A\\EUM!VERSy^ ^cl 
 
 g !/ 
 
 i s\ 
 
 O uL
 
 rOOKF.R THAN RATS. 
 
 " The old blind rat had a bit of stick in its mouth, and the prettj black rat 
 took the other end in his teeth." Page 25.
 
 THE 
 
 RAMBLES OF A RAT. 
 
 BY 
 
 A.L.O.E. 
 
 A NKW KIND OF WATCHDOG. 
 
 " Wlii-kerandos looked surpiiwd at the unexpected defiance ; but my feelings 
 of amazement can scarcely be conceived when I recognised the dumpy form, 
 blunt head, and piebald skin, of my lost brother Uddity." Page ISO. 
 
 T. NELSON AND SONS, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
 
 Autfiorof" The Giant-killer," "Pride and his Prisoners y 
 &c. &>c. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; 
 EDINBURGH ; AND NEW YORK. 
 
 1864.
 
 \ 
 
 LET not my readers suppose that in writing 
 THE RAMBLES OF A RAT I have simply been 
 blowing bubbles of fancy for their amusement, 
 to divert them during an idle hour. Like the 
 hollow glass balls which children delight in, 
 my bubbles of fancy have something, solid 
 \vithin them, facts are enclosed in my fiction. 
 I have indeed made rats talk, feel, and reflect, 
 as those little creatures certainly never did; 
 but the courage, presence of mind, fidelity, and 
 kindness, which I have attributed to my heroes, 
 nave been shown by real rats. Such adven- 
 tures as I have described have actually hap- 
 pened to them, unless they be those recorded in 
 the 1 9th chapter, for which I have no authority. 
 For my anecdotes of this much-despised race I 
 am principally indebted to an interesting article 
 
 2090798
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 on the subject which appeared in the " Quar- 
 terly Review." 
 
 I would suggest to my readers how wide 
 and delightful a field of knowledge natural 
 history must open to all, when there is so 
 much to interest and admire even in those 
 animals which we usually regard with con- 
 tempt and disgust. The examination of the 
 wondrous works of nature is a study elevating 
 as well as delightful ; for the more deeply we 
 search into the wonders around us, the more 
 clearly we discover the wisdom which is dis- 
 
 41 * 
 
 played even in the lowest forms of creation ! 
 
 A. L. o. E.
 
 tump. Pge 
 
 L The Family ct Rats ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 II. A Clap-trap Discovery ... ... ... ... 15 
 
 1IL Poorer than Rats ... ... ... ... 19 
 
 IV. How 1 made a Friend ... ... ... ... 26 
 
 V. How BOD met with an Adventure ... ... ... 33 
 
 VI. How I visited the Zoological Gardens ...flh>*. ... 88 
 
 VII. Finding Relations ... ... ... ... 43 
 
 VIII. How I heard of Old Neighbocre ... ... ... 51 
 
 IX. How we found a Feast ... ... ... ... 59 
 
 X. The want of a Dentist .... .. ... ... 67 
 
 XI. A Removal ... ... ... ... ... 74 
 
 XII. A Xew Road to Fame ... ... .. ... 79 
 
 XIII. How I set out on my Voyage ... ... 86 
 
 XIV. A Terrible Word ... ... ... ... ... M 
 
 XV. First View of St. Petersburg ... ... ... 103 
 
 XVI. A Russian Kitchen ... ... ... ... 109 
 
 XVII. A Ramble over St. Petersburg ... ... ... U8
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 XVIII. How we were Transported 
 XIX A Storm and its Consequences 
 XX. Catcli him Dead or Aliie! 
 XXI. A new kind of Watch-dog 
 
 XXII. The Farmer and his Bride 
 XXIIL A Peep through the Roses 
 
 Page. 
 125 
 
 132 
 137 
 146 
 153 
 163
 
 THE RAMBLES OF A EAT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FAMILY OF BATS. 
 
 MY very earliest recollection is of running 
 about in a shed adjoining a large warehouse, 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood of Poplar, 
 and close to the River Thames, which there- 
 abouts is certainly no silver stream. 
 
 A merry life we led of it in that shed, my 
 seven brothers and I ! It was a sort of palace 
 of rubbish, a mansion of odds and ends, where 
 rats might frolic and gambol, and play at hide- 
 and-seek, to their hearts' content. We had 
 nibbled a nice little way into the warehouse 
 above mentioned; and there, every night, we 
 feasted at our ease, growing as sleek and plump 
 as any rats in the United Kingdom. 
 
 We were of an ancient race of British
 
 10 THE FAMILY OF RATS. 
 
 rats, my seven brothers and I. It is said that 
 our ancestors came over with the Conqueror, 
 William ; and we are not a little proud of our 
 Norman descent. Our smaller forms, sleek 
 black coats, long tails, and fine large ears, 
 make us altogether distinct from the Norwe- 
 gian .brown rat, on which we look with I 
 was going to say with contempt, but I rather 
 think that it is quite another feeling, and one 
 to which neither rats nor men generally like 
 to plead guilty. I know that we do not 
 usually choose to keep company with them; 
 but whether it be because their forms are 
 coarser, their manners less refined, and their 
 pedigree not so long, or whether it be because 
 they sometimes have a fancy to nibble off the 
 ears of their neighbours, or, when their appe- 
 tite is uncommonly sharp, make a meal of their 
 Norman cousins, we need not particularly in- 
 quire. 
 
 I said that I and my seven brothers were 
 black rats; but I ought to make one excep- 
 tion. The youngest of the family was pie- 
 bald a curious peculiarity, which I never 
 noticed in any other of our race. Yes, he was 
 piebald; and not only had he this misfortune,
 
 THE FAMILY OF RATS. 1 1 
 
 but he was the clumsiest and most ill-shaped 
 rat that ever nibbled a candle-end! Now, 
 this was no fault of his, and certainly was no 
 reason why he should have been despised by 
 his more fortunate brothers. Man, of course, 
 as a superior creature, would only look with 
 kindness and pity upon a companion so un- 
 happy as to have personal defects. He would 
 never ridicule a condition which might Lave 
 been his own, nor find a subject for merriment 
 in that which to another was a cause of annoy- 
 ance ; but we were only inconsiderate young 
 rats, and there was no end to our jokes on our 
 piebald comrade. " Oddity," " Guinea-pig," 
 " Old Spotty," and " Frightful" such were 
 the names which we gave him. The first 
 was that by which he was best known, and 
 the only one to which he chose to answer. 
 But he was a good-humoured fellow, poor 
 Oddity, and bore our rudeness with patience 
 and temper. He pursued the plan which I 
 would recommend to all rats in his position : 
 he joined the mirth which his own appearance 
 raised ; and when we made merry at the awk- 
 ward manner in which he waddled after his 
 more light-footed companions, he never took
 
 12 THE FAMILY OF RATS. 
 
 it amiss, nor retired into a corner of the shed 
 to sulk, amidst rope-ends and bits of rusty 
 iron. 
 
 I have said that we had merry nights in 
 the warehouse. Often has the moon looked 
 in through the dull, many-paned windows, 
 lighting our revels ; though we cared little- for 
 light, our delicate feelers almost supplying the 
 place of eyes. But one night above all nights 
 I remember! 
 
 There had been a great deal of moving 
 about in the warehouse during the day, run- 
 ning of trucks, and rolling of casks. Brisk, 
 the liveliest of my brothers, had sat watching 
 in a hole from noon until dusk, and now hur- 
 ried through our little passage into the shed, 
 where we were all nestling behind some old 
 canvass. He brought us news of a coming 
 feast. 
 
 " A ship has arrived from India," said he, 
 " and well have a glance at the cargo. They've 
 been busy stowing it away next door. There's 
 rice " 
 
 The brotherhood of rats whisked their tails 
 for joy! 
 
 "Sugar"
 
 TILE FAMILY OF RATS. 13 
 
 There was a universal squeak of approba- 
 tion. 
 
 " Indigo " . 
 
 " That's nothing but a blue dye obtained 
 from a plant," observed Furry, an old, blind 
 rat, who in his days had travelled far, and 
 seen much of the world, and had reflected 
 upon what he had viewed far more than is 
 common with a rat. Indeed, he passed 
 amongst us for a philosopher, and I had learnt 
 not a little from his experience; for he de- 
 lighted in talking over his travels, and but for 
 a little testiness of temper, would have been a 
 very agreeable companion. He veiy fre- 
 quently joined our party; indeed, his infir- 
 mities obliged him to do so, as he could not 
 have lived without assistance. But I must 
 now return to Brisk, and his catalogue of the 
 cargo. 
 
 " Opium " 
 
 " The juice of the white poppy," said our 
 aged friend, who had a taste for general infor- 
 mation. " I've seen it produce strange effects 
 when eaten in large quantities by men." 
 
 " What effects?" said I. I was a very in- 
 quisitive rat, and especially curious about all
 
 14 THE I A MILT OP RATS. 
 
 that related to the large creatures upon two 
 legs, called Man, whom I believed to be as 
 much wiser as they are stronger than the race 
 of Mus, to which I belong. 
 
 "Why, opium makes men first wild and 
 bold, so that they will rush into danger or 
 run into folly, quarrel with their friends and 
 fight their foes, laugh and dance, and be 
 merry they know not why. Then they grow 
 sleepy, and though their lives might depend 
 on it, not a step would they stir. Then, when 
 they awake from their unnatural sleep, their 
 bodies are cold, their heads heavy ; they feel 
 sick, and faint, and sad! And if this should 
 happen day after day, at last the strong grows 
 weak and the healthy ill, the flesh goes from 
 the bones and the life from the eyes, and the 
 whole man becomes like some old, empty 
 hulk, whose timbers will hardly hold together! 
 And all this from eating opium!" 
 
 " Ugh 1" exclaimed Brisk ; " leave opium to 
 man; it is a great deal too bad for rats!"
 
 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERY. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERY. 
 
 WITH eager haste we scrambled into the 
 warehouse, Furry, as usual, remaining behind 
 on account of his infirmities. We were almost 
 too impatient to wait till the men within 
 should have finished their work, till the doors 
 should be shut and locked, and the place left 
 in quiet for us. 
 
 I soon found out what was to me a singu- 
 lar curiosity a tooth ; I felt certain that it 
 was a tooth; but it was twice as long as any 
 rat, counting from the tip of his nose to the 
 end of his tail! I could not help wondering 
 in my mind to what huge animal it could 
 ever have belonged. 
 
 " Isn't that called ivory?" said Oddity, as 
 he waddled past me. 
 
 I felt inexpressible pleasure in gnawing and 
 nibbling at the huge tusk, and polishing my 
 sharp teeth upon it. " How I should like to 
 see the enormous rat that could have carried 
 such a tusk ! " I exclaimed. " Oh ! how I
 
 16 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERT. 
 
 should delight in travelling and seeing the 
 world!" 
 
