80 



THE RAT 



body is shut up over lessons, your mind wanders 

 everywhere, over hedge and ditch, into ponds and 

 rivers, through woods and meadows ; and, again, 

 when your body is free and wandering among all 

 these delightful scenes, your mind is most awfully 

 careful never to wander in the direction of lessons 

 at all. Now, perhaps you can forgive me if I let 

 my mind wander, to make up for having to be so 

 terribly particular about my body. 



First and foremost then, to make a plain be- 

 ginning, let us dismiss all the traps that are sold in 

 the shops as puerile and foolish. I was on the point 

 of writing ' puerile, and therefore foohsh,' but I am 

 beginning to lose the desire to trample on your 

 feelings. Of course, rats will find their way into 

 them now and then, but it is very foolish of them. 

 If they would only learn to trust, or distrust, their 

 noses more, they need have no anxiety about such 

 traps as these. Can you imagine any rat of reason- 

 able age and wisdom walking deliberately into one 

 of those wire cages, with the bait hung on a hook 

 in the middle ? It is too silly ! You pull the bait 

 and the door slams, and there you are ; and there 

 you will be until the end comes, until the door 

 is opened, and the prisoner runs out to play at hide 

 and seek, with far too much ' seek ' in it and far too 



