Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-05-16
cur RATS SANDWICH.
rrue story of Rodent TntsIIi-
A afltl9 ..,..a md Prnhence.

-, True story OF Rodent inteiiE
sfs9 gencs and Prudence.
one had related to us how lac
sI rat lunching upon sand
composed of crumbs and tad.
Nf'e' can not doubt that his com
TsA ,,on would have been listened t.
ssaeon@.eorlesssuccessfully-dissembled
hD lily Yet Of that spectacle we
,yselves witnesses not many
"n ago. II had suggested itself to
roA'D arobers Of the household during
'D. .n,inr TO keep large shoal OF tad
H9f deep earthenware milk-pan
pr ,sndow.stool, for the purpose Of
.i,g their evolution into frogs. For
lime that quaint process went on
hzrinqly. being apparently in no
"i,,oneded by the abnormal glaziness
y ,gidity Of its subjects environment,
i st.b however, was judiciously miti-
'.' "a at the bottom by deposit Of peb-
aod mud But, while the shrink
or tails and sprouting of legs were
N IN full progress, it began 10 be OBJ
pod with pain that the number OF
,.snoles was rapidly aud steadily de-
s.ire. Day by day we had to
.,.ce very perceptible decline
the population Of our aqua
r,,o. there could be no doubt that in
.,erv four-and-twenty hours a certain
',rtngent Of tadpoles somehow vanish
i melted into thin air leaving not
r,.ek behind, any more than did one Of
40 silyery bubbles which they were
,erDetually sending up to wink out Of
,rIstence on the surface.
MANY theories were started to account
4, his unhappy state of affairs, but it
,,s pronounced to be impossible that,
:: some one suggested, patches Of tad
,oes. attaining to frogdom suddenly,
,souA have thereupon overleaped the
| I'm Of their dwelling place; for the drop
4 twenty feet, which was the only
means of quitting the windoWstool
,oqld have been beyond the powers Of
gen the maturest and most athletic
boz. and the pavement underneath
moved none Of those mangled remains
.bich must have resulted from any such
nekess attempt A suggestion that it
Eight perhaps, take two or three tad
,oles TO make the frog was dismissed as
I'LL more untenable; no plausible a
t,0ri explanation of these mysterious I
ikappearances had been devised, when.
eae day, all hypothesis were rendered /.
Unnecessary by ocular demonstration.
We CHANGED to look out of the win
low; and, behold! sitting upon the rim
ot the pan, brown rat, with a mild /
snl intelligent cast of countenance, and |
unusually large bright eyes! Upon the /
surface Of the water fioated large .
namber Of the bread crumbs with which
OH proteges were always kept literally I
Supplied One of these fragments the
mgcomer secured with a rapid sweep of .
b, left forepaw, while with the other.
iarrowing to relate, he deity scooped
lpa wriggling and reluctant tadpole.
and, having thus provided himself with
the materials for his sandwich, ne dis
5sed Of it in an incredibly short time.
I'D Immediately set about the capture
md manufacture OF a second. How
many be ate thus at that sitting We are
%. in position 70 state accurately, as
lis movements We're wilderingly rapid
IS well "a, maryelously dexterous, con
Aering the slipperiness alike of the
arow ledge upon which he balanced
lmaell and Of the slithery prey for
ilieh he tishcd. But we can not
0ubt that when lie slid down
nd gllded unobtrusiyely away.
ecending the creeper up which
had climbed, the tadpoles, whom
left grating in violent perturbation
llnd their troubled waters, must have
st at least d dozen of their comrades
liough the unerring sweep of that willy
Nv, which they had not the sense 10
iade by taking refuge in the inaccessi-
e mud a the bottom OF their dish. In
ct they betrayed upon this occasion
marked an absence of intelligence
ID presence of mind that our sympa-
les all inclined toward the angler: and
must own that we felt some charrin
len, on the morrow, he fell a victim to
snares Of . trap set in readiness for
q 10y the enraged proprietors Of his
fairgrounds. For though, strictly
eaAing he was, no doubt. not justified ,
deyouring our tadpoles with privy :
W. sun, like PrOspcro's delicate Ariel, }
grace he had devouring;" and it was /,
!ancholy, further, to reflect that his =
'omplishment should, after our IN !,
niortable human fashion. have mere =
paved the way to his undoing. -Lon. +
Illustrated News. :