 " You've something to see worth the seeing, 
 without travelling far ! " cried Brisk. " Such 
 a fragrance of cheese as there is yonder! 
 Why, Ratto, its delicious scent reaches us even 
 here!" 
 
 I was so busy with my tusk and my re- 
 flections, that I scarcely looked up ; but Oddity 
 turned his eyes eagerly towards the spot. 
 
 " Now, I propose that we have a race to 
 the place!" cried Brisk; "and he who gets 
 first shall have his pick of the feast ! Leave 
 Ratto to his old bone! Here are seven of 
 us : now for it ; once, twice, thrice, and 
 away ! " 
 
 Off they scampered helter-skelter, all my 
 seven brothers, awkward heavy Oddity, as 
 usual, in the rear. He had often been laughed 
 at for his slowness, but this time it was wel] 
 for him that he was slow ! On rushed the 
 six foremost, almost together, scrambling one 
 over another in their haste ; they disappeared 
 into what looked like a dark hole, and then 
 
 das ! alas ! what a terrible squeaking ! 
 
 Poor unhappy brothers 1 all caught in a
 
 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERT. 17 
 
 trap ! All at the mercy of their cruel enemy, 
 man ! I ran to the spot in a terrible fright. 
 Nothing of my six companions could I see ; but 
 Oddity, with a very disconsolate look, was 
 staring at the drop of the trap. His had been 
 a very narrow escape, it had grazed his ugly 
 nose as it fell ! 
 
 This is a very melancholy part of my story, 
 and I will hasten over it as fast as I can. In 
 vain the poor captive rats tried to gnaw their 
 way to freedom from within, while Oddity 
 and I nibbled from without. There was some- 
 thing which defied even our sharp little teeth, 
 and all our efforts were in vain. My poor 
 brothers could not touch the fatal feast which 
 had lured them to their ruin ! They passed 
 a miserable night, and were every one carried 
 off' in a bag to be worried by dogs in the 
 morning ! 
 
 " Cruel, wicked man ! " I exclaimed, as with 
 my piebald companion I sought my old shelter 
 behind the canvass in our shed. My exclama- 
 tion was overheard by old Furry. 
 
 "Cruel, wicked man!" he repeated, but in 
 a different tone from mine ; " well, I think 
 that even when setting a trap to catch inex-
 
 18 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERT. 
 
 perienced rats, man may have something to 
 say for himself. I have often noticed the big 
 creatures at work, and much they labour, and 
 Lard they toil, and we can't expect them to 
 be willing to take so much trouble to collect 
 dainties just to feast us ! Those who live on 
 the property of others, like rats, have no right 
 to expect civil treatment ! " 
 
 " Are there any creatures that lay traps for 
 man?" said I, in the bitterness of my spirit 
 almost hoping that there might be. 
 
 "As well as I can understand," replied 
 Furry, "man himself lays traps. for man. I 
 have seen several of these traps. They are 
 large, and generally built of brick, with a 
 board and gilt letters in front. They are 
 baited with a certain drink, which has effects 
 something like opium, which destroys slowly 
 but surely those who give themselves up reck- 
 lessly to its enjoyment." 
 
 "Well," cried Oddity, "having once seen 
 what comes of running into a trap, I, for one, 
 shall be always on my guard against them, 
 and am never likely to be caught in that way. 
 I suppose that it is the same with man. When 
 he sees that one or two of his companions are
 
 A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERY. 19 
 
 lost by the big man-trap, lie takes good care 
 never to go near it himself." 
 
 " Not a whit ! " exclaimed Furry, -with a 
 scornful whisk of his tail. " They like the 
 bait, though they know its effects quite well. 
 They walk with open eyes into the great man- 
 trap, they hasten merrily into the great man- 
 trap, when the gas-lights are flaring, and the 
 spirits flowing, and the sound of laughter and 
 jesting is heard within ! They know that 
 they are going the straight, direct way to be 
 worried by sickness, poverty, and shame, (what 
 these are I never heard clearly explained, but 
 1 have gathered that they are great enemies 
 of man, who are always waiting at the door of 
 the great man-trap,) and yet they go gaily to 
 their ruin !" 
 
 " So this is your account of the wise creature 
 man ! " I exclaimed ; " he is a great deal more 
 foolish than any rat !"
 
 20 POORER THAN RATS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 POORER THAN RATS. 
 
 WE had not our shed always to ourselves. One 
 cold evening in autumn, when there was a sharp 
 east wind, and a drizzling rain, two human 
 creatures came into the place and cowered 
 down in a corner of our shed. I call them 
 human creatures, for they certainly were not 
 men ; they were so different from the tall 
 powerful fellows whom I had occasionally seen 
 at their work in the warehouse. These were 
 much smaller, and so thin that their bones 
 seemnd almost ready to break through the 
 skin. Their hair hung in long loose masses 
 about their ears. They had nothing on their 
 feet to protect them from the stones, and one 
 of them had a hurt upon his heel, which looked 
 red and inflamed. 
 
 I found that these were young human 
 beings, neglected and uncared for, as young 
 rats would not have been. "We were at first 
 afraid of them, and only peered out curiously 
 upon them from our holes and hiding-places ; 
 but when, gathering courage, we ventured to
 
 POORER THAN RATS. 21 
 
 come forward, we seemed to frighten them as 
 much as they had frightened us. 
 
 "Look there there, Bob!" screamed the 
 younger child, clinging more closely to his 
 brother. 
 
 " Them bees rats," said the other one more 
 quietly. His poor thin little face looked as if 
 the life and spirit had been so starved out of 
 it, that he could not be much astonished at 
 anything. 
 
 "I don't like staying here, Bob, amongst 
 the rats!" cried the terrified little one, at- 
 tempting to pull his brother towards the 
 entrance by the sleeve of his jacket. The 
 wretched rag gave way even under his weak 
 pull, and another rent was added to the many 
 by which the cold crept in through the poor 
 boy's tattered dress. " I won't sta}' here ; let 
 us go, let us go ! " 
 
 " We've no-wheres to go to," replied Bob, 
 in the same dull, lifeless tone. " Never you 
 raind the rats, Billy, them won't hurt you/' 
 he added. 
 
 Hurt him ! not we ! If ever I felt pity it 
 was for those ragged little urchins. We were 
 well-fed, but they were hungry ; Nature had
 
 22 POORER THAN RATS. 
 
 given us sleek warm coats, but they trembled 
 with cold. It was very clear that it was much 
 harder to them to support life than if they had 
 been rats. I wondered if in this great city 
 there were many such helpless children, and if 
 there were none to care for them ! 
 
 " I say, Ratto," observed Oddity, licking his 
 soft coat till the beautiful polish upon it made 
 one almost forget its ugly colour, " 'tis a pity 
 that these children are so dirty ; but may be 
 they are not so particular about such matters 
 as we rata" 
 
 In time a sort of acquaintance grew up 
 between me .and the ragged boys. We ceased 
 to fear each other, and I would venture almost 
 close to Billy's thin little hand when he had a 
 crust of bread to eat, for he always broke off 
 a little bit for me. The poor little fellow was 
 crippled and lame, so he rarely left the shed. 
 Bob often went out in the morning, and re- 
 turned when it was growing dark, sometimes 
 with food, and sometimes without it ; but 
 whenever he had anything to eat, he always 
 shared it with his little lame brother. I see 
 them now, crouched close up together for the 
 sake of warmth. Sometimes Billy cried from
 
 POORER THAN RATS. 23 
 
 hunger and cold, and his tears made long lines 
 down his grimy face. Bob never cried, he 
 suffered quite quietly ; he patted his little 
 brother's shaggy head, and spoke kindly to 
 him, in his dull, cheerless way. I felt more 
 sony for him than for Billy. 
 
 The little one was the more talkative of the 
 two. Perhaps he was more lively in his 
 nature ; or perhaps, from having been a shorter 
 time in a world of sorrow, he had not learned 
 its sad lessons so well. I certainly never heard 
 him laugh but once, and then it was when 
 Oddity, who was more shy than I, ventured 
 for the first time since Billy's coming to cross 
 the shed. 
 
 " Oh ! look look, Bob ! what a funny 
 rat ! what a beauty rat !" he cried, clapping 
 his bony hands together with childish glee. 
 
 It was comical to see the expression on 
 Oddity's blunt face on hearing this unexpected 
 compliment, perhaps the first that he had ever 
 received in his life. It was enough to have 
 turned the head of a less sober rat ; but he, 
 honest fellow, only lifted up his snub nose with 
 a sort of bull-dog look, which seemed to say, 
 " Well, there's no accounting for taste."
 
 21 POORER THAN RATS. 
 
 " Bob," said little Billy one evening, with 
 more animation than usual, " I'se been a- 
 watching the rats, and I saw only think 
 what I saw !" 
 
 " Eh, what did ye see ?" replied Bob, 
 drowsily, rubbing his eyes with the back 
 of his hand. He looked very hungry and 
 tired. 
 
 " I was a-watching for the fat spotted one 
 which ran across yesterday, when out came 
 creeping, creeping, two others" the child with 
 his lingers on the floor suited his action to 
 his words, " and one had some white on its 
 back ; it looked old and weak ; and Bob, I saw 
 as how it was blind." 
 
 '' A blind rat !" cried Bob ; " 'twould soon 
 starve, I take it." 
 
 " But there was the other rat at its side, 
 with such shining eyes, and such a sharp little 
 nose ! " I plead guilty to vanity ; I could not 
 hear such a description of myself with Oddity's 
 sober composure. " And the old blind rat had 
 a little bit of stick in its mouth, just as the 
 blind man in the lane has a stick in his hand, 
 and the pretty black rat took the other end in 
 his teeth, and so pulled the old un on his way."
 
 POORER THAN RATS. 25 
 
 " I'se never heard of rats doing that afore," 
 said Bob. 
 
 " That's not all that I saw about 'em," con- 
 tinued Billy. " Out comes the funny spotted 
 rat from its hole ; so I keeps very quiet, not to 
 frighten it away. And it pattered up to the 
 place where I put the little crumbs ; and what 
 do you think as it did ?" 
 
 " Ate them," was Bob's quiet reply. 
 
 "No, but it didn't though!" cried Billy, 
 triumphantly ; " it pushed them towards the 
 old blind rat. Neither the black un nor the 
 spotted un ate up one crumb ; they left 'em all 
 for the poor blind rat ! Now wasn't them 
 famous little fellows ! " 
 
 " So rats help one another," said Bob. He 
 did not speak more ; but as he leant back his 
 head, and looked straight up at the roof of the 
 shed, (there was a great hole in it which the 
 stars shone through, and now and then a big 
 drop .of water from the top came plash, plash, 
 on the muddy floor below,) he looked up, I say, 
 and I wonder whether he was thinking the 
 same thing as I was at that moment: "Rats 
 help one another ; do none but human beings 
 leave their fellow-creatures to perish ! "
 
 2G HOW I MADE A FRIEXD. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOW I MADE A FRIEND. 
 
