Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1910 — The Story of a Turtle’s Meal. [ARTICLE]

The Story of a Turtle’s Meal.

A butterfly hunter tells the following story of swamp life: • “In the water right between my feet was a spotted turtle that had just captured an appetizing but by no means dainty morsel. This was a terrapinlikp bug that was more than a mouthful. His body was already out oft sight, but clawlike legs protruded from both sides of that isoceles triangle which a turtle’s mouth makes when it is closed and waved a frantic farewell to the passing underwater world. The turtle was a long time in masticating his terrapin, but it was a happy time. His whole body blinked contentedly, and he waved his fore legs with a caressing outpush, a motion exactly like that of a child at the breast. Then he wagged his head solemnly from side to side, as a wise turtle might who feels that such good lunches are put up by fate only for the knowing ones of this watery world, and pushed himself halfway under the roots of a tussock for a nap.”