Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1868-03-12
A RaciOcination on Rrts.
Were you ever troubled with rats ?

Rats may have their uses, in China for
instance, where they serve them up for
game and devour them with a relish.
Remembering this, have been tempted
to invite the solitary Chinaman who sells
pineapple rock candy on Fulton street to
come up to my house and board free Of
charges as long as there was a rat in the
pantry.
I would be willing to supply him with
salt and crackers to complete the banquet.
The case is getting rather desperate
these rats are doing an amount of damage
heartrending to contemplate They eat
anything that comes handy; if ordinary
articles Of diet are not within reach they
have no objection to soap, towels, boot
tops or fat-irons.
They have eat up a set of napkins and
ruined all Mrs. O'Lanus' table cloths.
Perhaps you want to know why don't
try to get rid of them
That's precisely what I'm doing.
/ [ got dog and a cat, both warranted
to be rat-catchers. The cat has basely
deserted; the dog has stood by me faith
fully.
He carried on vigorous campaign ag-
ainst the rats in the cellar and in the yard,
and routed them with loss. The survivors
took refuge in the house, effected lodg
ment under the floor or in the walls, and
FROM those secure retreats they smile sar-
donic defiance at their bafned canine foe
[ tried "pizen,' the regular rat EXTERN
inator They appeared to like it and it
seemed to improve their appetites
Mrs O'Lanus read in the papers way
to kill rats which she then tried
It was to fry pieces Of sponge in fat and
lay them around Loose. The rat eats the
sponge, takes drink; sponge absorbs aud
swells rat swells. as long as there is any
stretch in him; FINAL. result-explosion Of
rat.
It is a sure thing, but it is too danger
GUS We tried it.
Mrs O'Lanus laid out dish of fried
sponge every evening One old rat took
quite a fancy to it. He grew visilly day
/ by day. All the holes had to be enlarged
to let him through He was as elastic as
india-rubber, and swelled like an alder
man He was the latest rat you ever
saw. We kept him on sponge diet for
three weeks and had begun to think it
was failure, when one evening, after the
children bad gone to bed and Mrs. Ola
nus was sitting quietly by the stove put
ting new seat in Ihemistocles's panta-
loons-and I was reading an interesting
work on the moral condition and spiritual
benightedness Of the population of Terre
del-Fuego-we were startled by a terrific
report The house was shaken, accom-
panied by grand crash of crockery and
the sound of falling plaster.
In the suddenness of the emergency
Mrs. O'Lanus couldn't make up her mind
whether to faint away or to rush out into
1 the street and call for the police.
AS soon as she had sufficiently recover
ed from the shock we went int the kitch-
en- to prospect and take stock Of the dam
age.
The closet wall had been blown in and
a shelf demolished, with fearful destruc-
ton of crockery.
That rat had gone off. The sponge
had wiped him out, and he would sponge
on US no longer.
But when [ came TO calculate on the
cost, found that sponging out rats would
not pay.
Besides the damage there was danger
Estimating by its effects the explosive
power of one rat charged with sponge, six
rats going off at once would blow house
up.
So | threw up the sponge.
Then bought trap; one Of those ter
rible machines that shut up with a spring
and take rats head off, if he don't get
out of the way.
The only thing it caught was two. of
Themistocle's fingers. He wanted to see
how it caught the rat. After that he left
the trap alone without being told.
The boy has quite aretentIye memory,
But the rats they didn't care a. snap
for the trap.
They saw through it at once. They
stole the bait from the very jaws of de-
/ strucilon.
Then / tied the bait fast, and what did
they do but carry off trap and all.
I am worse of than Noah. | haven't
been able to light on ary-rat.
Speaking Of Noah, | wonder that he
took couple Of rats into the ark. He
might, think, have exercised some dis
creton in the selection Of geological speoi-
mems for his menagefie and omitted rats
| dof.'i think that the qualification of
Chinalnen and black and tan terriers is
sufficient justification for the preservation
of rats.
When saw Mrs. O'Lanus last evening
with tears in her eyes, contemplating the
wreck of damask table-cloth, | was NOV
ed.
Rallying her feelings, she turned to me
with the air ola woman who had made up
her mind. and wasn't to be trihed with any
longer, and with firm and resolute voice
said
Something must be DONE"
But what is to be done
[ have heard of several remedies for
rats, warranted to be effective
| One Of which is to pour half a pint Of