Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-11-04

out of bed, and shiveringly dressed
myself. Lighting lamp, / went up
stairs. Two large mountain rats sat on
a cracker box. Their ears were thrown
forward. Their large eyes shone brightly
as they looked steadily at me,
apparently amazed at my in
trusion. They were not in the least
alarmed. A small cat that was the
terror of all the living mice and chip
munks in Hyacinth had accompanied
me to the garret. Unwisely she attacked
the larger of the two rats. Quickly she
realized that the rat was strong enough
to set her up in the corner aud scrape
the entire skin off of her body, not only
strong enough, but evidently inclined
to subject her to that unpleasant opera
tion. Giving voice to q scream of
terror, the cat sprang down the stairs,
her tail, of the size of Bologna
sausage, standing straight out behind
her. was glad the rat whipped her.
The combat over, the rat jumped on
the cracker box and looked at me
knowingly, as much as to say: "Cleaned
her out nicely, eh ? We are glad to see
you, but you will have to excuse US.
Business before pleasure, You know;
we must go to work" With incon-
ceivable effrontery of look and action,
the creatures dived into the cracker box,
and came to the surface with crackers
in their mouths. There was an un-
natural GOODNESS about the conduct of
these two rats that almost awed me. l
spoke sharply, and threw an empty
ounny sack at them. They, with great
deliberation, walked into hole leading
to the space between the double roofs
of my house.
From that morning our trouble with
rats began. am inclined to think that
the spirits of all the defunct ravens and
magpies are inclosed within the sleek,
grayish skins of these two predatory
creatures. They are the most I'M
sconscionable thieves in existence. They
steal for the love of stealing. l presume
that they are highly cultured, as they
are apparently aesthetic. For instance,
my youngest son is, or was, the owner
of box of picture blocks that were
unriva!led in the toy market for coarse
ness of execution and striking ugliness
of design. This box of blocks stood on
the floor of the garret. The rats were
evidently pleased with the vivid color
ing of the pictures, as they stole every
block. A sorrowful howl resounded
through the pine forest when the child
discovered his loss. A few days after
the stealing of the blocks / missed my
last plug of tobacco. 1t weighed a
pound. Then the keys of our doors
disappeared. We missed article after
article of light weight and trifiing value,
until we had become ace 1stomed to pay
ing the toll these rats nightly levied
on us.
One morning, after building the
fires, | whistled for my dog, took my
gun, and walked to n mountain park
before breakfast, hoping to bag brace
of willow grouse. On my return | saw
that the partner of my joys and woes
was somewhat excited. Supposing that
had fingered in the park too long, |
sat down at the table demurely. Stick
ing upright in loaf of bread was a
steel fork, old, rusty, with one tine
broken and the remaining ones badly
bent. 1 recognized the tool, having
seen it few days before in the hands
of my youngest son, at that time an
active partner with dog in excavating
chipmunk. I mildly suggested to my
wife that / was not Oscar Wilde, and
that did not like odd bits of bric-a- brac
on the breakfast table. THAT is not
an article of bric-a,b brac. That is the
family fork. l thrust it into the bread
for convenience We can take turns
using it." "The family fork y /,
parrot-like, exclaimed inquiringly.
eyes, the family fork; and if you will go
beg. borrow, or steal a spoon, we will
have family spoon. AS it now is, we are
spoonless, and you can stir your coffee
with your finger or your knife, as best
suits YOU" she sweetly replied. In
vestigation proved her to be correct IN
her statement. Every spoon and fork
we owned, excepting the antique relic,
had disappeared. l whitfield a couple
of sharp sticks for forks, and that
breakfast was eaten in depressing,
smileless silence. After eating |
searched for my pipe. 1t was gone.
Nv brass-handled tobacco knife was
missing. / suspected that my wife was
greatly pleased, and when, with an ap-
pearance of great docility, she said:
'tThe rats have taken your pipe,
tobacco, and knife. Now, if you will
leave cuspidor and box of matches
where they can get them, they will be
nicely fixed for housekeeping this
winter, won't they?" [ knew she was
triumphing over me. l also knew that
/ had to take off few boards of the
first roof of my house and recover from
the rats nest our personal property.
The boards were pried off. The nest
covered space six feet long and three
feet wide. It was roughly built OF bits
OF cloth, dried fruit, crackers, the
picture blocks, clothespins, forks,
spoons, my pipe, tobacco, and knife,
and scores of small articles, such as
penholders, paper cutters, nutcrackers,
writing paper, nails, keys, spikes, bones,
feathers, glass bottles, hinges, hasps,
and sacks. There was little over two
bus heIs of food, hardware, and glass IN
that nest.
The recovery Of this property by the
owners was q serious blow TO fall on the
Industrious creatures just as the high
land winter was setting in. The result
of weeks of steady toll, and night work
Mt that, was taken from them in a
minute. But they were not in the least
discouraged. The following night they
selected my rubber boots for their new
storehouse, and they cheerfully filled
them with the picture blocks and some
nails.
Nightly they steal, and daily we
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