would obtain
permission to leave the room on some pretext, and the other, by some
clever maneuver, would soon be after him. Then down to the dark, cool
pine woods to visit their "figure four" traps which they had set in
different places to catch squirrels. This trap consisted of a square box
placed on a piece of board and set with a little wooden trigger.
When a squirrel would enter to get the walnut fastened inside, he would
spring the trap and would not succeed in cutting his way out before
his young captor's arrival. They would slip a pillow-case, furnished
unconsciously by the college, under one corner of the box, turning it
off the bottom board until a little opening was made into the bag. The
squirrel of course would jump in, and was grabbed and twisted until it
was squeezed down to one corner. Then his captors would get a firm grip
on the back of his neck. If the squirrel proved to be a young one,
they would put on a collar and little chain, that they had always ready,
and keep him to train for a pet. Once Paul caught a gray squirrel
kitten so small and young that he had to feed it on milk and crushed
walnuts. He called it May. The tiny creature lived in his pocket and
desk and shared his bed at night. It would sit on the off page of his
book whilst he studied and comb its little whiskers and brush its
tail in perfect contentment. Every one marveled at the affection of his
pet and at the control he had over it. Paul would let it loose in the
woods, it would run up a tree and at his call, "Come May," it would
return at once and with a chuckle drop into his pocket. Paul kept this
squirrel until after he had left college. The crowded streets of the
city seemed to bewilder it, and it jumped from his pocket to the
sidewalk. A man passing struck it with a cane and killed it. Paul
grieved long over his pet; but from this experience he acquired a great
control over animals and always had a supply in hand to train. He
carried snakes and bugs and mice and lizards in his pockets and at one
time had a white rat that came very near to filling the place of the
lost May. If the boys captured an old squirrel, they generally let it
go; but sometimes it was retained for another purpose.

It would be taken back to the college and that evening put down through
a knot hole in the study-hall floor. The hole was carefully covered by
a small piece of board with the leg of Paul's desk to keep it down. Nex