 I ALWAYS ate my supper in the warehouse, 
 but I need hardly say that Oddity and I care- 
 fully avoided the spot where the tragedy of 
 our six brothers had occurred. We were by 
 no means the only rats who found a living in 
 the place at the expense of our enemy, man. 
 There were a good many of the species of the 
 large brown Norweg : an rat ; but as I have 
 mentioned before, we usually kept out of their 
 way, from a tender regard for our own ears. 
 
 There was one brown rat, however, whose 
 fame had spread, not only in his own tribe, 
 but in ours. For quickness of wit, readiness 
 in danger, strength of teeth, and courage in 
 using them, I have never yet met with his 
 equal Whiskerandos was a hero of a rat. 
 Was it not he who in single combat had met 
 and conquered a young ferret ! an exploit in 
 itself quite sufficient to establish his fame as a 
 warrior. They had been opposed to each 
 other in a room lighted by a single window. 
 Whiskerandos, whose intelligence at once
 
 1IOW I MADE A FRIEND. 27 
 
 showed him the importance of position, took 
 his station beneath this window, so that the 
 light was in his enemy's eyes, and compelled 
 him to fight at disadvantage. For two long 
 hours the battle lasted, but at length the 
 ferret lay dead upon the floor ! 
 
 Several scars upon the neck of Whisk erandos 
 bore witness to this terrible encounter, and 
 many others in which he had been engaged. 
 He had lost one ear, and the other had been 
 grievously curtailed of its proportions, so that 
 altogether he had paid for fame at the price of 
 beauty ; but he was strong and bold as ever, 
 and his appearance one night in our warehouse 
 created quite a sensation in the community of 
 rats. 
 
 There was one brown rat, in particular, 
 that seemed to wait upon him, and pay him 
 court, as though, having no merit of his own, 
 Shabby fancied that he could borrow a little 
 from a distinguished companion. I have often 
 seen this in life, (I am now an old and expe- 
 rienced rat,) I have seen a mean race following 
 and flattering their superiors, ready to lick the 
 dust from their feet, not from real admiration 
 or attachment, but, like a mistletoe upon a
 
 28 nOW I MADE A FRIEND. 
 
 forest tree, because they had no proper footing 
 of their own, and liked to be raised on the 
 credit of another. It is easier to them to fawn 
 than to work, to natter the great than to 
 follow their example. 
 
 I own that I was afraid of Whiskerandos, 
 and yet he passed without touching me, quite 
 above the meanness of hurting a creature 
 merely because it was weaker than himself. 
 But Shabby gave such a savage snap at my 
 ear that I retreated squeaking into a corner. 
 I almost think that I should have returned 
 the bite, had not his formidable companion 
 been so near; and it was probably this cir- 
 cumstance which gave the mean rat courage 
 thus to attack me without provocation. From 
 what I have heard of boys tormenting cats, 
 mice, birds, anything that they can easily 
 master, while they pay proper respect to bull- 
 dogs and mastiffs, I have an idea that there 
 are some Shabbys to be found even amongst 
 " the lords of creation." 
 
 I was busy at my supper, when, chancing 
 to look towards the fatal hole in which my 
 six brothers had been caught, I saw "Whisker- 
 andos and his follower merrily advancing t>
 
 HOW I MADE A TRIEND. 29 
 
 wards it, doubtless attracted, as the former 
 victims had been, by a very enticing scent. 
 
 I do not know how man would have be- 
 haved in my position. These certainly were 
 no friends of mine ; but then they were rats ; 
 they were of the race of Mus. I could not 
 see them perish without warning them of their 
 danger. 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! " squeaked I, keeping, how- 
 ever, at a respectful distance ; " you are run- 
 ning right into a trap I" 
 
 Whiskerandos turned sharp round and faced 
 me. I retreated back several steps. 
 
 " Bite him, fight him, shake him by the 
 neck ! " cried Shabby ; " he knows there is a 
 dainty feast there, and he would keep it all 
 for his ugly black rats ! " Shabby was a great 
 fighter with words; those of his character 
 usually are ; nor was he in the least particular, 
 when he gave his bad names, that they were 
 in the least suitable and appropriate, or he would 
 never have applied the term " ugly" to us. 
 
 " You'll pay for your dainty feast if you. go 
 one foot farther I" I exclaimed ; feeling, I confess 
 it, very angry. 
 
 " Who's afraid !" cried the boaster, flinging
 
 30 HOW I MADE A FRIEND. 
 
 up his hind legs with a saucy flourish as he 
 scampered on. Clap ! he was caught in the 
 trap ! 
 
 Poor rat ! had he possessed the courage* and 
 skill of Whiskerandos himself, they would have 
 availed him nothing. His miserable squeaking 
 was louder than that of all my six brothers put 
 together. He would not take advice, and he 
 found the consequences. He thought himself 
 wiser than his neighbours, and only discovered 
 his mistake when it had led him to destruction. 
 Had he only listened to the counsels of a little 
 black rat ! 
 
 Whiskerandos remained for some moments 
 quite still, looking towards the dismal prison 
 of his companioa He knew too well that it 
 was impossible to rescue him now. Then, 
 with such bounds as few rats but himself could 
 make, he sprang to where I was standing. 
 
 " Rat !" he exclaimed, " you have saved my 
 life, and I shall never forget the obligation. 
 Though you are black and I am brown, no 
 difference between us shall ever be regarded 
 Let us be friends to the end of our days I" 
 
 " Agreed I" I cried ; " let's rub noses upon 
 it !" and noses we accordingly rubbed.
 
 HOW I'MAUE A FRIEXD. 31 
 
 He never flinched from his word, that bold 
 Whiskerandos. I never feared him from that 
 hour ; no, not even when I knew that he was 
 hungry, and had tasted no food from morning 
 till night; I knew that no extremity would 
 ever induce him to eat up his friend ; an-1 
 many a ramble have we had together, and 
 through many strange paths has he led me. 
 I ventured even into the haunts of the brown 
 rats, for his presence was a sufficient protection. 
 None would have dared to attack me while he 
 was beside me, I should hardly have been 
 afraid of a cat ! 
 
 I had naturally a fancy for roving, and a 
 great desire to know more of the world ; and 
 what better guide could I have had than the 
 heroic Whiskerandos ? He had not, however, 
 been so great a traveller as Furry, he had 
 never yet crossed the water; but he and I 
 determined, on some favourable opportunity, 
 to take our passage in a ship, and explore 
 some foreign region together. 
 
 There was but one subject on which Whisker- 
 andos and I were ever in danger of quarrelling. 
 T had made up my mind and Furry, who 
 was a very learned rat, was quite of the same
 
 32 nOW I MADE A FRIEND. 
 
 opinion that the ancestors of the brown rats 
 came over from Hanover to England with 
 George I. We liked to call them Hanover 
 rats, but this gave great offence to the race, 
 as it made their antiquity so much less than 
 that which we claimed for ourselves. 
 
 " You affirm," Whiskerandos would exclaim, 
 " that you came over from Normandy in 1066, 
 and we from Hanover in 1714, and that no- 
 thing was ever heard of us before that time. 
 I affirm that it is a calumny, a base calumny! 
 We came from Persia, from the land of the 
 East ; an army of us swam across the Volga, 
 driven by an earthquake from our own coun- 
 try. Depend upon it, we were known there 
 in ancient times, and went over Xerxes' great 
 bridge of boats, and nibbled at his tent-ropes 
 and gnawed his cheese while he fought with 
 the Greeks at Thermopylae." 
 
 " After all," thought I I did not say it 
 aloud, for the great weakness of Whiskerandos 
 was his pride of birth, his anxiety to be thought 
 of an ancient family " the great matter is not 
 whether our ancestors do honour to us, but 
 whether by our conduct we do not disgrace 
 our ancestors."
 
 liOW BOB MET WITH AN ADVENTURE. 33 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HOW BOB MET WITH AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 I WAS often puzzled by the conduct of Bob ; 
 that was to be expected, seeing that I was a 
 young and ignorant rat, quite inexperienced in 
 the doings of man. Once or twice Bob had 
 brought to the shed things which he could not 
 eat and did not wear. I could neither imagine 
 where he had got them, what he intended to 
 do with them, nor what possible use he could 
 make of them. He seemed inclined to hide 
 them ; and once, when lie was showing to Billy 
 a red handkerchief covered with white spots 
 (though the weather was bitterly cold, he never 
 attempted to tie it round his neck), the little 
 boy looked up gravely into his face and said, 
 " Oh, Bob, arn't you afeard?" 
 
 " What am I to do ; we can't starve, Billy." 
 He looked so wan and so woe-begone, as he 
 bent over the little lame child, that it seemed 
 to me that never was a creature so wretched 
 as that desolate boy. The next morning he 
 took away the handkerchief, and in the even- 
 ing he brought home bread 
 3
 
 34 HOW BOB 3IET WITH AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 Once when he returned, the snow was fast 
 falling, drifting through the roof, and in at the 
 door, till Billy could scarcely find a clear spot 
 on which to rest his languid little frame. He 
 was always on the look-out for his brother, 
 as soon as the sky began to darken. Well 
 might he watch on that day, for he had not 
 broken his fast since the evening before; and 
 his lips were blue with hunger and cold, and 
 he was lonely, very lonely, in the shed. 
 
 Presently Bob came hastily in; we had not 
 heard his step on the soft snow. The flakes 
 were resting on his rags and whitening his 
 hair, as he threw himself down by his brother. 
 
 " Oh ! Billy!" he exclaimed, and burst into 
 tears. 
 
 " What have you got ? " cried the little one 
 joyfully. " A big loaf ! " and he tore it asun- 
 der in his eager haste, and ate like a famished 
 creature. 
 
 "And see this!" said Bob; and he wrapped . 
 round the shivering child a warm cloak which 
 he had carried on his arm. 
 
 Billy opened his eyes with an expression of 
 astonishment, which brightened into joy as he 
 felt the unwonted warmth. " Oh ! Bob ! "
 
 HOW BOB MET WITH AX ADVENTURE. 35 
 
 he exclaimed, with his mouth full of bread; 
 " where did you get this? Did you steal 
 it?" 
 
 "No; and I'll never steal no more; never, 
 never ! " and the boy sank his head down upon 
 his chest, and sobbed. I had never seen him 
 shed a tear till that day. 
 
