The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1879-03-07
The Wise Rats of GarbuttsvilIe.

| 1t appears that although the Kelly farm at
Charlottesville is nearly all that could be ex-
pected of farm-it has one drawback-the
grounds are infested by rats to an extent al
most as unbearable as Haemlin before the
| Pied piper paid it u visit Mr.. Kelly is not
the man to quietly sit down and allow rats to
| walk away with his substance without re-
monstrance, and he set to work devising
means to Danish the superfluous rodents
Various banes were tried with good and bad
| results, although scores ofrats were poisoned,
scores remained to plague the proprietor
After eXhausting considerable patience and
expanding quite a sum of money in the pur-
chase of poison for the rats, Mr.. Kelly began
to regard the matter rs serious, and consulted
with his neighbors as to what they knew
about that branch of farming relating to weed
ing out rats. A hundred plans were given
him in week, each of which was guaranteed
infallible Most ofthem depended for success
on inducing the vermin to eat something that
would result in their dissolution. Mr.. Kelly
had tried in that direction so long and fruit
lessly that he had little confidence in the pre-
scrptiOns, and determined to test a plan
based on another theory One old and sage
granger told him to set Il fish-hook ON an ell
ovation in such a way that a rat in jumping
at the bait on the hook would catch on it and
remain hanging. His sqiealing in this posi-
ton would intimdate all the rats in the neigh
borhood and they would decamp. This plan
was tried but although finely-ponted fish
hooks were set never a rat impailed himself,
but stole the bait and wagged his tail in de-
risOn at the hook. When Mr.. Kelly saw
that he was defied he says he swore by the
Holy Moses that the rats should die and he
himself suffer wrong no more from them. He
had in reserve q plan that would finish them
without mercy True, it had feature of
cruelty about il, but what of that had they
not forfeited all right to life, liberty and the
pursuit Of happiness by their insolent demea-
nor and persistency in wrong-doing? This
receipt like that for Day & Martins black
ing) came. from an old soldier. He should
catch Il rat in good condition, put him in a
trap, visibleto all his fellow rats, and allow
him to starvc to death. 1t was promised that
towards the end of his days he would squeak
drcadfully and scare all the rats out of the
barn, after which, on the fourth day, he would
expire himself A rat was caught and placed
in n boX-tap in the barn. No food was
placed near him and he was watched to OBJ
serve his decrease. He was comfortable after
the first day, and no worse off the second
On the third day of his confinement he as
sumcd to be about as happy as Il rat could be
and was sleek and active as ever. On the
fourth day, when it was expected that the
bones of the prisoner would protrude from
his skin and all the other rats would have
fed, Mr.. Kelly's hired man visited the barn
and saw the trapped rat partaking of a gen
erous meal from scraps of meat stolen from
the house.dog's dish by the kindred of the
imprisoned rat. Mr. Kelly is still looking for
rat -bane -ROcHester UHfOn