Milford chronicle., 1892-02-12
HOW TO TRAIN
SOME SECRETS OF THE METH
EMPLOYED BY AN EXPERT.

| QOmE OEOnG . Vt III WI itAs@
EMPLOYED BY AN EXPERT. 4
xnexhaustibie Patience Is Required First
of AiI--Judicious Feeding Must BE OBJ
served--Then One Must Worry the Lit
tie Creatures.
Ferdinand Sem knows more about
raising white mice probably than any
other man in this country, and Thomas
Moody knows more about training them.
Before an explanation of how they are
trained, Mr.. Sem took cunning little
mouse, white as snow, from his coat
pocket and put it on his shoulder. The
mouse looked around for moment,
then ran across Mr.. Senn's back and sat
| down contentedly ON the other shoulder
Before setting it at liberty he held the
mouse loosely in his left hand and
stroked its head and back with his right.
''Do they never bite your
Mr.. Moody answered for him, for M
Moody does the training; "Never( if
they are properly handled. When Gboy
picks up white mouse he is very(likely
to squeeze him tight to keep him safe:
then the mouse turns arounT and bites
But take them up so-genEy-without
squeezing them at all, ard they do not
think of biting. See hera''
He took the house from Mr.. Senn's
hand, held its tail betNj<e his forefnger
and thumb and held id hbove his head
They do rot mind that at all. he
went on. "They are what we call pre-
hensile-they can support their weight
by the tail When this fellow runs down
a smooth stick you will see him coil his
tail around it for brake. But if
should squeeze his tail little too hard
or accidentally press my sharp nails
against it, he would twist around and
bite me"
HUNGER AND WORRY.
"What do you feed them on-cheese?"
'eHardlyF' he replied. mo food is so
good for them as oats-just 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
little bread and milk, squeezed out
pretty dry. But it is well to have them
thirsty sometimes, when you are train
ing them-and hungry, too. for that
matter"
''Do you mean to say that you starye |
them into tricks or drive them to it by !
thirst"
Not so bad as that" he answered.
"But if mouse is hungry and he is to |
walk over ii string bridge and he sees
some oats on the other side he will go |
quicker. There are two great secrets J
about making them do as you wish. The
first is patience. A boy can soon. learn
to train white mouse nearly as well as
| can if he has the patience. But the
boy generally tires of it in ten minutes
where | keep it up for two hours-or
half a day, if necessary. ! worry them
into it"
That's the other secret" he went on.
IVORY 'eml Suppose you want a mouse
to climb stick, pick up little flag that
you have put there and bring it down
You take the mouse when he's hungry
to begin with; you tie a grain or two OF
pats to the flagstaff and you put the
mouse at the foot of 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. If he !
runs away fifty times set him back fifty '
1ne times. That worries him. Boost s
lim up little; give him start. You
may even have little twig and switch
lim, but gently. He soon sees what You
want and up he goes. When he finds
he oats he is satisfied and comes down t
% eat them. Next time he will do it a
without half the trouble, and after a t
while he will run up and get the flag i
you put him at the foot of the
tick S
KEEP AT IT. t
Teach the mouse principle, you un- n
erstand; not merely trick. The prin- +
iple in this case is taking something up il
n his mouth In short time he will d
axe up anything you wish, whether it Il
J flagstaff lille toy pail-any p
hing he cam O
Nov. Ii, lEing the tight D
ope, he contii. That looks hard 81
ut it is easy enough You must have
he string fastened to the floor at both "
nds, say four feet apart, and about a Of
Dot from each end you brace it up with W
stick a foot or so long-just long el
nough to tighten the string. Use big 81
vine at first, for that is easier; gradu- fl
Ily you can make it smaller, till the hi
louse will walk a druggists string. al
hey have sharp claws and great grip it
their feet You take the mouse when SC
. is hungry and thirsty and put some
ITS and bread and milk at one end Of A
lie bridge. at the other end you put
le mouse. He will try to run across pc
Ie floor to the food, but bring him back. tn
,art him little up the inclined plane. &C
e is smart and he soon learns that the tr
lily way to get that food is to cross the in
.idge Then he crosses. and it is no K
ouble to him. Worry him into it. tn
on must not let the mouse tire you out pr
you must tire the mouse ont. New 10,
l. or