THE RAT. 915 
is now allowed to remain in the different nooks 
and crannies commonly found near ancient dwell- 
ings, there is no place of shelter left to conceal 
any stray individual whose bowels may chance to 
yearn for one more repast on cheese or bacon. 
In the mean time, the cat and the owl meet with 
no obstructions, while prowling for those which 
may still linger in the environs. The mice, too, 
seem to have taken the alarm. In a word, not a 
single mouse or rat is to be found in any part of 
the house, from the cellars to the attic stories. 
In case it were not convenient or practicable to 
adopt similar precautions to those already enume- 
rated, I would suggest what follows:—Take a 
quantity of oatmeal that would fill a common-sized 
wash-hand basin; add to this two pounds of coarse 
brown sugar, and one dessert spoonful of arsenic. 
Mix these ingredients very well together, and then 
put the composition into an earthen jar. From 
time to time place a table-spoonful of this in the 
runs which the rats frequent, taking care that it is 
out of the reach of innocuous animals. They will 
partake of it freely; and it will soon put an end 
to all their depredations. | 
Rats are fond of frequenting places where there 
are good doings; while their natural sagacity 
teaches them to retire in time from a falling house. 
This knack at taking care of self seems common 
both to man and brute. Hence the poet :— 
*¢ Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos ; 
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.” 
P 4 
