122 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



expression in various unlooked-for ways. Man has no 

 peculiar liking for his nether integuments, as is evidenced 

 by the eagerness with which cockney sportsmen, who go 

 North, don the Highland garb instead of trousers, and by 

 the popularity among the young fellows who constitute the 

 Scottish Volunteers, of the ordinance which transformed 

 the whole regiment into a " kilted " corps. Among women, 

 however, movements are constantly taking place for the 

 adoption of male lower garments. Sometimes these are 

 spoken of as bloomers, sometimes as knickerbockers, some- 

 times as divided skirts. The advocates of these garments 

 base their arguments on the ground of health and con- 

 venience ; but men, who go beneath the surface, are well 

 aware that these are but pretexts, and that the real reason 

 why women desire masculine garb is that they may the 

 better protect their lower limbs from the onslaught of the 

 marauding mouse. No one who has ever seen a woman 

 stand on a chair and wrap her garments tightly round her 

 ankles upon the alarm of " mouse," can question how keen is 

 the consciousness among the sex of the possibilities of attack 

 by their formidable opponents offered by the present style 

 of clothing. It cannot be pretended that it is the mere fear 

 of being bitten which so unhinges the female nerves where 

 mice are concerned, for there are women who make parrots 

 their pets, although parrots sometimes bite atrociously, and 

 are singularly treacherous withal. There are others who 

 pet spiteful cats, and snappish lap-dogs, and whom neither 

 scratches nor occasional bites at all discompose. It cannot, 

 therefore, be argued that any fear of pain is at the bottom 

 of their antipathy for mice. The mere fact that here and 

 there women can be found who profess not to be afraid of 



