St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-03-30
eosToN's PIED PIPER.
4 Quesr lGaa Who lGskes . business u
Hunting for Dead Rats.

a 0uesr MAJ Who lGskss . Business q
Hunting for Dsad Rats.
This .Bwn has . sort Of Pied Piper Of
it's own. who makes business 0f lur-
ing from dark hiding-places the preda-
tory rat Il Il his professional task.
however. to operate. not upon live
rodents, but upon dead ones.
Now, 1t may be admitted that al-
though . living rat II not a pleasant
beast TO tackle. the same animal after
It's demise, and lacking proper sep
aiture, il far more disagreeables Thus
Il must bs considered that the function
Of the post-mortem Pied Piper Is one OF
extra difficulty. and its correct per-
formauce therefore exceptionally credit
able.
At al events. you would be apt to
think 20 II you had dead rat at this
moment peacefully decomposing under
. door or in q partition wall Of your
domicile. There is nothing in all this
world, As you would soon discover. that
smells so horribly. 1t fairly discounts
the Mephitis Americana. True. one
rat will only last six weeks before dry
ing up and becoming henceforth in
offensive; but you arc likely to con.
clude that. rather than endure it for
such . length Of time. you would pull
the house down to find IL And there
1t IS that the trouble comes In. In most
cases it is nearly impossible to locate
the source OF the stencil. Carpenters
must be hired to tear every thing to
pieces. and not infrequently Il costs a
large sum to remove the nuisance.
Think what relief it must be. under
such circumstances, to simply send on,
for q man who makes this kind OF thing
q regular occupation. and have him
find the rat and take it away for asmall
fee. Five dollars is the price charged
by Boston's Pied Piper for such a SER
vice. It is always the same price,
whether 1t takes him a week or five
minutes As a rule. however. the jOt
is accomplished very quickly. 1t is q
matter Of practice. like any thing else
The mans nose. naturally an acute Or
gan. has been trained to a surprising
degree OF sensiiveness. There are
certain rules. too. by which he goes
Upon entering a building whittier he il
called to operate he gives a few expert
enced shifts here and there. In order Il
6nd out where the smell Is most intense
He can not always tell this at once. fol
such things arc deceptive But he con
tinues to prospect, keeping an eye opei
"a he goes for likely corners, such a
arc beneath firepIaccs and other warn
spots. which dying rats would be likel!
to seek. Finally. having located tn
trouble pretty satisfactorily. he bores I
hole with an auger and shifts at it ono
more. II it is q find it only remains Il
make q bigger opening and take ou
the corpse. The labor is disagreeabfe
but it pays. 1t Is always 8 for eacl
rat found. and sometimes the man vii
get three or four together within few
minutes
Every town should certainly have
post-mortem Pied-Piper. It would b
the most profitable to owners Of tene
ments. who are continually suferin!
from this cause. II a dead rat turn
up in a Aat-house the landlord is a
once sent for and threatened with aban
donment by his tenants unless he take
prompt measures to remove the Obnoxi
GUS thing. Sometimes 1t costs a rOun'
sum Of money, and a single rat bill ma
eat up two or three months rent. Her
is a good suggestion for somebody Il
your city who has good smelling OF
gan and is looking for gainful employ
ment Let him turn Pied Piper an
make his everlasting fortune. A ter
rier, by the way. can be trained
great usefulness As an assistant In sue
work.-Boston Cor. San Francisc
/ DOmH