The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-09-15
fection from place to place.

the work bore such excellent fruit
that no new cases were reported.
It is to be distinctly understood
that not all rats are harmful. Every
country has certain species which do
not damage, but in many cases have
a certain utility.
The rat that makes the trouble is
the migratory one, otherwise known
as the sewer rat, which has been
evolved by civilization, and follows
man wherever he may go.
Rats Of the harmless breed have
been known ever since history be-
gan to take record of things. but
the dangerous sewer rat is a distinct
: ly modern evolution, whose history
cannot be traced back for more than
three centuries.
That 800 years Of activity is rec
ord of terrible misdeeds, and the
amount of property destroyed by the
sewer rat in that time and the num-
Der of lives taken through the spread
ing Of disease has probably made the
! rat far more terrible destroyer than
all the warfare Of the same period.
It is as a native Of Persia and East
India that the migratory rat first
! gets a place in history's pages, and
it is not until the eighteenth century
that he makes his debut in Europe.
The rat got a good start in ELL
rope and throve immensely for a
time, but then came a widespread
famine.
! To a large degree that rat had
been responsible for the wasting Of
the food sources, for he had in his
greed devoured the crops Of the
field. and his foulness had spread
disease among the cattle.
Having spoiled one fayorite
haunt. the rat began to spread all
over the world. The famous cross
ing Of the Volga in 1927 is an incl
dent thoroughly authenticated.
Millions Of the rats swan over the
river into Europe. Twenty-three
years later they made their appear
ance in Prussia. and three years lat
er the French kingdom was made
the unwelcome host Of the rodents.
Even at the early stage Paris was
aroused to the dangers Of the rat in
vasion and met the newcomers with
a determined warfare. Within a
week more than $4,000 rats we're
slain, but still they kept coming in
countless numbers.
The United States was long exempt
from the visitations of the sewer
rat, which seems to withhold his Wis
its till cities have grown to the size
that there will be ample shelter and
abundant food.
1t was about the time that the
United States had ended the Civil
war of 1876 that the rat decided
to become an American citizen. He
had to make a long trip across the
ocean, but that presented no problem,
for the rodent is as skillful in the
water as on land.
The docking Of ships at the wharf
is favorite time for him to embark,
but even if ship lays out at anchor
quarter Of a mile it is by no means
safe from taking on unwelcome pas
sengers.
In such cases Mr.. Rat takes advan-
tage of his skill as swimmer, makes
his way out to the boat, climbs
swiftly up the anchor chains and gets
into the hold, the operation being
performed so swiftly under cover Of
night that not often are sailors able
to catch the intruder
Along the coast and in various sea-
ports the rat made his appearance in
the United States in 1865. It took
five years to get out as far west as
Missouri. In ten Years he had made
his way to the coast, and hundreds
of thousands Of his kind undoubted-
~ met death in the San Francisco
earthquake and fire.
Now the rat has completed his do
minion Of the North american contl-
nent. and stretches over it all the
way from Panama to the permanent
ice belt.
The OUTLYING islands of the new