104 



THE GUIDE T< ) NATURE 



Now let us ring out more ra lidl) 

 the age of Mercy for so railed "dumb' 

 animals, and ring in the better social 

 relal ii >ns, a better pi lint i »i view. 



A Hand ni Merc} is of "that dark 

 period . . . when life pressed heavily 

 Oil many an individual." There was 

 need of it for relief of animal suffering. 

 Bui "the world has become much bet- 

 ter since then." 



We need now- a "Bureau of Social 

 Service" to cover all forms of life. 

 The Agassiz Association is such a 

 bureau. Do 3 on belong to the "Middle 

 Ages" or are you looking to better 

 relati* ms ? 



The Mice and the Dinner Bell. 



BY NELLIE B. PENDERGAST, DULUTH, 

 MINNESOTA. 



It began several years ago, when I 

 glanced over my shoulder and saw a 

 mouse among the papers on a desk 

 across the room. Armed with a piece of 

 cracker I went over to the desk. He 

 promptly hid himself, but moral 'sua- 

 sion, backed up by cracker crumbs, 

 prevailed and in a short time he was 

 sitting on my hand eating the crumbs. 

 Thereafter the friendship progressed 

 rapidly, and before long he would 

 come to me on the floor and eat from 

 my hand. If he came for lunch when 

 I was too busy to attend to him he 

 would come boldly out on the floor 

 beside me and sit up on his hind feet 

 and look at me, like a little dog, to 

 attract attention. Several times the 

 pair came — the other mouse having evi- 

 dently been told about me, as it needed 

 no special taming. Then they sud- 

 denly ceased to come. 



Soon after their disappearance we 

 moved into another office and for a 

 year or more I saw no mice, although 

 they came sometimes at night. One 

 day I took a mouse, caught at home, 

 to the office in a cage, wdiere it re- 

 mained for several days, but seemed 

 so unhappy that 1 gave it its freedom, 

 leaving a supply of food and drink in 

 the cage. This had all disappeared by 

 morning, and from that time on 1 ran 

 a free lunch counter, my mouse coin- 

 in- and going as he liked ; at first com- 

 ing for the food at night, then showing 



up before closing time, ami within a 

 few days was coming at intervals dur- 

 ing the day — and did nol come alone. 

 He had evidently gotten acquainted, 



told the others that the board was 

 -ood and brought them along, first one 

 and then another, until I had four reg- 

 ular boarders. Mv own mouse was 

 the tamest i I knew him positively by 

 a little bald patch he had worn on his 

 nose trying to get out of the cage) and 

 was soon eating from my hand, and it 

 was not long until all four had learned 

 the trick and often two sat side by 

 side on my hand eating crumbs. Later 

 I varied the performance by leaning a 

 little board from the floor to my knee 

 and they learned to climb up and take 

 their dinner on n\y lap — three of them 

 very timidly, but one would sit there 

 as contentedly as a kitten. 



As they grew tamer they began to 

 show little personal traits and ways 

 that were very entertaining. They 

 were very fond of cooky. One day I 

 had nothing but Quaker Oats to offer. 

 They ate them contentedly enough, 

 but when, the next day, having forgot- 

 ten to bring any cooky, I again offered 

 the oats to my mouse, he walked 

 around on mv hand, poked the oats 

 about with his nose, and looked up 

 inquiringly at me, asking "Is that all 

 there 1 "s?" 



I always talked to them and they 

 quickly learned to know my voice, and 

 when a tiny head peeped cautiously 

 from beneath the desk, a few softly 

 spoken words would reassure the little 

 fellow and he would come boldly out. 

 But this confidence extended only to 

 myself, and others who washed to see 

 them were obliged to hide behind the 

 furniture at a distance and keep per- 

 fectly quiet. 



This went on for over a year, the 

 population being a shifting one on 

 account of the many clangers that be- 

 set their lives, my "boarders" ranging 

 from one to five or six at a time, and 

 once inducted a little cripple who 

 dragged both hind feet but still got 

 about with astonishing rapidity. But 

 one clay early last summer one of the 

 old crowd brought her four babies to 

 grow up in what she seemed to think 



