The OHIO
HISTORICAL Quarterly
VOLUME 68 ?? NUMBER 3 ?? JULY 1959
The Apathetic Foxes
By ALONZO FINLEY KERCHEVAL*
FOXES ARE LIKE HUMANS in many ways. Few folks rea-
lize that foxes once lived in this
country under organized
governments of their own and attended
their own schools and
churches just like human folks.
Many years ago the first red foxes were
brought to Amer-
ica to supply the hunting needs of
wealthy Virginia planters.
The red fox thrived and multiplied and
soon Virginia became
overcrowded with red foxes. So, on one
warm and sunny
day during April 1795, a few families
of red foxes left their
Virginia dens and started for the Ohio
country. They had
often listened to wandering fox scouts
when returning from
far trips into the western forests tell
of the abundance of
fat rabbits, partridges, and delicious
game of many kinds.
"Enough to feed a million
foxes," they boasted.
When the Virginia foxes reached the
Ohio country they
discovered beautiful Pawpaw Ridge
hidden deep in the wilder-
ness. Here they did find food in
abundance. And then and
there they voted to make Pawpaw Ridge
the capital of their
newly founded fox commonwealth. More
and more foxes
continued to arrive from Virginia until
there were firmly
established red fox commonwealths all
through the Ohio
Valley.
* Reprinted through the courtesy of the
author, known also as Erasmus Foster
Darby and as Dave Webb, of Chillicothe.
220
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
For several years Pawpaw Ridge remained
the seat of
government for all the red foxes living
in the Ohio country.
Later the red fox capital was moved
elsewhere, but for many
generations all the foxes for two
hundred miles around had
great reverence for Pawpaw Ridge.
For years foxes in countless numbers
brought their entire
families from miles away to visit
Pawpaw Ridge, where they
proudly pointed out to their wives and
children the entrances
to the old dens where the head foxes of
pioneer days gathered
and enacted laws to create and govern
the first fox common-
wealth in this land of plenty.
The fox families who still lived on
Pawpaw Ridge were
delighted to see the visiting foxes
come to view the now
sacred fox holes of their first
capital. The tourist foxes
brought and killed more game than they
could carry away.
So, much food was left behind for the
residents of Pawpaw
Ridge to eat. Always the visiting foxes
brought more food
in than they took away.
The Pawpaw Ridge foxes were proud
foxes. They were
proud of Pawpaw Ridge and its historic
past. But they were
smart foxes too and knew a good thing
when they smelled it.
So they kept the ancient and sacred fox
holes clean and intact
so they could show them to the visiting
foxes with pride in
their voices as they pointed out the
sacred holes.
Even at the entrance to the first
fox-cub school and at the
entrance to the hole leading to the
first shrine to Saint Rey-
nard a few scholarly foxes had dragged
flat rocks on which
they scratched in scholarly fox
language accounts of the
founding of the school and of the
shrine.
The hole which led to the underground
chambers housing
the first seat of government caused the
most trouble because
as the fox population grew a larger
government hole had to be
dug and thus destroyed the original
hole leading to the cham-
bers of the first capitol. But one neat pile of rocks
(forming
a fence of sorts) from the original
hole was left standing on
the original spot, and several
generations of red foxes pointed
it out with much pride to visiting
foxes as being part of the
THE APATHETIC FOXES 221
original entrance to the chambers of
the first capitol.
But as the years went by the foxes of
Pawpaw Ridge
became apathetic and lost much civic
pride. Still, to entice
visitors to Pawpaw Ridge their civic
groups continued to send
out barking foxes to all the other fox
commonwealths for
miles around boasting of the sacred
places to be viewed on
Pawpaw Ridge.
Each year the barking foxes barked
louder and louder but
the red foxes of Pawpaw Ridge really
cared less and less.
The inscribed stone in front of the
hole to the first fox-cub
school was stolen but no one seemed to
care. Then some
unthinking fox destroyed the inscribed
rock in front of the
original entrance hole to the shrine to
Saint Reynard, but
even the worshipers of Saint Reynard
did little about it but
bark.
Finally, the clever foxes who headed
the government of
Pawpaw Ridge decided to move the
original pile of rocks
which stood in front of the fox hole
which had housed the
first capitol. A few Pawpaw Ridge foxes
complained with
barks and howls, but most of the
complainers only whimpered
in private. The Pawpaw Ridge board of
governors explained
how the pile of rocks could still be
pointed out with pride to
visiting foxes. They explained,
"We'll simply move the pile
of rocks to another place," and
the head of the board of
governors wisely commented, "Too
many are living in the
past."
Soon visiting foxes became fewer and scarcer.
And it was
not long before Pawpaw Ridge became
just another com-
munity. Traveling foxes did not come to
see the historic
sites anymore. The historic sites had
all disappeared. The
Pawpaw Ridge foxes gradually lost all
respect for their
glorious past and thus lost much of
their dignity too, as well
as much food touring foxes would have
left during tourist
seasons.
A fox crossing Persimmon Bottoms only a
half-mile away
was asked why he didn't visit historic
Pawpaw Ridge. His
curt and foxy reply was, "The
residents of Pawpaw Ridge
222
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
don't care for their historic past. Why
should I?" Then
with a flick of his bushy tail he
trotted on in the direction of
Possum Flats.
MORAL: Even foxy
foxes can out-fox themselves sometimes.