 " Tell me all about it, tell me!" cried Billy, 
 almost frightened by his brother's unwonted 
 emotion; but it was a little time before Bob 
 made reply. 
 
 " I followed he a fine, tall gemman. I 
 had my fingers in his pocket, and he clappe-i 
 his hand on 'em, and catched me ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Billy, with eyes and 
 mouth wide open, in alarm. " And did he 
 not call the beaks, and have you up?" 
 
 " No ; he spoke to me ; he spoke so kind- 
 like. He told me that I was about a sin 
 a great sin. Nobody never spoke so to me 
 afore ! " Again the boy's feelings seemed 
 ready to burst forth. " And he took me to a 
 baker's, and got me this; and to a shop, and 
 bought me that; and says he, "Has no one 
 taught you to know right from wrong?" 
 And says I, "Nobody never taught me no-
 
 86 HOW BOB MET WITH AN ADVENTURE. 
 
 thing \" Then he takes me a good way 
 round, down a little lane, right into a Ragged 
 School" 
 
 " What's that?" inquired Billy curiously. 
 
 " A place where a great many poor boys 
 were together in a big room, where there 
 were wooden benches, and pictures and other 
 things hung on the walls. I should never 
 have dared to go in ; but that good gernman 
 took me, and led me right up to a man who 
 was standing with a row of little chaps afore 
 him. And the gemman put his hand on my 
 shoulder, and spoke for me, and said a many 
 things that I can't remember; but one thing 
 I remember quite well : " You come here 
 every evening," says he, " and you'll be taught 
 your duty, and how to do it. I am leaving 
 London soon; but I will be back in a few 
 weeks, and I'll come and ask the master how 
 you have been behaving; and if I find that 
 you've been trying to become a better boy, I 
 will not lose sight of you, my friend." 
 
 " Did the gemman say all that ?" exclaimed 
 Billy. 
 
 "And a great deal more. Such beautiful 
 talking i And to see how gentle and kind he
 
 HOW COB MET WITH AN ADVENTURE. 37 
 
 looked, as if he didn't think me such a bad 
 un after all!" 
 
 "Did you tell him of me?" asked Billy 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Yes ; I told him that I had one little 
 brother, and he was lame; and that mother 
 was dead and father in jail, and that we had 
 no one to care for us, and that we were often 
 hungry, and always cold ; and he looked quite 
 sorry to hear it." 
 
 "Did he though?" cried Billy, much sur- 
 prised. " And will you go to the Ragged 
 School, Bobby?" 
 
 "Won't I!" cried the boy, with a little 
 more energy than I had seen in him before ; 
 " why, if I don't, I won't see that good 
 gemman again ! " 
 
 " And won't you take me with you too ?" 
 said little Billy.
 
 38 I1OW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HOW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
 
 THAT night I set out with Whiskerandos on 
 more extended travels than any which I had 
 yet attempted. Oddity might have accom- 
 panied us, but he preferred, as he said, home 
 comforts and a nibble in the warehouse. I 
 knew that he would look after old Furry, 
 whose infirmities were sadly increasing upon 
 him, so that I had no fear of the blind rat 
 being neglected. 
 
 I suspected that more than one reason 
 induced my pie-bald brother to decline the 
 tour. He had struck up an acquaintance with 
 Bright-eyes, a lively little rat, and probably 
 found his society more agreeable than that of 
 "Whiskerandos, of whom he always stood some- 
 what in awe. I shall not pause on the descrip- 
 tion of our underland journey through the 
 wondrous labyrinth of passages which, like a 
 net-work, spreads in every direction under the 
 foundations of London. I saw more rats in 
 these gloomy lanes than I had ever imagined 
 existed in the world. I should have been
 
 HOW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 39 
 
 afraid to have passed them, so fierce they 
 looked, so ready to attack an intruder, had not 
 Whiskerandos been at my side. He neither 
 provoked contests, nor feared them neither 
 gave offence willingly, nor took it readily 
 but had withal so resolute an air, that few 
 would have been disposed to have quarrelled 
 with him. I was heartily glad, however, when 
 again we emerged into the light of day ; and 
 I was full of astonishment at the sight of 
 green grass and trees, such as I had never 
 beheld before. 
 
 " All ! " said Whiskerandos, smiling at my 
 delight, " you should see this grass in the fresh 
 spring, and those black bare trees when the 
 bright young leaves are upon them. The 
 branches of yonder row seem dropping their 
 blossoms of gold ; and how sweet is the scent 
 of the hawthorn ! But I would not have you 
 pass through that iron paling to examine more 
 closely the beauties of the garden ; the square 
 would be a charming place, no doubt, if it 
 were not haunted by cats/' 
 
 I had never seen a cat in my life, but I 
 started instinctively at the name. " Take me 
 anywhere," I exclaimed, " take me anywhere
 
 40 HOW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
 
 that you will, so that I never come in sight of 
 one of those terrible creatures ! " 
 
 " I am going," said Whiskerandos, " to take 
 you where there are cats so huge that one 
 could take a man's head in her mouth, or 
 strike him dead by a blow of her paw I" 
 
 " Oh, for my shed ! Oh, for my quiet hole I 
 for Furry, and Oddity, and my peaceable 
 companions ! " thought I. " What folly it 
 was to venture into the world with such a 
 guide as this desperado, Whiskerandos ! " 
 
 I suppose that the bold rat read my thoughts 
 in my frightened face, for he hastened to 
 reassure my mind. "The big cats," said he, 
 " some with long flowing manes, some spotted, 
 some striped black and yellow, have no power 
 to harm us. They are kept in barred cages 
 by man, and spend their lives in wearisome 
 captivity, denied even the solace of amusing 
 themselves by catching a mouse for supper/' 
 
 It was the dawn of a winter's morning, 
 when with my comrade I merrily made my 
 way across the park. The grass was whitened 
 with hoar-frost, which also glittered on the 
 leafless boughs of the rows of trees which lined 
 the long straight avenue. We entered the
 
 HOW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 41 
 
 gardens without paying toll, or in any way 
 obtruding ourselves on the notice of man. 
 
 "See here!" exclaimed Whiskerandos, half 
 pettishly, as we passed a pond with a curious 
 wire-fence all round it. " What a dainty 
 breakfast we should make of some of the 
 delicate young water-fowl, but for the extra- 
 ordinary care which has been taken to shut 
 us out ! "We can look in, to be sure, and see 
 our prey, but the ducks do not even flutter, 
 or move a wing, so secure are they that we 
 cannot reach them ! " 
 
 The season being winter, we were unable to 
 see many animals from tropical climes, whose 
 health would have suifered from exposure to 
 cold I however regretted this but little. 
 The white bear was shaking his shaggy coat, 
 the wolf pacing uneasily up and down his den, 
 birds pluming their feathers in the dull red 
 light, while the monkeys' ceaseless jabber 
 sounded from the walls of their prison. 
 
 " Whiskerandos," said I to my guide, "I 
 care little for making acquaintance with cats, 
 whether they be little or big; but if any 
 foreigners of the race of Mus be kept here, 
 might I request you to introduce me to them?"
 
 42 HOW I VISITED THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
 
 Whiskerandos pointed with his nose towards 
 a building. " You will find relations there," 
 lie said, " some of the forty-six classes of our 
 race, known by the family likeness in their 
 teeth.* For me, I'm going to pay a visit to 
 the monkeys' house ; I'm sure there to find 
 some provision, always a matter of importance 
 to a rat. The door is shut, but I'll not 
 trouble the keeper to open it for me I" So 
 saying, with wonderful agility he began to 
 climb the building, and soon vanished through 
 a hole in the root 
 
 Food was to me a subject of at least as- 
 great importance as to Whiskerandos. Even 
 my curiosity had to wait attendance on my 
 appetite. I was fortunate, however, in dis- 
 covering half a bun, which had probably been 
 dropped by some child ; and cheered and 
 refreshed I proceeded to the building in which 
 I was to make my affectionate search for 
 distant relations. I carefully examined the 
 walls, till I discovered a hole, probably made 
 by some rat of the place, and through this 
 I entered the house, and proceeded at once 
 
 * I am not aware whether the Zoological Gardens at present contain 
 specimens of the curious rats described in the following chapter.
 
 FINDING RELATIONS. 43 
 
 with eagerness to a small barred division, from 
 whence a feeble squeak proceeded. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 FINDING RELATIONS. 
 
 " WELL, this is at length such weather as a 
 creature may live and breathe in ! I've been 
 half stifled all the autumn with the heat, but 
 now the fresh keen air seems like a breeze 
 from my own dear Lapland ! " 
 
 " Lapland ! oh ! there is nothing like Lap* 
 land," said a very dolorous voice in reply. 1 
 lifted up my eyes to get a glimpse of the 
 speaker. 
 
 Within the cage were two beautiful little 
 Lemmings, (I learnt their name afterwards as 
 well as those of other inhabitants of the place.) 
 They were not much more than half my size, 
 had pointed heads, very short tails, and 
 whiskers uncommonly long. Their coats were 
 black and tawny, but yellowish -white beneath. 
 I heard subsequently that their race inhabit 
 Siberia, Norway, and other cold climes, moving 
 in large bodies like locusts, and like locusts
 
 44 FINDING RELATIONS. 
 
 eating up every thing green. But this pair, 
 as was evident from their conversation, had 
 been natives of a country called Lapland. 
 
 " Oh for a sight of the icy lakes, the 
 snow-covered plains and the reindeer moving 
 lightly over them; while the rosy Aurora 
 Borealis throws its bright streamers across the 
 sky I" 
 
 " And the strange little huts," rejoined the 
 other, " made of briers, bark, felt, and reindeer 
 skins, where, when we peeped under the curtains 
 which made the door, we saw the tiny people, 
 in their sheepskin doublets, sitting on their 
 heels round the fire ! I don't wonder that 
 the Lapps love their land; I don't wonder 
 that when long exiled from it, they die of 
 intense longing to return. That will be my 
 fate, oh! that will be mine!" 
 
 " Allow an English rat, gentle strangers," 
 said I, " to offer a little word of comfort I 
 grieve that you feel your captivity so much, 
 that you so deeply mourn your absence from 
 your dear native land. But is it not better to 
 meet misfortune with courage, and bear it 
 with patience? You are yet left the society 
 of each other, you can yet talk over old days
 
 FINDING RELATIONS. 45 
 
 together, while the white bear growls in his 
 prison alone, and the lofty camel has no com- 
 panion near him/' 
 
 I was interrupted by some animal near 
 dashing itself passionately against the bars of 
 its cage, and, turning round, I beheld a very 
 savage rat, which bore the name of the 
 German Hamster. His head was thick, blunt, 
 and garnished with plenty of whiskers ; he 
 had big eyes, and large, open, rounded ears. 
 His back and head were of a reddish-brown 
 colour, his cheeks red, his feet white, and he 
 had three odd white spots on each side of his 
 chest. But the funniest thing which I noticed 
 about him, (I was always an observant rat,) 
 was that he had a claw on his forefeet in 
 addition to four toes, which I had never before 
 seen in the tribes of Mus. 
 
