The age-herald., 1900-03-25

c1ded to offer a reward for every rat tail 1 that should be delivered to the government | At the same time every citizen was urged | to use every effort to help the work of ex- | termination and all men, women and chil- l dren, entered upon the work with such 1 good will that the city has now been prac- l tically freed of the pest
 UT course this feat was not accompl ,shed | by few individuals and yet more Nhan | half of the money paid out by the city
 was collected by less than a score of men. They were professional rat catchers and | they came from all parts of Europe to help along the good work and participate in the | spells.
 While rat catching is profession that Is well known in many parts of Europe 1t is seldom followed as an occupation in this country The rat catcher Is an .uncanny sort of person and, if rumor is to be be-
 lieved, the rats fear him as men fear ghosts. It Is he who knows the mastenful
 word at the sound of which their hearts thump against their ribs and both whis-
 kers and tails stand out straight and culver with Superstitous fear. Poison and traps to a well educated rat are merely
 unpleasant incidents to be carefully avoided.
 To them the cat is not an object of dread, but the rat catcher Is quite another thing. | Today there are men In the business who 1 will guarantee that house which they | have freed of rats will remain clear during | an entire rat generation, which is about | five years. In other words, so long as the | memory of the oldest wMskered grandsire l wiM endure the evil little creatures will avoid that house as if to enter it meant certain death.
 | It Is supposed that they have been told | the stories of a terrible monster who fell | upon their parents at night and charmed l them while he destroyed them. This may | or may not be the true explanation of the but faat NaiF tH1af 01n house exerts some influence so great that even the most foolish young rats do not dare to penetrate the walls of the dreaded building.
 plague of rats Is one of the worst evils that can beset mankind. Rats are repul-
 sive at best, and nearly everybody is afraid
 of them. In fact the rodent probably has
 more enemies than any other animal on earth, and yet they manage to increase
 with rapidity that would put most ami mals to shame.
 If any one should wonder how it Is that the rat manages to do this he can satisfy his curiosity by taking a spade and dig
 ging out a rat hole almost any day at this time of year. The months from March to October 1 are the family rearing times, and during this period three broods are usually sent out to begin their predatory existence.
 If the man with the spade succeeds in reaching the end of the hole he will proba-
 bly uncover a family of young rodents
 averaging from twelve tQ fifteen in num- Der. Taking twelve nest1ings as the aver age family, every pair of old rats will pre- sent to the world each year about thirty six of their kind. In view of this fact 1t
 is comparat lively easy to calculate the
 probable increase in the rat population, and it is certainly wonder that there have not been similar plaques In some Of the American cities.
 If such a thing should occur there is some satisfaction in knowing that at least a portion of the bounty paid out to the rat catchers could be recovered by the sale of the tails tllemselves.