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<v Speaker 1>Section sixteen of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven n two,

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<v Speaker 1>February nineteen hundred. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox

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<v Speaker 1>recordings are in the public domain. For more information or

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<v Speaker 1>to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Betty B.

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<v Speaker 1>Mole Cricket, Lodge, Bertha C. V. Sunnier. Mister and Missus

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<v Speaker 1>Mole Cricket had folded their hands for the winter. The

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<v Speaker 1>busy season was over, for the ground was all hard

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<v Speaker 1>with the foot tread of jack frost, and the snow

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<v Speaker 1>lay all over the lodge, a solid warm cover that

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<v Speaker 1>squeaked and crunched quite musically when little boy Will rode

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<v Speaker 1>back and forth on it with his sled. Dasher shadows

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<v Speaker 1>lay rather heavily in the lodge. The caverns and galleries

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<v Speaker 1>which had been built in warmer times were hung with darkness,

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<v Speaker 1>and all was still in slumber. Side by side in

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<v Speaker 1>the chamber, just under the long dead grass and the

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<v Speaker 1>white snow, with a roof formed of tiny roots and

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<v Speaker 1>loose earth, lay Mister and Missus Mole Cricket. It was

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<v Speaker 1>the same chamber in which had lain the little white

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<v Speaker 1>eggs that the warm sun had hatched, and from it

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<v Speaker 1>the young crickets had gone out, already valiant to burrow

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<v Speaker 1>their own galleries and seek their own food. Slumber had

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<v Speaker 1>gone on in the chamber for many weeks when at

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<v Speaker 1>a sudden sound, mister Cricket moved. We fancy he was

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<v Speaker 1>cross at being disturbed. What's that, he said? Boy Will

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<v Speaker 1>answered his wife. He's digging up the snow to make

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<v Speaker 1>a snow man and shouting. He'll make us cold, grumbled

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<v Speaker 1>mister Cricket. Then we must go to the cavern. But

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<v Speaker 1>we can't. I'm as stiff as a stick. I believe

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<v Speaker 1>i am too. The earth that covered their roof was

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<v Speaker 1>very sandy and loose when not frozen, and as it was,

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<v Speaker 1>that yielded redly to persistent thumps such as now fell

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<v Speaker 1>about it. The snow was soggy, just right for building purposes,

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<v Speaker 1>and boy Will, in his enthusiasm, scraped up a shovelful

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<v Speaker 1>of dirt with the last bit of snow that covered

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<v Speaker 1>the lodge. His sharp eyes saw something black lying beneath

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<v Speaker 1>the little dead roots that had in the summer belonged

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<v Speaker 1>to his forget me nots. He took the shovel. It

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<v Speaker 1>was his mother's stove shovel, and carefully pried the dark

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<v Speaker 1>bundle up and with his little red fingers separated it

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<v Speaker 1>from its wrappings. Aha, he said, and ran into the house.

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<v Speaker 1>Look a here, he cried as he ran up to

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<v Speaker 1>his father's desk. Well well, said his father, looking at

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<v Speaker 1>the objects through gold bowed spectacles. That's the same sort

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<v Speaker 1>of fellow that we teased last summer with the grass blade.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell me, said boy Will, in wonder. Don't you remember

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<v Speaker 1>the little hole in the garden, And when I put

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<v Speaker 1>in a spear of grass, how the fellow grabbed it

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<v Speaker 1>with his jaws? I drew him out, and there was

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<v Speaker 1>sir mole cricket that does so much mischief in the garden.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yes, and now here are too. But they are dead, no,

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<v Speaker 1>only asleep for the winter. The warm room will revive them,

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<v Speaker 1>but they may die after all, they will have awakened

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<v Speaker 1>out of season. I wish I could put them back,

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<v Speaker 1>said boy Will. We will study them a little and

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<v Speaker 1>then we will see, returned his father, as he took

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<v Speaker 1>up his pen knife and pointed to the folded legs.

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<v Speaker 1>Those big flat forelegs are what do all the mischief?

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<v Speaker 1>They are like strong little hands and have claws on them,

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<v Speaker 1>and they are used for digging. The main business of

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<v Speaker 1>sir cricket is to burrow, and he works away with

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<v Speaker 1>these hands of his until he will have made a

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<v Speaker 1>number of underground passages. And in his work he will

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<v Speaker 1>cut off hundreds of new tender roots that belong to

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<v Speaker 1>plants and shrubs. And that's the mischief of him. What

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<v Speaker 1>do they eat Why little bugs? But they are fierce

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<v Speaker 1>hungry creatures. And when they meet a mall cricket that

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<v Speaker 1>is weak and defenseless, they pounce on him and eat him.

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<v Speaker 1>They are no respector of relatives. They don't deserve to live.

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<v Speaker 1>Cried boy will with a stamp, But we can give

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<v Speaker 1>them their chances returned, mister Ray, Now look at this one.

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<v Speaker 1>There are two sets of wings, one outside and one inside,

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<v Speaker 1>like grasshoppers, but much shorter. Here are two delicate feelers

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<v Speaker 1>or antennae, bent backward, and two at the end of

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<v Speaker 1>the body. I suppose those are for the purpose of

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<v Speaker 1>discovering any danger that might approach them from behind while

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<v Speaker 1>they are busy at digging. The jaws are toothed and horny,

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<v Speaker 1>and so all in all we may put Sir cricket

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<v Speaker 1>down in the same order in which are the katie,

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<v Speaker 1>did grasshopper, field and house, cricket, cockroach, earwig, and so on,

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<v Speaker 1>Which is the order orthoptera. Now come and show me

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<v Speaker 1>where you found them. Boy Will led the way where

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<v Speaker 1>stood his half built snow man, and mister Ray with

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<v Speaker 1>a stick, felt about in the chamber for the opening

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<v Speaker 1>to another cavity to the lodge. Ah. Here it is

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<v Speaker 1>a warmer and a better one than the other, because

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<v Speaker 1>it is deeper. And he slipped the two objects in

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<v Speaker 1>and stopped the doorway with earth and snow. Well, I declare,

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<v Speaker 1>said mister Mole Cricket from under his horny skin. What

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<v Speaker 1>do you think of that? Why? Said his wife. They've

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<v Speaker 1>put us in the cavern where we should have been

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<v Speaker 1>in the first place. What a mistake it was to

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<v Speaker 1>go to sleep in the nursery. Now we shall be

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<v Speaker 1>quite safe until spring. Well, well, true enough, returned sir

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<v Speaker 1>Mol Cricket, and they both fell asleep again. End of

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<v Speaker 1>section sixteen.