By the Roadside (Dunn and Troxell)/A Woodchuck at Home

It was the second day of February. The ground was covered with snow that had fallen wet and had frozen over the top. The sky was blue, the sunshine was bright, and the clean frozen snow sparkled like millions of diamonds.
Uncle John came into the kitchen, after stamping the snow off his feet. Aunt Mary was just beginning to put the dinner on the table.
"Six more weeks of winter," said Uncle John. "The ground hog certainly saw his shadow today."
"That's so," said Aunt Mary. "I had forgotten that this is ground-hog day."
"What is a ground hog?" asked Albert. "And why did he see his shadow this morning?"
​Albert had never lived on a farm till that winter. Just before Christmas his mother had been very ill, and the doctor had said that she must go south for a long stay. So Albert had come to live with Aunt Mary and Uncle John while she was away.
"A ground hog is just the same as a woodchuck," said Uncle John.
"What is a woodchuck?" asked Albert.
"That's so, you don't know about woodchucks, do you?" replied Uncle John. "I had forgotten, you didn't come till after all the woodchucks were in their holes. You'll see many of them in the summer. The pasture lot is full of them, and they giv

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