 " Tis easy to talk of comfort ! " he exclaimed 
 angrily, " when a rat has freedom and every- 
 thing else that he cares for ! But here why 
 I have not even the comfort of going to sleep 
 after the fashion of my country ! " 
 
 " Not going to sleep ! " I repeated in some 
 surprise, thinking to myself that so peevish a 
 creature must certainly be best in liis sleep.
 
 16 FINDING RELATIONS. 
 
 "No; who can sleep on bare boards, or a 
 poor sprinkling of straw ! " he exclaimed, strik- 
 ing contemptuously the floor of his cage. " I 
 who used to burrow deep in the earth, and 
 enjoy a long nap all during the winter, shut 
 up in my snug little home, I know what com- 
 fort is! There is nothing like lying some 
 feet under the earth, as quiet as if one were 
 dead, and know that there is a good magazine 
 collected of grain, beans, and pease, to feast 
 on when one awakes in the spring." 
 
 " But at any rate here you are well fed," I 
 suggested. 
 
 The words, however kindly intended, had 
 only the effect of increasing the Hamster's 
 passion to a shocking extent. To my amaze- 
 ment and horror he blew out his cheeks till 
 the size of his head and neck exceeded that 
 of his body. He raised himself on his hind 
 legs, and but for the bars of his cage I be- 
 lieve that he would really have flown at me. 
 
 "Well fed!" he exclaimed, as soon as he 
 could speak ; " I should like to know what you 
 call being well fed ! Since I have come to 
 this hateful country, not once have I had an 
 opportunity of filling my cheeks with grain.
 
 FINDING RELATIONS. 47 
 
 Man, stingy man, thinks it enough to give 
 me a wretched pittance from day to day, to 
 me who have had a hundred pounds of corn 
 packed up in my own deep hole, to me whose 
 delight it was to carry three ounces weight of 
 it at once in these bags with which Nature 
 has provided my face ! " 
 
 " Most curious and convenient bags they 
 are," said I, willing to appease him by a civil 
 word, though I thought that thus puffed out 
 \vith air, they anything but added to the 
 beauty of his appearance. 
 
 " They were the cause of my being taken," 
 cried the fierce Hamster, whose savage com- 
 plaints had quite silenced the gentler murmurs 
 of the pretty little Lemmings, and had done 
 more perhaps to make them submissive to 
 their lot than anything which I could have 
 said. 
 
 " How were your pouches the cause of your 
 being taken?" inquired I. 
 
 " I can fight savagely I will fly even at 
 dogs," replied the Hamster (no one could have 
 looked at him and have doubted it,) "but I 
 cannot bite when my cheeks are stuffed full of 
 grain, which was the case when a German
 
 48 FINDING RELATIONS. 
 
 peasant seized me; I had no time to empty 
 them, not a moment, or wouldn't I have 
 bitten him! oh, would not I have bitten him!" 
 
 I felt so much disgusted at the words and 
 manner of this most ferocious of rats, that I 
 was glad to turn away from his cage; reflect- 
 ing to myself how hideous and how hateful 
 any creature is rendered by violent passion. 
 
 A perfume, rather more powerful than agree- 
 able, drew my attention towards a division 
 occupied by a Musk-Rat, a native of Canada 
 I saw within it a creature of the size of a 
 small rabbit, quiet and staid in his demeanour, 
 who welcomed me with a grave courtesy 
 strangely in contrast to the rudeness of the 
 Hamster. 
 
 "May I venture to look upon you as be- 
 longing to the race of Mus?" I inquired, look- 
 ing doubtingly at his large size, soft fur, and 
 long flat tail. 
 
 " Well," he replied, good-humouredly, " some 
 naturalists, and I believe the great Linnaeus 
 amongst them, class me with the Castor or 
 Beaver race, and dignify me with a very long 
 and learned-sounding name, Zibethicus. But 
 I am quite content, for my part, to own my
 
 FINDING RELATIONS. 4'J 
 
 relationship to the race of Mus, and to be 
 known by the simple name Musk-Rat, which 
 they give me on the lakes of Canada." 
 
 " I am delighted," said I, with a wave of 
 my whiskers, "at this opportunity of paying 
 my respects to so dignified a relation." 
 
 "Ah!" replied Zibethicus, "I only wish 
 that I could have received you in my own 
 house upon the Lake Huron. If you could 
 but have seen the pretty round dwelling raised 
 by myself and my companions the neat 
 dome-shaped roof which covered it, formed of 
 herbs and reeds cemented with clay. So 
 prettily it was stuccoed within ! A great deal 
 of trouble it cost us, to be sure, but I often 
 think there's no pleasure without trouble; and 
 there's nothing in my captivity which I miss 
 so much as the power to labour and build." 
 
 " May I ask," said I, " whether you be of 
 the same family with the Musk Cavy, which 
 I have heard of as inhabiting Ceylon and other 
 places in the East?" 
 
 "I believe not/' answered my courteous 
 companion, " but we doubtless belong to the 
 same race, however our habits and appearance 
 may differ." 
 
 4
 
 50 FINDING RELATIONS. 
 
 Our pleasant conversation was here un- 
 fortunately interrupted by the keeper's open- 
 ing the door. I had barely time to hide my- 
 self under some straw, resolving not to show 
 myself again till darkness should render it safe 
 for me to creep out. 
 
 Soon various visitors arrived, and I was 
 vastly amused by watching the different vari- 
 eties of the human species, of which there 
 must be nearly as many as of the race of 
 Mus. For the first time in my life I saw 
 ladies all bedizened in velvets and silks, and 
 the furry spoils of many an unfortunate ermine 
 or sable. I saw gentlemen too, and I confess 
 that a creeping uncomfortable feeling came 
 over me when I looked at the hats which they 
 had on their heads, the fine black gloss was 
 so exceedingly like that of the coat which I 
 wore. I have since learnt that my conjecture 
 was but too close to the fact that numberless 
 hapless rats are slaughtered in France on ac- 
 count of their fatal beauty; and that man not 
 only manufactures their fur into hats, but uses 
 their soft and delicate skins to make the thumbs 
 of his best gloves. Alas, for the race of Musi
 
 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 5t 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 
 
 IN the afternoon a gentleman entered' the 
 building, whose noble and commanding appear- 
 ance struck me. After a short examination 
 of the captives in their cages, he sat down to 
 rest himself nearly opposite the place where I 
 was hidden. 
 
 He was almost directly joined by a bright- 
 haired boy, in whose cheeks health was glow- 
 ing, and whose blue eyes sparkled with in- 
 telligence and enjoyment. 
 
 " Papa please I want more money to 
 buy buns for the animals I" 
 
 " My dear boy," replied the gentleman, in 
 an expostulating tone, " you have had a whole 
 dozen already ; I do not think it right to 
 spend more on pampering well-fed animals, 
 when so many of our fellow-creatures are 
 suffering from hunger." 
 
 " Oh, papa ! do you think there are many ?" 
 
 " I believe that in this city of London alone 
 there are thousands, yes, tens of thousands, 
 who know not, when they rise in the morning,
 
 52 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 
 
 where they shall find a morsel of food during 
 the day. I did not tell you what happened to 
 me when I was in the city, Neddy." 
 
 "Do tell me now," cried the boy, seating 
 himself by his father, " while we rest a little 
 quietly here." 
 
 " I was walking along a narrow gloomy 
 lane on my way to the shipping-office, when 
 suddenly I felt a hand at my pocket. Mine 
 was instantly down upon it, and I captured 
 a little thief who appeared to be about your 
 own age." 
 
 " The little rogue !" exclaimed Neddy, in- 
 dignantly. " And what did you do with him, 
 papa? Did you give him over to the police, 
 or thrash him soundly with your stick?" 
 
 " I grieved to see one so young already 
 plunging into crime." 
 
 " Yes, that is the worst of it," said Neddy. 
 " If he is so bad as a boy, what will he be 
 when he is a man ! He will be sure to end 
 on the gallows ! I hope you punished him 
 well, papa." 
 
 I pricked up my ears on hearing this con- 
 versation ; I could not help connecting it with 
 what Bob had told his lame little brother ; I
 
 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 53 
 
 therefore listened with peculiar interest. Not 
 that, as a rat, I could understand the word 
 crime, or know why human beings feel it 
 wrong to seize anything that they want and 
 can get. It was evident to me that they are 
 governed by laws and principles quite incom- 
 prehensible to my race. For as man has no 
 scruple in taking from rats their lives and 
 their skins, so rats, on the other hand, have 
 no manner of scruple in taking all they re- 
 quire from man. 
 
 But to return to the gentleman and his 
 son. 
 
 " No, Neddy, I did not punish the child/' 
 replied the former gravely. I looked at his 
 meagre form clothed in rags, his wasted coun- 
 tenance prematurely old in its expression of 
 sorrow and care, his hollow eyes, his sunken 
 cheeks, and I thought of you, my son !" the 
 gentleman added, with a sigh. 
 
 " Well," said Neddy, " I hope there's a 
 precious deal of difference between me and a 
 beggarly thief!" 
 
 " What has made that difference ?" said the 
 gentleman, laying his hand on the shoulder of 
 his beautiful boy. " 1 questioned that un-
 
 54 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 
 
 happy child. I found him ignorant of the first 
 principles of virtue. His mother is dead, his 
 father in jail ; if he has learnt anything from 
 those around him it is only a knowledge of 
 vice. Pinched by hunger, homeless, friendless, 
 ignorant even that he has a soul, it would be 
 a miracle indeed if he followed the straight 
 path of which he has not so much as heard ! 
 What can we expect him to be but a thief, 
 what would you have been in his place ?" 
 
 Neddy looked thoughtful and was silent 
 Then raising his blue eyes to his father's 
 face he said, " And what did you do to the 
 boy?" 
 
 " I first tried to relieve a little his pressing 
 bodily wants ; to take from him, at least for 
 one day, the temptation to commit a theft. 
 But I knew that the temptation would recur 
 again, and as long as he continued in blind 
 ignorance, there could be small hope that he 
 would even wish to resist it. I remembered 
 that my watchmaker had given me the direc- 
 tion of a Ragged School at which his daughter 
 taught; spending her time and energies as so 
 many do now, in this noblest labour of love. 
 This school was not veiy far off, and I resolved
 
 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 55 
 
 to take this opportunity of paying it a long- 
 intended visit. I took the poor little fellow 
 with me, and spoke to the superintendent, who 
 readily agreed to receive him. He will there 
 learn some way to earn his bread honestly; he 
 will be taught to know right from wrong; he 
 will hear, perhaps for the first time, the voice 
 of kindness ; and he may yet live to be respect- 
 able, useful, and happy/' 
 
 " Oh ! papa, do you think that after once 
 being a thief he is ever likely to turn out good 
 for anything!" 
 
