Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-12
RATS OF INTELLIGENCE.
Their Ingenuity In Stealing Eggs Nearly

Their Ingenuity in Stealing Eggs Nearly De-
stroyed the Peace of a Household.
A little after midnight not very long ago
I was the sole spectator at my suburban
home of an interesting, not to say astonish-
ing feat on the part of three rats, says a
writer in the New York Herald Since that
time respect these little animals as much
as detested them before became aware of
their ingenuity.
Nearly every morning for two weeks my
wife reported to me that during the night
all the eggs in the kitchen had mysteriously
| disappeared She could account for it in
no way whatever. Of course, the first thing
we did was TO suspect the servant
''She could steal much more profitable
things than eggs if she is really in that line
of business l remarked.
My wife, however, was inclined to take a
pessimistic view of my opinion and replied
that one couldn't always tell
AS the thefts continued from night to
night determined to sit up and solve the
| mystery. Toward midnight, therefore, 1
took up a position in dark corner of the
kitchen, from which 1 could see with
out being myself observed. The little
basket containing the eggs stood in its usual
position on the window sill, about two feet
from the floor, where the servant placed
them, believing that to be cooler place
for them than the pantry. The gas in the
! hallway was turned low, casting dim,
gloomy light in the room. The awful mid
night stiffness, broken only by the ticking
of the clock in the dining room, made me
trife nervous. Presently discovered three
dark little objects moving noiselessly into
tine room.
Heavens what creatures are these,
thought /, as a cold perspiration made it.
self felt I could hardly believe my eyes
when, as they moved by the corner in which
I stood, saw they were only rats. 1 felt
relieved, but my interest was aroused. In
moment they were up on the window sill
and poking their little noses in the basket
of eggs. One of them, smaller than his
two companions, jumped up on an
egg and sat on it, as 1 thought
peculiar whistle-like cry, when the other
two rats jumped up, one taking position
in front, the other behind him. Before I
could realize what they were doing the
three rats were Oh the floor.
As they came closer was astonished at
what 1 saw. The little fellow tightly
clutched an egg with his fore and hind legs.
In his mouth he held the tail OF his com
panion in front, while his own tail was held
by the fellow behind.
Thus they carried him along, taking care
that he did not touch the ground for fear of
breaking the egg. In this way they de-
scended the stairs, jumping from step to
step with great care until they reached
the bottom. was too surprised and inter-
ested to disturb these ingenious depredators,
and thus watched them repeat the same
process with the remainder of the eggs
They were nearly half wav down the stairs
when my wife, who had been auxiously
awaiting developments up stairs, cried in q
tremulous voice:
"Are you still there?"
The little quadruped dropped the egg
and the three scampered off My wife
screamed, but with a laugh calmed her
Immediately and then told her what had
seen.
Il always imagined it must be something
like that" she said, with perfect equanim-
ity, after she had heard my story.