ALONE IN A ROOM FULL OF RATS 25 



Once the strained honey was poured out on a 

 flat stone for the benefit of the wild bees, because 

 a white-footed mouse had gnawed a hole through 

 the lead covered cork. The mouse had then fallen 

 into the honey and perished, but its remains were 

 preserved by the sweet liquid. 



The wood mice did not eat our fish, but they 

 often took them from the plate in the cellar and 

 hid them where they could not be found until our 

 noses told the secret of the hiding place. The lit- 

 tle brownies once unwound a ball of twine and 

 draped it all around the room, making a half hitch 

 or two on a hunting knife and a pipe, without 

 dislodging these objects from their insecure perch 

 on the narrow edge of a board. They also took 

 all the tacks from a new package and neatly stowed 

 them away in the egg shells kept for settling the 

 coffee. 



But it was when the offspring of Fanny Flying 

 Squirrel filled the house that the real trouble be- 

 gan. 



THE MOTHER SQUIRREL 



was content at first with making her nest from 

 the tufts of cotton nibbled from the mattresses. 

 This first nest she made over the bedroom win- 

 dow. Determined to evict the little nuisance, I 

 climbed on top of a kitchen chair, which was in- 

 securely balanced on an unsteady washstand, and 

 looked into the little home. 



The mother squirrel poked up her pretty head 

 inquiringly from beneath the soft nestling material, 