 " The experiment has been tried over and 
 over again, Neddy, and many times it has been 
 mercifully attended with success. The idle 
 have become industrious, the thieves honest, 
 the vicious been reclaimed, the lost found and 
 saved! I will tell you a striking occurrence 
 which really took place in a reformatory for 
 thieves. Not one of the inmates there but 
 had broken the laws of his countiy, and com- 
 mitted the crime of theft. But mercy was 
 giving them a chance to redeem the characters 
 which they had lost, and they were learning 
 various trades, by which to support themselves 
 in honest independence. A subscription, as
 
 56 nOW I HEARD OF OLD XEIGIIBOURS.' 
 
 you may remember, was raised at the time 
 of the war with Kussia, to help the widows 
 'and orphans of our gallant soldiers. From 
 the Sovereign on her throne, to the labourer in 
 the field, from rich and poor, high and low, 
 contributions to the Patriotic Fund poured in. 
 
 " The thieves in the reformatory heard of 
 the subscription; they longed to aid it, but 
 what could they do ? they had no money, they 
 owed their very bread to charity, for they had 
 not yet acquired sufficient skill in the trades 
 which they were learning, to pay even their 
 necessary expenses/' 
 
 " They could not give what they had not 
 got, papa, if they wished to be generous ever 
 so much." 
 
 " Where there is a will there is a way, 
 Neddy. These poor fellows were so anxious to 
 help the widow and the orphan, that they 
 asked and obtained leave to go a whole day 
 without food, that the money so saved upon 
 them might be paid into the Patriotic Fund." 
 
 " And did they really starve a whole day ? 
 have neither breakfast, nor dinner, nor 
 supper, and all go hungry to bed ?" 
 
 " They did, Neddy, all the thieves in that
 
 HOW I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 67 
 
 reformatory* did; and I doubt if amongst the 
 hundreds of thousands of subscriptions to the 
 Patriotic Fund, any showed so much real gener- 
 osity and self-denial as the contribution of the 
 reformed thieves!" 
 
 " Oh ! there was hope for such men indeed !" 
 exclaimed Neddy, the moisture rising into his 
 eyes. " There must have been good in them, 
 papa, and I should not wonder if some of 
 them turned out really fine fellows/' 
 
 " I have no doubt of it," said his father with 
 a smile. 
 
 " And that poor boy yes, I hope that he 
 may amend. Shall we hear anything more of 
 him, papa?" 
 
 " You know that we go out of town to- 
 morrow. On my return I shall make inquiries 
 regarding him at the Ragged School, and if I 
 find that he is improving under the instruction 
 which he will receive, I shall try to do some- 
 thing for him." 
 
 " May I go with you?" said Neddy eagerly, 
 " I should like to visit the school." 
 
 " I think that I shall take you with me," 
 replied his father. 
 
 * The Reform atory in Great Smith Street, Westminster
 
 58 IIO\V I HEARD OF OLD NEIGHBOURS. 
 
 " What a glorious thing it is," exclaimed 
 the boy after a pause, " to raise ragged schools 
 and reformatories, to give the poor, the ignorant, 
 and the wicked, a chance of becoming honest 
 and happy ! How I should like to build one 
 myself ! 
 
 " It would be more practicable for you," ob- 
 served the gentleman, smiling as he rose from 
 his seat, " to support those which are built 
 already."* 
 
 " But, papa, I can do so little I" 
 
 " Every little helps, my son ; the vast ocean 
 is made up of drops. You may do something 
 yourself, and try to interest others in the cause 
 of the desolate poor. Were all the children 
 
 * The office of the " Ragged School Union" is at 1 Exeter Hall, London. 
 By this admirable society twenty-two thousand poorchildren have received 
 instruction during the past year, while five hundred of the most destitute 
 have been provided with homes in refuges and reformatories. To show 
 the habits of prudence inculcated in the schools, it is only necessary to stite 
 that in the same year ragged scholars placed in saving-banks a sum of no 
 less than three thousand four hundred and thirty-nine pounds! Seventy 
 of those who now teach in the schools, were once ragged scholars themselves, 
 thus imparting to others the benefits which they iiad received when poor 
 ignorant children. 
 
 But the funds of the society are by no means sufficient for the work be- 
 fore it, though many of its teachers are unpaid, seeking no reward upon 
 earth. There are numbers of ragged children in London, as desolate as 
 those whom I have described, who have never known the blessing of a 
 ragged school, and who, if they implored the shelter of a refuge, must im- 
 plore in rain, for they would find no room.
 
 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 59 
 
 of the middle classes in England to give each 
 but one penny a- week, no wretched boy need 
 wander about desolate in London, to perish 
 both here and hereafter because no one cared 
 for his soul ! " 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 
 
 I REMAINED in the Zoological Gardens for a 
 few weeks, improving my acquaintance with 
 the mild Zibethicus and the gentle Lemmings 
 As for the German Hamster, he became so 
 drowsy as the weather grew colder, that it 
 became evident that he could sleep day and 
 night upon boards, though he never fell into 
 the perfectly torpid, almost dead state that he 
 would have done, could he have been humoured 
 by being buried alive. 
 
 I should willingly have remained longer in 
 the gardens, but the keepers were taking such 
 stringent measures to get rid of rats, that we 
 tli ought it better to remove on our own four 
 feet while we could, instead of being carried in 
 a bag, a kind of conveyance for which we
 
 GO HOW WE FOU, 
 
 had no fancy. We tbe/ . , set out on our 
 journey homewards. w 
 
 We again chose the underland route, lest we 
 should meet with dogs and cats in t' streets, 
 or be crushed beneath rolling wheels. We had 
 not gone far, however, when Whiskerandos 
 suddenly stopped. 
 
 " I feel hungry," said he. 
 
 " So do I," rejoined I. 
 
 " We must find our way into one of the 
 houses/' observed the bold rat ; " let's turn down 
 this passage, it doubtless leads to some kitchen." 
 
 Down the passage we accordingly turned, 
 Whiskerandos, as usual, going first ; but we 
 were ,met, almost at the entrance, by two 
 savage brown rats, who did not seem disposed 
 to allow us to pass. 
 
 " Pray, does this passage lead to a kitchen?" 
 said Whiskerandos, not appearing to notice 
 their sharp teeth and gleaming eyes. 
 
 " Yes," replied one ; " but the passage, and 
 the house, and the kitchen, belong to us, and 
 we let no one share in our rights." 
 
 " Any one who attempts to pass," cried the 
 other, very fiercely, " has to pay us toll with 
 his ears ! "
 
 r JST> A FEAST. 61 
 
 " "Well, my J friends," replied Whis- 
 kerandos, " not' withstanding the darkness I 
 have no doubt but that your bright eyes have 
 observe ifaat I have paid that toll already, 
 and that is a kind of toll which no one is 
 expected to pay twice." The brown rats looked 
 at the warrior with keen, wondering gaze, while 
 Whiskerandos calmly continued, " I lost my 
 ears in single combat with a ferret ; he who 
 exacted the toll lost his life in exchange, and 
 I feel somehow persuaded that you will rather 
 politely guide me into your house and share 
 with me whatever I get there, than try the 
 experiment whether a rat can fight as well 
 without ears as he once did with them." 
 
 This little speech had a most wonderful 
 effect in subduing all unfriendly and inhospi- 
 table feelings on the part of the brown rats 
 towards the valiant Whiskerandos. They, 
 however, looked very suspiciously at me, and 
 I fancied that I heard one whisper to the other, 
 " There's a black rat an intruder an enemy 
 we must tear him in pieces !" 
 
 I felt uncommonly uncomfortable, and much 
 inclined to turn round and scamper for my 
 life ; but Whiskerandos soon ended the diffi-
 
 62 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 
 
 culty. " Let me introduce to you my friend 
 Ratto," said he, " my very particular friend, 
 who goes where I go, shares what I find, and 
 whose safety I value as my own/' 
 
 Nothing more was said about tearing me in 
 pieces, so we all proceeded amicably on our 
 way, till the brown rats led us through a small 
 hole, and we found ourselves in a large, airy 
 kitchen. 
 
 The place was perfectly quiet ; the loud 
 ticking of the clock was the only sound heard, 
 the swing of its pendulum the only motion 
 seen, except that a few black beetles were 
 creeping on the sanded floor. The fire, which 
 must have been a very large one, had almost 
 burnt out ; but a few red embers still were 
 glowing, and served to light us on our way, 
 though, as I have mentioned before, light seems 
 unnecessary to rats. 
 
 We peeped about, under the dresser, on the 
 shelves, and snuffed at the locked door of the 
 larder, but nothing could we discover fit for 
 food. A jar on a shelf looked tempting 
 enough, but being made, cover a,nd all, of 
 crockery ware, it defied even our sharp little 
 teeth.
 
 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 63 
 
 " I've made a discovery!" exclaimed I at 
 last, and at my shout the three other rats came 
 eagerly running towards the place where I stood 
 rejoicing by a flask of oiL 
 
 " I've seen that flask a dozen times," ex- 
 claimed one of the Brownies, in a tone of angry 
 disappointment ; " I have longed to taste its 
 contents, but how is a rat to get at them?" 
 
 Here was a puzzler indeed. But Whis- 
 kerandos was ever ready at expedients. With 
 neat dexterity he extracted the stopper ; but 
 here the difficulty did not end, for the neck of 
 the bottle was too narrow by far to admit the 
 head of a rat ; and the position of the flask, in a 
 wooden box, rendered it impossible to alter its 
 position so as to pour out its contents. 
 
 " Mighty little use that flask is to us !" ex- 
 claimed one of the Brownies, impatiently. 
 
 But my clever rat was not easily discouraged 
 In a moment he had dipped in his long tail, 
 and then whisking it out again, scattered 
 around a fragrant shower of oil ! 
 
 There was no end to the praises and com- 
 mendations which "Whiskerandos received for 
 this simple device. He took little notice of 
 them, however, and only playfully observed,
 
 64 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 
 
 " It is Ratto who should have thought of this, 
 since nature has furnished black rats with two 
 hundred and fifty distinct rings in their tails, 
 while brown ones have only two hundred." 
 
 " Ah, Whiskerandos ! " exclaimed I, " this 
 oil is a nice relish to be sure, but my appetite 
 craves something solid ;" and I looked piteously 
 up at the jar. The other rats looked up 
 piteously also. 
 
