WHAT A LITTLE MOUSE SAID. 



I am only a little mouse; my name is 

 Wee Wee. 



I live in a big house away out in Cali- 

 fornia. My mother has made a very cozy 

 home for us between the walls where it 

 is nice and dark. We do not mind the 

 dark, you know, for we can see even bet- 

 ter then, with our little bright eyes. 



Our bed is soft and warm and is made 

 of tiny bits of paper which we children 

 helped our mother to tear up and it is 

 lined with some nice soft cotton which 

 she picked out of a comforter one night 

 when every-one had gone to church. 



We have never been out very much but 

 now, our mother says, we are big enough 

 to help get the living. When she told us 

 this, we all said: "Squeak, squeak, 

 squeak," which, in mouse language, 

 meant that we were glad and thought it 

 would be fine fun to leave our nest and 

 go out into the big world. 



But mother said : "Children, before you 

 go I want to tell you something; listen 

 well to what I shall say." 



And so we six little mice sat very sol- 

 emnly in a row, on our hind legs and 

 pricked up our ears and listened quietly 

 while she went on. "Yon go through a 

 narrow passage till you come to a little 

 round hole and when you have squeezed 

 through this you will find yourself in a 

 big room called a kitchen. You must 

 then run quickly across the floor and into 

 the door of a bathroom. There is also a 

 bole behind the bathroom door which 

 you may need to jump into if anything 

 happens. Next comes a nice, large pan- 

 try and in there you will find everything 

 that we mice like to eat. Bring what you 

 can carry, after you have eaten all you 

 can, but do not eat too much or you will 

 never be able to squeeze through the hole 

 again. Now you must never go in the 

 daytime, but wait until night." 



After telling us this, my mother left 

 the nest saying that she was going to call 

 on one of our neighbors who lived in an 

 old felt hat, very near us. She said she 

 might be gone some time, so, while my 



brothers and sisters were taking a nap, 

 I thought to myself: "I don't see why 

 mother told me not to go in daylight. I 

 am sure everything seems perfectly quiet 

 now and I don't think anything could 

 hurt me ; and I do feel so hungry. I 

 guess I will go on a little trip, and 'we 

 shall see what we shall see.' " With that 

 1 crept out of the nest without making 

 the least bit of noise and followed the di- 

 rections my mother had given me. 



Soon I found myself in the pantry and 

 O ! how good everything did smell. I 

 found some cheese and I ate a very big 

 hole in a white cake with icing on it and 

 was just thinking what I could carry 

 home as a surprise for the children when 

 I heard a rushing noise like the patter of 

 feet and I jumped behind some glass jars 

 that were on the floor in the corner. 



To my horror I saw very near me, for 

 I could see right through the glass jar, a 

 funny thing with long white wool and 

 sharp teeth, a long, pointed nose and a 

 terrible big red tongue hanging out of its 

 mouth and little sharp black eyes that 

 seemed to be looking clear through me. 

 Oh ! how I trembled and oh ! how I 

 wished then that I had obeyed my 

 mother. 



I saw now, when it was too late, that 

 she knew best. Just then a big giant with 

 dresses on came into the pantry and I 

 heard her say : "That dog thinks there is 

 a mouse in here." So it was a dog and I 

 remembered now that my mother had 

 said one day that there was a spitz dog in 

 that house. 



The lady went out but the dog smelled 

 me and was determined not to give me 

 up so he ran to the big giant with dresses 

 on and whined and whined until she came 

 in again and said : "Well, Zip, I guess 

 there must be a mouse here since you in- 

 sist on it." So she went out and got a 

 long stick with a lot of straws on the end 

 of it (she called it a broom), and with 

 that she poked around all over the pantry, 

 and the funny thing with long, white wool 

 and sharp teeth kept smelling around and 



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