Moles and Mole-catchers
Perhaps a naturalist would have an idea how many moles were at work in the field. It was covered with molehills. In places hardly a square yard was without one. At this time of year the ground is a little softer than it has been earlier, and the activity of moles seems much greater. When I was a child, I often went round with the mole- catcher when he visited the farm. He was an old man fond of his glass, and often, when he had set his traps, he returned next day a little worse for wear, having spent his fee. Finding the traps again proved beyond him on these occasions, and he would come to the house for me. If we failed to find them all, he would look over the march wall and speak bitterly of the men working for our neighbours. They had robbed him, he insisted. It was quite untrue, of course. The old man was a bit of a rogue himself. He set snares as well as mole-traps, and gossip had it that he always put a few moles back, just to keep the place stocked.
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