 " Let us see what we can do ! " cried my 
 spirited companion ; and he clambered for the 
 second time up on the shelf on which stood 
 the tantalizing jar. This time he did not even 
 attempt to nibble at the hard polished crockery 
 he wasted not his energies in any such fruit* 
 less endeavour ; but, putting his mighty 
 strength to the task, he pushed the whole jar 
 nearer and nearer to the edge of the shelf, 
 then over it, till at length it fell with a tre- 
 mendous crash which made every one of us 
 leap up high into the air with amazement ! 
 
 We might have leapt for joy also, for from 
 the broken crockery what a feast of delicious 
 dried fruits rolled forth ! With what glee we 
 set to our supper, while Whiskerandos sprang 
 from his shelf, too eager to partake of the
 
 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 65 
 
 tempting repast to take the slower method of 
 climbing. I must confess that of all pleasures 
 upon earth there is none to a rat like eating ; 
 if such be the case with any of the lords of 
 creation, why I can only say that they must 
 be content to be reckoned like rats. 
 
 We were in the midst of our feast, our 
 mouths full, and our whiskers merrily wagging, 
 when we were startled by a faint noise at the 
 kitchen door. A stealthy sound, as of human 
 feet moving slowly and cautiously along; a 
 timid hand laid softly on the handle of the 
 door ; and then a whispering murmur of voices. 
 We pricked up our ears and stopped eating. 
 
 " I am sure that the noise came from the 
 kitchen; listen!" said a timorous voice. So_ 
 those without listened, and so did we within, 
 when the clock suddenly striking One, made 
 us all start, and so frightened the Brownies, 
 that off they scampered into their hole. 
 Whiskerandos and I retreated some steps, and 
 then remained in an attitude of attention, 
 while again the whispering began. 
 
 " Would it not be safer to call in a police- 
 man?" 
 
 " No, no, my blunderbuss is loaded, and
 
 66 HOW WE FOUND A FEAST. 
 
 the villains cannot escape. You are nervous 
 go back, Eliza." 
 
 " Dearest I'll never leave you to meet the 
 danger alone ! " 
 
 The handle creaked as it was slowly turned 
 round, and Wliiskerandos exclaiming, " "We'd 
 -better be off!" followed the example of the 
 Brownies. Strong curiosity made me linger 
 for a moment, as the door was opened inch by 
 inch, and I had a glimpse of what to this day 
 I cannot remember without laughing. One of 
 the lords of the creation slowly advanced 
 through it, robed in a long red dressing-gown, 
 a candle in one hand, a loaded blunderbuss in 
 the other, and with a most ludicrous expression 
 on his pallid face, as though he were making 
 up his mind to kill somebody, but was a little 
 afraid that somebody might kill him instead ! 
 His wife, looking ghastly in her curl-papers 
 with her eyes and mouth wide open in fright, 
 was trying to pull him back, and was evidently 
 terrified to glance round the kitchen, lest some 
 midnight robber should meet her gaze. Away 
 I scudded, my sides shaking with mirth, leav- 
 ing the broken jar and the scattered fruits to 
 tell their own tale, and wondering with what
 
 THE WANT OF A CENTIST. 67 
 
 stories of midnight alarms the valiant husband 
 and his devoted spouse would amuse their 
 family in the morning. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 
 
 I WAS glad to see Oddity's kind ugly face 
 again in our native shed. How much I had 
 to tell him ! how much older I now felt than 
 one who had never wandered a hundred yards 
 from his home ! Who knows not the pleasure 
 of returning even after a brief absence, full of 
 information, eager to impart it, and sure of a 
 ready and attentive listener? I talked over 
 my adventures to my brother, till any patience 
 but his would have been exhausted; but he 
 was the most patient of rats, quite willing to 
 have all his adventures second-hand, without 
 the slightest wish to become a hero, but ready, 
 without a particle of envy, to admire the ex- 
 ploits of others. 
 
 "And how is" old Furry?" I asked, when 
 at length I came to the end of my narra-
 
 68 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 
 
 tioa Furry had now taken up his quarters 
 in the warehouse, but sometimes visited our 
 shed. 
 
 Oddity looked very grave. " You know/' 
 replied he, " that poor Furry had the misfor- 
 tune some time ago to lose one of his upper 
 front teeth." 
 
 " I know it; he struck it out when gnawing 
 at the hoop of a barrel. But I do not see 
 that the misfortune is great; old Furry has 
 other teeth left." 
 
 " That is his misfortune," added Oddity. 
 
 "How? what do you mean? what does 
 he complain of, losing his teeth or keeping 
 them?" 
 
 " Both," said Oddity. I should have thought 
 him joking, but Oddity was never guilty of a 
 joke in his life. " You see," he continued, 
 observing my look of surprise, " that gnawing 
 is necessary to us rats, to keep down the quick 
 growth of our teeth. If they are not con- 
 stantly rubbing one against another, they soon 
 get a great deal too long for our mouths. 
 As poor old Furry 's upper tooth is gone, of 
 course the one just under it is now out of work, 
 and having nothing else to do, is growing at
 
 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 69 
 
 such a pace, that it is actually forming a circle 
 in his mouth ! " 
 
 " You don't say so ! " I exclaimed " I 
 have often noticed the strange length of that 
 tooth, but I had no notion of the extent of 
 the evil." 
 
 " It has much increased since you left us," 
 sighed Oddity, " and where it will end I really 
 don't know. The poor fellow is blind, he had 
 no pleasure but in nibbling and chatting, and 
 now his dreadful long tooth is actually locking 
 his jaw." 
 
 " Shall I go to see him ?" said I. 
 
 " Do as you please," replied Oddity. " There 
 is little pleasure in seeing him now, poor fellow." 
 
 And so I found when I went. Poor old 
 Furry 's misfortune had by no means sweetened 
 his temper. He was ready to bite any one 
 who approached him, only biting was now out 
 of the question. He could hardly manage to 
 swallow a little meal which Oddity had pro- 
 cured, and certainly took it without a sign of 
 gratitude. One would have thought, by his 
 manner towards the piebald rat, that it was 
 he who had knocked out the unlucky front 
 tooth, instead of having kindly attended to
 
 70 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 
 
 Furry 's wants for so long, and borne with his 
 temper, which was harder. But Oddity was, 
 without a doubt, the most patient and steady 
 of rats. While Bright-eyes, full of fun, made 
 many a joke at the expense of the blind, 
 crabbed old rat, who had been so fond of talk- 
 ing, and now could scarcel} 7 " utter a squeak 
 of eating, and now could not nibble a nut, 
 Oddity never thought the sufferings of another 
 the subject for a smile, or the peevishness and 
 infirmities of age any theme for the ridicule of 
 the young. He had been often laughed at 
 himself ; that was perhaps the reason why he 
 never gave the same pain to others. 
 
 I was really glad to escape back to my shed 
 from the atmosphere of a peevish temper. I 
 was accompanied to it by Oddity. 
 
 " And now, dear old rat," said I, when we 
 were alone, " how go on our little ragged 
 friends ? What has become of Bob and Billy?" 
 
 " They still live, or rather starve, in the old 
 shed/' said he; " but now they go out each day 
 together. I expect them here every minute." 
 
 "So then they are as poor as ever?" in- 
 quired I. 
 
 " I have heard something of occasional treats
 
 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 71 
 
 of warm soup at the school, but I don't think 
 that they get anything certain, I suppose 
 that now and then, when some good folk sit 
 down to a comfortable meal, beside a roaring 
 fire, they just happen to remember that seventy 
 or eighty half-famished children are gathered 
 together in a street near, and send them a 
 welcome supply. But both Bob and Billy 
 have hope now, if they have nothing else ; 
 they expect soon to be able to do something 
 for themselves, and to be helped on by the 
 kind friends whom they have found at the 
 school" 
 
 " Has Bob brought home any more red 
 handkerchiefs with white spots?" inquired I. 
 
 " Not a rag of one," answered my com- 
 panion ; " but he brings back something which 
 puzzles my brain something white, with black 
 marks upon it. He and little Billy sit poring 
 over it by the hour. They don't eat it, they 
 don't smell it, they don't wear it : I can't make 
 out that it is of any use to them at all ; and 
 yet they seem as much pleased, as they study 
 it together, as if it were a piece of Dutch 
 cheese ! " 
 
 " "What are these odd things scattered about
 
 72 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 
 
 the shed?" said I ; " I don't remember seeing 
 them before." 
 
 " Ah ! I forgot to say the little one is be- 
 ginning to make baskets, and neat fingers he 
 has about it : it seems quite a pleasure to the 
 child. The very talk of the boys is growing 
 different now ; the elder " 
 
 He stopped at the sound of a distant cough, 
 which became more distressing every minute, 
 till our two poor boys entered the shed, and 
 Bob sank wearily down on the floor. 
 
 " Oh ! that cough, how it shakes you ! " cried 
 Billy. 
 
 " Never mind, 'twill be over soon," gasped 
 his brother. 
 
 I was so much surprised at the change in 
 the boys' appearance, that at first I could 
 hardly believe my eyes. They both looked 
 much whiter than I had seen them before ; 
 their hair was cut closer, and brushed to one 
 side, instead of hanging right over their eyes. 
 Neither of the brothers was in rags ; the old 
 worn clothes indeed were still there, but neatly 
 patched and mended; some one had given Bob 
 a pair of old shoes, but it was Billy who wore 
 the warm cloak.
 
 THE WANT OF A DENTIST. 73 
 
 " His brother always makes him wear it," 
 whispered Oddity, " except at night, and then 
 it covers them both." 
 
 " Now you must have it, Bob ; isn't it 
 comfy?" said the lame child, pressing the 
 cloak round his brother, whose violent cough 
 for the moment prevented his reply, and 
 brought a bright colour to his cheek, which I 
 never had seen there before. " I'll creep very 
 close to you, Bobby, and then we'll both have 
 it, you know. There ! are you better now ? " 
 he said, softly, laying his thin cheek against 
 that of his brother. 
 
 " I don't think I'll ever get better here." 
 The boy shivered and closed his eyes as he spoke. 
 
 " Oh, Bob! Bob!" cried the child, in accents 
 of fear, " you're not a-going to be ill like 
 mother ; you're not a-going to die, and leave 
 me!" 
 
 There was something very gentle in the 
 tone, and sweet in the uplift eye, of the poor 
 destitute boy, as he replied, " I can't say 
 if I'm a-going to die, Billy ; but don't you 
 mind what Miss Mary told us about dying? 
 I used to be afeared when I thought on it, 
 but now I think I could die and be happy !"
 
 74 A REMOVAL. 
 
 " But you must not you shall not go and 
 leave me ! Oh ! what should I do without 
 you?" cried Billy, bursting into tears. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A REMOVAL. 
 
