The Worthington advance., 1900-06-22
BUYING A MOUSETRAP.

! s.s 55@: a3s*5s2&s 49, - 4
AYounk Married daGoapiA Have an IN.
terestinE Time AtiJ ting +
There was nothing for it but a
mousetrap. They had stood the pest
of mice as long us patience allowed
The Janitor had been appealed to in
vain. He had made one or two in.
effectnal attempts sto abates the pest
but as the agent Of the building would
not allow him to use poison for fear
the. victims would have the bad taste
| to die on the premises and because
there*w no appropria tiorrfor mouse
traps Forthcoming from the man 81
leases, zthe head of the family. spurred
on by the protestations of his wife
wentsout to hardware store and
called Tor the needed article. He had
supposed that buying a .monsetrapwa
simple thing, but when he saw the
number of patterns he was bewildered
says the Chicago Chronicle.
do you want to catch them alive p
asked the clerk.
"Well, / should say did. If I wanted
to catch them dead you don't su ppose
I would require trap. do your replied
the head of the family.
II mean," explained the clerk. edo
you want trap that will kill them?''
'"Of course do. am not collecting
micezfors exhibition purposes" He Sc.
lected a small steel cage of the ordi.
nary 2garrote pattern. for which: he
paid Is cents. That night he showed
it to: his wife and they proceeded to
set it. = X
what shall we bait it with?" he
asked.~x "a .::H
'''Do we have to bait it?''
"Oh. no. You catch mice by send
ing'them an engraved initiation"
"Oh. 7 suppose it ought to be some
thing nice and tempting."
eyes: Lobster la Newburg."
"Oh, George, believe you're teasing
me. What do they like most?' !.
'Cheese, you sweet ninny!"
'Of course! How stupid of me. But
we haven't bit of Roquefort in the
house," a, :r< 1T *:4E .
'My dear, if we had Roquefort we
wouldn't need the trap. The cheese
would kill them.''
"Just plain American echeese?'''
"Of. course! These are just plain
American mice. You might make a
Welsh rarebit for them. That would
certainly do the business: !, I ~
She got morseT Of cheese. and the
trap. after many trials, was baited
and set. b
That night mouse was caught. but
Isabel tainted at the sight of the dead
victim and George was obliged to give
the trap away to the janitor in order
to save hersnerves. The next day he
brought home a trap of another pat
tern. It was baited with cheese, but
the mouse was not killed by it's cap
tivity. After it*had eaten the cheese
and taken cafe nofr and smoked a
cigar it found that the only open door
led to rotary cylinder of steel wire:
sort of ,smoling-room. That is where
they found Mr.. Mouse the next morn
ing. He was padding around in the
treadmul,. under the impression that
he was rapidly getting away from the
scene of his captivity. Isabel ciapped
her hands at the sight.
"Isn't he too cunning for anything!
Eut what shall we do with him?"
''We might give him to the baby to
play with,' said the unfeeling brute.
"Or we could attach the cage to the
sewing machine anGI get the benefit
of his energy. We will drown him, of
course."s Isabel hid her face in her
hands.
''ln the lake, ,George?''
Eyes, I, see myself walking three
blocks. to drown a mouse in the lake.
No; in the bathtub."
George Harrison. if you drown that
poor little helpless mouse in my bath
tub I'll never, "a 4 e, - -,
"Bathe again. finished her husband.
"Oh. yes, you will.'' And off he|started
with the trap for.the bathroom. When
he had accomplished his hellish design
he gave the trap and it's dead contents
to the janitor and. returned to his
wife. n. G%sA Gs%&A = = J. J. s.. n - =
"Did-did it suffer %much?' asked
Isabel.
''Its death agonies were very distress
ing and I shall never get it's last words
out of my ears. T.
"You're brute!" said Isabel, and
she flounced out OF the room.