THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



105 



a land of peace and plenty. They were 

 so tiny — scarce bigger than the end of 

 one's thumb — but perfectly indepen- 

 dent, and already showing individual- 

 ity in their ways. At first the}' were 



THE MOUSE RINGING THE BELL. 



very timid little mites, but soon learned 

 to know me as a friend and grew tamer 

 and more confiding every day. All four 

 lived to grow up, and by the time they 

 were full grown they were the most 

 engaging little pets I ever had. They 

 never out-grew a timidity which sent 

 them flying to cover at a sudden move- 

 ment, but it was a matter of hered- 

 itary nerves and not real lack of con- 

 fidence, as they reappeared at once, as 

 tame as ever, and often stopped half- 

 way to cover, as reason overcame in- 

 stinct and they thought "Oh, what's 

 the use; she never hurts us." Early 

 in our acquaintance they would come 

 boldly out on the floor near the feeding 

 place and sit there looking up at me 

 expectantly, and if unnoticed, would 

 climb up through the drawers of my 



desk and a tiny head would peep over 

 the edge of a drawer close beside me, 

 saying, "I would like my breakfast, 

 please," and when I reached for the 

 food-can the head would disappear, 

 there would be a hurried scrambling 

 in the desk, and the mouse would re- 

 appear at the feeding place, looking 

 eagerly for the expected treat. Tiny 

 soon became so utterly fearless that if 

 the table was not set on time they 

 would literally swarm all over my 

 desk, even while I was running the 

 typewriter. 



What they had learned encouraged 

 me to experiment a little as to their 

 capacity for learning more, so I got a 

 little hand-bell, fastened it to a bar pro- 

 jecting from the top of a small book- 

 stand near my desk, and tied to its 

 handle a large cord reaching almost to 

 the floor. Beginning that morning I 

 pinned little bits of food to the end of 

 the cord, they smelled it, climbed up 

 the cord to get it, and their weight and 

 the twitching necessary to get the food 

 would ring the bell. Whenever this 

 happened I immediately threw them a 

 little food and when it was eaten, fas- 

 tened another bit to the cord, and this 

 was repeated at short intervals during 

 the day. On leaving the office at night 

 I took up the bell rope so that they 

 would not ring the bell during my 

 absence and be disappointed at getting 

 nothing, but next morning let it down 

 again with another bit of food. That 

 ended the training. One little fellow 

 had "caught on" in 24 hours, and dur- 

 ing the day rang the bell several times 

 without any bait on the cord. For 

 some time that mouse was bell-ringer 

 for the crowd, as well as on his own 

 account when he happened to come 

 alone. He would climb up on the rope, 

 take hold of it with his teeth and twitch 

 and yank until the bell rang, then drop 

 to the floor and wait for me to sel 

 table. The second day after he learned 

 the trick he came for his breakfast, found 

 nothing to eat, and proceeded to do 

 stunts on tin- bell rope. I gave him a 

 few bits of Quaker < >ats. wheh he ate 

 and rang the bell again for more. This 

 time I gave more oats and a few bits 

 of peanut. He ate all the peanut. 



