The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-22
Scenes m the Parlor Of a Man Who
I~nstruots Birds and
Animals.
Diminutive Specimens OF tho Ro-
don't Family Raised for Med
ical Colleges.
Patience and Ability to Worry Them the
Two Essentials In Their Education
Their Tricks.
Written for THE HELENA IaDEpEsDEsr.

-n4TI r-- START to u OUT
NV a. with two; but the boys
--1EN bothered them IN the
11,J street. and one GOT
Y/AJ I'M away
IMM-A b speaker was Mr..
IN Ferdinand Sem, who
knows more about
raising white mice,
probably, than any
49, lother man in this
country. As he spoke he took d cunning
little mouse, white as snow. from his cont
pocket and put it on his shoulder. The
mouse looked around for Il moment, then
ran across Nh. 6enn's back and sat down
c~ontentealy on the other shoulder. /
noticed, however, that before setting ii ut
liberty Mr.. Semi held the mouse loosely in
his left hand and gently Htroked its head
and back with his right.
The place was the pnrlor Of Mr.. Thomas
Moody's residence. Mr.. Moody trims birds
md Oil kinds Of small animals. Mr.. Sem
raises white mice for the medical colleges
and Tor other purposes; and these two ex-
perts had made an appointment to meet mo
and show me-, for the benefit Of all the boys
ana girls, something about the training Of
white mice.
For the medical college!'' perhaps You
will exclaim. what can the young doc
tors do with white mice?' You will have
to ask the doctors themselves about that.
they dlssect them to examine some part Of
their little machinery that is very much
like the machinery in a human being. But
do not worry about it, for the tiny sub
jects are chloroformed first ana they know
nothing about 1t.
DO they never bite your" asked. as
Mr.. Sem again took the mouse in his
hand.
Mr.. Moody answered for him, for Mr..
Moody does the training:
Never. if they are properly handled.
When q boy p1okszup u white mouse he is
very likely to squeeze him tight, to keep
him safe: then the mouse turns around and
bites. But take them up so-gently-with-
out squeezing them at oil, and they do not
think Of biting. Sec here"
he took the mouse from Mr.. Senn's
hand. held its tail between his forefinper
and thumb, and held it above his head.
They do not mind that at ALL" he went
on. They are what We call prehensile-
they can support their weight by the tail.
When this fellow runs down a smooth stick
you Will see him curl his tail around it for
Y uAos ASAu - = 0AouAu 1luS6L0 HIS Uh1i a I
little too hard, or accidentally press my
sharp nails against it, he would twist
around and bite me-
What do you feed them on-cheege? ~
/ asked. Cheese seemed the most natural
thing. as we always bait mouse traps
with IL.
'Mr. Moody laughed. Hardly, he re-
piled. No food is so good for them as
oats-lust dry oats. Some breeders bring
them up on bread and milk. but that is not
as good as oats. On oats they keep cleaner
and do better. The dry oats. Of course,
makes them thirsty, and then you can give
them q little bread and milk, squeezed out
pretty dry. But it is we'll to have them
thirsty, sometimes, when you are training
them-and hungry, too, for that matter.'
DO you mean to say that you starve
them INTO doing tricks. or drive them to it
by thirst?"
Not SO bad as that" he answered. Butt
II q mouse is hungry and he is to walk over
a string bridge, and he sees some oats on
the other side. he will go quicker. There
are two great secrets about making them do
as you wish. The first is patience. A boy
can learn TO train d white mouse nearly az
we'll as l can, if he has the patience. But
the boy generally tires Of it in ten minutes,
where ! keepi it up for two hours-or half a
DAY, II necessary. l worry them into it,
Worry 'em! suppose you want n mouse to
climb q stick, pick up a little flag that you
have put there, and bring it down. You
take the mouse when be is hungry, to begin
with; YOU tie Il grain or two Of oats to the
Flagstaff, and You put the mouse at the foot
q the stick. He won't go up, of course.
Well, when he turns around to run away.
you set him back again, with his nose to
the STICK. u he runs away fifty times, set