Jonas how impossible it was.
"I don't know exactly what the limits are of a squirrel's gnawing,"said Jonas. "Perhaps he might tear it off with his claws."
"Or he might get another squirrel to gnaw it off for him," said James.
"Yes," said Jonas, "and there is another difficulty. He might be jumpingfrom one tree to another, and catch his collar in some little branch,and so get hung, without judge or jury."
"What can we do then?" said Rollo.
"I think," said Jonas, "that the best plan would be to dye the end ofhis tail black. That would not hurt him any; and yet, as he always holdshis tail up, we should see it, and know him."
The boys both thought this would be excellent, and Jonas said he hadsome black dye, which he had made for dyeing some wood. Jonas was a veryingenious boy, and used to make little boxes, and frames, and windmills,with his penknife, in the long winter evenings, and he had made this dyeout of vinegar and old nails, to dye some of his wood with.
"I am not certain," said Jonas, "that my dye will color hair; I nevertried it, except on wood. Do you think that black would be a prettycolor?"
"No," said Rollo, "black would not be a very pretty color, but it woulddo. Yellow, and red, and green, are pretty colors, but black, and brown,and white, are not pretty at all."
"I have not got any yellow, or red, or green," said Jonas. "I don't knowbut that I have got a little blue."
"O, blue would be beautiful," said James.
Then Jonas walked along into the barn, and Rollo and James followed him.He went up stairs, and walked along to the farthest corner, and there,up on a beam, were several small bottles all in a row. Jonas took downone, and shook it, and said that was the blue.
He brought it down to the cage; Rollo went into the house, and broughtout an old bowl, and Jonas prepared to pour out the dye into it. Theythen concluded that they would carry the whole apparatus down into theedge of the woods, and perform the operation there; and then thesquirrel, when he was liberated, would easily find his way back to hishome. Jonas carried down a pair of thick, old gloves, to keep thesquirrel from biting him.
As they walked along, Rollo proposed that Jonas should dip thesquirrel's ears in as well as his tail; "because," said he, "we maysometimes see him when he is half hid in the bushes, so that only hishead is in sight."
"Besides," said James, "it will make him look more beautiful if his earsand tail are both blue."
Jonas did not object to this, and after a short time, they reached theedge of the woods. They found a little opening, where the ground wassmooth and the grass green, which seemed exactly the place for them. Sothey put down the cage and the bowl of dye, and Jonas began to put onhis glove.
"Now, boys," said he, "you must be still as moonlight while I do it. Ifyou speak to me, you will put me out; and besides, you will frightenlittle Bunny."
The boys promised not to speak a single word; and Jonas, afterunfastening the fender from the front of the box, moved it along untilthere was an opening large enough for him to get his hand in. Rollo andJames stood by silently, and somewhat anxiously, waiting the result.
When the squirrel saw Jonas's hand intruding itself into the box, heretreated to the farther corner, and curled himself up there, with histail close down upon his back. Jonas followed him with his hand, saying,in a soothing tone, "Bunny, Bunny, poor little Bunny."
He reached him, at length, and put his hand very gently over him, andslowly and cautiously drew him out.
Rollo and James gave a sort of hysteric laugh, and instantly clappedtheir hands to their mouths, to suppress it; but they looked at oneanother and at Jonas with great delight.
Jonas gradually brought the squirrel over the bowl, and prepared to diphis ears into the dye. It was a strange situation for a squirrel to bein, and he did not like it at all; and just at the instant when his earswere going into the dye, he twisted his head round, and planted hislittle fore teeth directly upon Jonas's thumb. As might have beensupposed, teeth which were sharp and powerful enough to go through awalnut shell, would not he likely to be stopped by a leathern glove; andJonas, startled by the sudden cut, gave a twitch with his hand, and, atthe same instant, let go of the squirrel. Bunny grasped the edge of thehowl with his paws, and leaped out, bringing the bowl itself at the sameinstant over upon him, spattering him all over from head to tail withthe blue dye.
The boys looked aghast for a minute, but when they saw him racing offas fast as possible, and running up a neighboring tree, Jonas burst intoa laugh, which the other boys joined, and they continued it loud andlong, till the woods rang again.
"Well, we have spotted him, at any rate," said Jonas. "We will call himLeopard."
The boys then looked at Jonas's bite, and found that it was not a veryserious one. In fact, Jonas was a little ashamed at having let go for sosmall a wound However, it was then too late to regret it and the boysreturned slowly home.
As they were walking home, James said that the squirrel's back looked_wet_, where the dye went upon him, but he did not think it looked very_blue_.
"No," said Jonas, "it does not generally look blue at first, but itgrows blue afterwards. It will be a bright color enough before you seehim again, I will warrant."
So they walked along home; the fender was put back in its place in thegarret, the bowl in the house, and the box in the barn. Jonas soonforgot that he had been bitten, and the squirrel, as soon as his backwas dry, thought no more of the whole affair, but turned his attentionentirely to the business of digging a hole to store his nuts in for theensuing winter.
