'It is a pretty and interesting little animal." 



THE COMMON MOUSE 



T 



HE Common Mouse is too 

 well known by everybody 

 to need description. In 

 character it is quite cos- 

 mopolitan, and sticks to 

 man closer than a brother. 

 It is a pretty and inter- 

 esting little animal, but, 

 alas ! cursed by two awful drawbacks 

 to universal popularity an evil scent, 

 and a desperately mischievous disposi- 

 tion. With the blackbeetle it shares 

 the distinction of dividing women into 

 two classes those who are afraid of it, 

 and those who are not. 



Whether in cottage or palace, cleaving 

 the mighty ocean or delving in the 

 darkest depths of the earth, it is all the 

 same to the Common Mouse. If there 

 is a hole to hide in, and a crumb to 

 eat, there will he be cheerfully sharing 

 the weal and woe of mortal man. Some 

 years ago I descended a coal mine to 

 view the workings, and found an old 

 labourer clearing debris out of a pony 

 stable, in which mice were so numerous 

 that he had been obliged to tie string 



tightly round his ankles in order to 

 prevent the nimble creatures from 

 running up the insides of his trouser- 

 legs. 



The Common Mouse can climb 

 window curtains with ease, and even 

 run up and down ordinary string sus- 

 pending a bird-cage containing seed, 

 of which it is inordinately fond. It 

 can leap from a height of ten or twelve 

 feet without inconvenience, and I have 

 even known one fall from the second 

 story of a London warehouse into the 

 street, and then run off without having 

 suffered any apparent injury. 



This rodent has something of the 

 persistency of King Bruce's spider in 

 its composition. Not long ago a friend 

 told me that one inhabiting his study 

 came forth every evening, when normal 

 quiet prevailed, and amused itself by 

 climbing some bulrushes placed in a vase 

 for decorative purposes. One blade 

 of the vegetation seemed to exercise a 

 peculiar fascination over the animal, 

 and although it bent and let the little 

 gymnast fall to the floor every time an 



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