The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-11-17
miscellaneous.
THE RATS OWN FAULT.

| short, stumpy boy, with an abund-
ance of freckles held over from sum-
mer. The box was an ordinary pack
ing box. 1t stood on the sidewalk in
front of the Walton building in Frank
lin street, near where the Sixth avenue
elevated road crosses. Underneath
the box a long, lean, gray bewhisker-
ed rat had taken up temporary quart
| ers.
The rat was in bad luck. In the
! first place a sneaky looking dog,
droopy as to tail, a mongrel of the
| term ''yaller." was lounging about,
nosing in the gutter and yearning for
| an opportunity to display the devil
| rats refuge in q doorway pretty
infatuated George" An elderly and
important looking parsonage, wearing
gold mounted eyeglasses and carrying
a gold headed cane, had just made an
| imposing descent from the elevated
station and was promenading leisurely
toward the box. A cart horse attach
ell to truck stood in front of "A saloon
near by waiting for the driver to
come out. Ali was calm and peaceful.
Then the rat came on the scene.
The first to see him was the boy.
He jumped off the box, and the rat
started out toward the station with
the boy in hot chase. This aroused
the dog, who, with a howl of antici-
pated sport, joined in the pursuit.
The fugitive made straight for the
elderly parsonage. The boy was a
fairly good second and the dog close
| third. The parsonage, becoming
| aware that something was coming his
way, glanced over the top of the gold
mounted eyeglasses.
Hi there!n yelled the boy. He's
comm your way. Head i'm off.
Swather i'm one with tn stick
The old gentlemen ''swathered. :"
He missed the rat and hit the boy on
the shins. The boy gave Il shrill
whoop, lay down on the walk and
wept.
did it hurt your" inquired the
owner of the cane
That made the boy so angry that he
stopped crying.
Did it hurt me?' he howled in
righteous wrath. Did it hurt me ?
You OF gold headed snooper How'd
you like it eff dubbed yer bloomin oil ;
shins with a Vaughn spoke? What'd
you say eff fat headed cove Hi
11ClS SOlllSS DctCh oldD I'LL
Turn i'm back Hit i'm when he
goes by p
The rat had doubled on his track
and was flying up the street again
with the dog several PAGES behind.
In between the feet of the parsonage
lodged the rat. The dog essayed to
follow by the same route and got tan
gled up with the feet. Down came
the parsonage, his gold headed cane
flying in one direction and his gold
trimmed spectacles in another. Then
and there he offered few remarks
that wrung from the boy an admiring
tribute. Gosh" said he, you can
cuss.''
In the meantime the rat was Oh his
way up the street, and the pretty
young woman who with her George"
had emerged from the doorway, was
walking down the street engaged in
conversation.
Yes, he was just as nice about it as
he could be :; said it wasn't any trouble
at all. He said Oh! O-w-w-w-w
George! E-e-e-e-e-e-e It's rat
Help.it's coming this way. E-e-e-e-e-e!
Help Inc on this box. Yes, I'm all
right now, butch, George, do you
suppose he can climb up here g? Don't
let him climb up here or l shall odd
die ~
George let out terrific kick that
landed in the stomach of the pursuing
dog. By way of retaliation the dog
took off part of one leg from Georges
trousers, and fled across the street
bowling dismally until it came to the
cart horse. Apparently connecting
that animal with his misfortunes, the
lol %; 10 l., hn
snorted and ran down the street with
instead of taking this chance of escape,
rushed frantically across the street
and back again, with the boy, who
had come up, followed by the person
age, hot on the trail The parsonage
was regarding with undisguised adj
miration the pretty girl, who, with
garments gathered and held up lightly
in one hand, was standing on tiptoe
on the box viewing the chase. George
was looking at his trousers.
The owner of the truck came out of
the saloon in time to see his property
rafting down the street. AS he start
ed after it, leaving a trail of profanity
behind him, a gaunt cat sauntered out
of the saloon. Before the teamster
had caught his horse the cat had
bounced on the rat and put an end to
him. Then the dog avenged his woes
by catching her by the back of the
neck and shaking the life out of her.
| The boy hit the dog with brick on
general principles. Then he returned
to the parsonage, the box, George,
and the pretty young woman. The
| latter was saying:
"Oh, dear! was so scared. hope
I-Oh, George, did l hold my dress
up so very high? Please say didn't !
That horrid old man with the eye
glasses -
"Why, of course you didn't" said
George promptly. The girl descended
and walked away with him, her fears