THE RAT. 
215 
allowed to remain in the different nooks and crannies 
commonly found near ancient dwellings, there is 
no place of shelter left to conceal any stray indi- 
vidual 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 
9,11 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 : — 
Donee eris felix, multos numerabis amicos ; 
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris." 
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