Show WINTER QUARTERS FOR THE ANIMALS 11 THE BOX TURTLES NAP Methuselah the box turtle philosophized philoso-phized In the garden Two hundred years before when Methuselah was young for such Is the great age of box turtles he had lived In the great forest dividing the freedom oi the woods with the Indians the wild turkeys tur-keys and the buffalo But now the Indian and the buffalo had been driven to seek refuge In the Wild West show the turkeys had been tamed to the farmyard and Methuselah himself had been compelled to spend his declining years In a backyard of a New York city house The old patriarch was still sufficiently sufficient-ly strong to dig up whole bricks heavy stones and entire sunflower plants But he showed signs of his extreme age His eyes were no longer the fiery red color of youth but a dull brown while the akin of his neck was folded and wrinkled until It looked like accordion accor-dion plaits His shell was mostly yellow yel-low the glossy black having disappeared disap-peared Very tame was Methuselah as long an no one came near him hut he had a fondness for the fingers of those who approached him too closely which made most of his visitors express a preference for his companion John who was a mere Infant In comparIson with Methuselah although If he had been a man Instead of a turtle he would have been nicknamed Methuselah Methuse-lah himself Methuselah knew that It was almost time for his sixmonth winter nap to begin and already his cousins the mud turtles of whom there are many the painted mud turtle the map turtle tur-tle the speckled tortoise and the diamondback dia-mondback terrapinhad gono Into their mudholcs for the winter He knew that In the farofC forest the frost grapes must be ripe and from time Immemorial this had been the sign by which ho and his forefathers had discovered when It was time to go Into the earth for the winter Always since they had come Into the garden to llvo Methuselah and John had gone Into winter quarters together and after six months sleep they had come out together and appeared In the garden on the same spring day But this year Methuselah had shown a reluctance to go into his long sleep 1 John watched him patiently waiting for the sign from the older turtle Presently Johns patience was rewarded re-warded Methuselah started up and began to go slowly zigzagging round the garden John followed In his wake for It was the annual walkaround which all turtles make to look for a soft place for winter quarters Almost at the same inoment John and ho began to burrow They were not GO close as to Interfere with each other and neither paid any attention to his companion They dug away steadily until they had almost rcochud the frontline then they turned and mounted again to the outside world It was their last glimpse of outdoors for oix months But they wasted no time In sentiment Each turtle poised himself on the edge of his hole shut his shell up tight and deliberately fell over head first Into his winter bed Having performed this act his labors were byno means at an end Down in the hole ho began digging away very industriously I until he had gotten well below the frostline Then he again drew In his head closed his shell down for good not to wake again until the sprint Neither Methuselah nor John nor any of their relatives took any food or drink Into theIr winter quarters Un like Mr Fox the subject of winter food docs not disturb the turtle Even the most Insignificant mud turtle would scorn the weakness of wanting food and In the spring when they come out they are as fat and vigorous as If they had boon well fed all winter And aalaep How Methuselah nnd John did sleep Nothing short oC an I earthquake could have waked them Hall and sleet storms heavy soaking rains were powerless to disturb them When the snow had melted and the earth softened so that the crocus buds pushed their way through to light and air John awoke one day opened his shell and looked around him In the earth moist from tho dripping of melted Icicles He stretched his neck out and began to reach upward and presently by steady pushing he found himself In the garden Methuselah had not yet arrived Day after day John waited for him sitting blinking In the sun or resting comfortably comfort-ably underneath the bushes But Methuselah never came again It la thought by some of his friends that he has gone In search of the Fountain ot Youth which is said to be In tho cen tr I of tro north sn that he may drink of it and live another 200 years |