182 mountain rats. 
they ungraciously picked his pockets as he slept ! 
Taking out his pocket-book, they nibbled its 
cover, carried off its loose notes, and so thor- 
oughly appropriated a five-dollar bill that no 
trace of it has been discovered from that day to 
this ! 
This family of rats would disdain acknowledg- 
ing even distant relationship to the wharf variety. 
Haven’t they hair on their tails ? Yes, indeed — - 
quite a fringe of it; and, then, their complexion 
is as much as a shade lighter. So they are by no 
means to be confounded with ordinary rats. 
They would be quite as pleasant neighbors as 
squirrels, only they have kleptomania in a malig- 
nant form ! 
They will steal everything they can manage, 
no matter how useless to them. 
Not long before the museum opened, Mrs. 
Maxwell wished to use some dried apples. She 
knew she had placed a large panful, about eight 
quarts, in her pantry but a few days before, and 
was somewhat surprised to find it empty, and the 
apples nowhere to be found. Thinking some 
one of her family had put them away, and having 
no time to investigate the matter, it was forgotten. 
Soon after, while rearranging the rockwork that 
formed the foundation for the bird-tree in her 
parlor, she discovered that, between the boards 
that supported the rocks and those that covered 