 A MANLY voice was heard on the outside, 
 speaking to a porter who was passing at the 
 moment. 
 
 " Can you tell me, pray, whether two boys 
 of the name of Parton live near this place? 
 From the direction which was given me, I 
 think that we must be near their dwelling/' 
 
 " Parton ? well," began the porter, in a 
 doubtful voice ; but little Billy was up in a 
 moment : " Yes, here they are ! here's where 
 we live ! " shouted he, and the next minute the 
 shed was entered by the gentleman and his son 
 whom I had seen at the Zoological Gardens. 
 
 The father almost started as he glanced 
 round the miserable place, and the look of 
 pity on his face deepened into one of pain, 
 while Neddy appeared even more shocked. 
 He had, I suspect, known little of poverty.
 
 A KEMOVAL. 75 
 
 but by hearsay; and the bare, terrible reality 
 took him by surprise. 
 
 Bob had risen from the heap of dirty rub- 
 bish which served him for a bed. His thin 
 cheek glowed with a bright flush of pleasure 
 as he recognised his benefactor. 
 
 " Is it possible that you li ve here ? sleep 
 here?" exclaimed the gentleman; " exposed in 
 this wretched shed, without a fire, to all the 
 severity of winter ?" 
 
 Bob attempted to speak, but was stopped 
 by his cough. Billy, who was at all times 
 more talkative and ready to reply, answered, 
 " Yes, we lives here, and sleeps here too, when 
 the cold don't keep us awake \" 
 
 " And does no one ever come to visit you ? " 
 
 " No one but the rats!" replied the child. 
 
 " The rats I" exclaimed Neddy, with a ges- 
 ture of horror and disgust, which irritated my 
 vanity not a little. Oddity had none, so he 
 looked tranquil as usual 
 
 " Oh, papa!" cried Neddy, "they must not 
 stay here; this horrible hole is only fit for 
 rats!" 
 
 His father was bending over Bob, feeling 
 his wrist, asking him questions regarding his
 
 76 A REMOVAL. 
 
 health, with a gentle kindness which goes far- 
 ther to win confidence and affection than the 
 cold bestowal of the, greatest benefits. 
 
 " You are not well ; you must be cared for, 
 my boy. I think that I could manage to get 
 you into an hospital ; you would have every 
 comfort there." 
 
 " Please, sir," began Bob, and stopped ; he 
 looked at his brother, and then raised his ear- 
 nest eyes to the face of his new friend, and 
 gathering courage from the kind glance which 
 he met, faltered forth, " Please, sir, would they 
 take Billy too?" 
 
 The gentleman shook his head. 
 
 " Then please, sir, I'd a much rather stay 
 here : we han't never been parted, Billy and me." 
 
 I saw Neddy eagerly draw his father aside, 
 very near to my hiding-place behind the can- 
 vass, so that I could hear some of his words, 
 though they were only spoken in a whisper. 
 
 " Could we not get a lodging ? see here ! " 
 He pulled something out of his pocket, and 
 spoke still lower ; but I caught a sentence here 
 and there : " My Christmas-box, and what 
 aunt gave me, would it be enough?" his voice 
 was very earnest indeed.
 
 A REMOVAL. 77 
 
 I saw something which reminded me of 
 sunshine steal over the father's face as he 
 looked down on his blue-eyed boy. Then he 
 replied in a quiet tone, " Yes, enough to pro- 
 vide one till warmer weather comes. I would 
 myself see that food and needful comforts were 
 not wanting." 
 
 " And, papa, I have an old suit of clothes ; 
 that poor boy is dying with cold ; -just see, 
 his jacket will hardly hold together. Might I 
 give him my old suit, papa?" 
 
 I read assent in the gentleman's smile ; then, 
 turning to the poor motherless children, he told 
 them that he could not leave them one night 
 longer in that miserable place; that he would 
 take them at once to the dwelling of an honest 
 widow whom he knew, who would watch over 
 the sick, and take care of the young, for she 
 herself had once been a mother. 
 
 Poor Bob, weakened and exhausted by poor 
 living, looked bewildered at the words, as 
 though he scarcely understood them, but was 
 ready, without question or hesitation, to go 
 wherever his benefactor should guide him. 
 One only doubt seemed to linger on his mind. 
 " Shall I," said he, in a hesitating tone, " shall
 
 78 A REMOVAL. 
 
 I still be able to go to my school ? 'cause I 
 shouldn't like to be a-leaving it now ! " 
 
 " Assuredly you shall attend it, my boy, as 
 soon as your health will permit. I have no 
 means of permanently assisting you; my stay 
 in England is but short ; I can only give you 
 help for a time. But at the school you will 
 learn to help yourself, and soon, I hope, be 
 independent of any human aid. I should do 
 you an injury, and not a kindness, were I to 
 teach you to rest on others for those means of 
 living which a brave and honest boy desires 
 to earn for himself. Now let us go on to the 
 comfortable lodging which I mentioned." 
 
 Billy uttered an exclamation of childish de- 
 light, as though the word had called up be- 
 fore his mind's eye a warm hearth, a blazing 
 fire, and smoking viands on a table beside 
 him. 
 
 They all now quitted the place, Neddy 
 appearing if possible more happy than the 
 delighted little child. But Billy was the last 
 to leave the shed, in which he had passed so 
 many days of suffering and want. He lingered 
 for a moment at the door, and looked back 
 with a pensive expression.
 
 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 79 
 
 " You never wish to see that place again, I 
 am sure?" cried Neddy. 
 
 " No, not the place ; but but I should ha' 
 just liked a last peep of the pretty spotted rat 
 who used to lead the old blind un by the stick!" 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 A NEW KOAD TO FAME. 
 
 IT may have been but my fancy, it probably 
 was so, but it seemed to me that Oddity felt 
 a good deal the departure of his little human 
 friend. I thought that he missed the lame 
 child who had taken such pleasure in watch- 
 ing him, and who had found beauties even in 
 his ungainly figure and piebald skin. It cer- 
 tainly was not that he needed the crumbs which 
 the half-starved little Billy had stinted him- 
 self to throw to him ; but I suppose that it is 
 possible even for rats to grow attached to such 
 as show them confidence and kindness. I often 
 rallied poor Oddity upon his melancholy after 
 the boys had been taken away. Bright- eyes 
 told him that he ought to have been a cat, to 
 sit purring on a mat before the fire, and lick
 
 80 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 
 
 the haiid of some old maiden lady, who would 
 feed him with porridge and milk. I said that 
 he should be kept in a gentleman's house, with 
 a bell round his neck, as rats sometimes are in 
 Germany, to frighten their brethren away. 
 
 Oddity took all our taunts very quietly, 
 nibbled his dinner in the warehouse, but spent 
 most of his time in the shed; where, as he 
 snuffed along the ground, and fumbled amongst 
 the chipping and the straw, we used to say 
 that he was searching for little lame Billy, 
 whom he never would see any more. 
 
 Winter at length passed away. Down the 
 roof of the shed, and through the hole in it, 
 ran little streams of water from the melted 
 snow. The west wind blew softly, bending 
 the columns of smoke from the tall chimneys 
 on shore, and the black funnels of the steamers 
 that went snorting and puffing down the river. 
 On one of the first mild days we found poor 
 old Furry dead in the warehouse. Life had 
 long been a burden to him, which his unhappy 
 temper rendered yet more galling. 
 
 I have heard that the rats of Newfoundland 
 bury their comrades when they die, laying the 
 bodies neatly one beside another, head and
 
 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 81 
 
 heels placed alternately together. I do not 
 know whether this be true : it is not the cus- 
 tom of rats in England. We therefore left old 
 Furry where he lay, close behind a barrel of 
 salt meat, where he was discovered the next 
 day by one of the men of the warehouse. 
 
 Now, if there be one thing which men 
 usually think more worthless lumber than 
 another, it is the body of a dead rat. Our 
 skins are not in England collected and valued 
 as they are in France ; the only thought is 
 usually how to get rid of the unpleasant pre- 
 sence of the dead creature. And yet, strange 
 to say, the porter did not throw away the 
 body of poor old Furry : he carried it off to 
 his master. I was very curious indeed to 
 know its fate; and, after many fruitless in- 
 quiries, at length I discovered it. 
 
 The tooth which had been Furry's torment 
 
 in life, was destined to make him famous after 
 
 death. Learned men I know not hotf many 
 
 examined the head of the rat, looked, won- 
 
 dered, consulted together ; and the end of the 
 
 matter was, that it was placed as a great 
 
 curiosity in some building which is called a 
 
 museum. There, amidst fine vases and ancient 
 
 G
 
 82 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 
 
 weapons, old manuscripts and precious stones, 
 and noble busts of the wise and great, is the 
 head of poor old Furry preserved, with the 
 mouth wide open, to display the extraordinary 
 tooth ! Fame is a strange thing, after all. 
 I believe that our friend the rat was not the 
 first, nor will be the last, to pay a heavy price 
 for the bubble ! 
 
 Early in spring, one sunny morn, I received 
 a visit from my old comrade Whiskerandos. 
 He was full of life and spirits. 
 
 " Ratto," cried he, " I have often heard you 
 say that you and I should visit foreign countries 
 together ; we've a capital opportunity now. A 
 vessel is to weigh anchor to-morrow. I have 
 been talking to a ship-rat of my acquaintance, 
 who intends to sail in her, as he has done 
 so before. He says that she is a capital old 
 vessel, full of first-rate accommodation for rats ; 
 that Captain Blake keeps a very good table ; 
 that there is never any scarcity of pickings ; 
 and, in short, I am off for St. Petersburg, and 
 mean to embark to-night : just say that you 
 will go with me." 
 
 " I'm your rat ! " I exclaimed, highly de- 
 lighted. "Would there be room for Oddity too?"
 
 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 8<J 
 
 " I daresay that there is plenty of room ; 
 but- well, well, Oddity's an excellent old fel- 
 low in spite of his ugly skin; and I'll take 
 care that nobody insults him." 
 
 Off I scampered to Oddity, half out of breath 
 with excitement ; and giving him the news 
 which I had just received, I begged him to 
 accompany Whiskerandos and myself on a 
 pleasure excursion to Russia. 
 
 The piebald one bluntly declined. 
 
 " Now this is nonsense, Oddity," cried I ; 
 "you must not stay moping here any longer, 
 pining after a child, and watching for his re- 
 turn, when he is never likely to come back." 
 
 " I know he will not come back ! " sighed 
 Oddity. 
 
 " Then why don't you come and shake off 
 this silly gloom ? To tell you the plain truth, 
 Oddity, your mind really requires opening, and 
 there is nothing like travelling for that. You 
 are, I am afraid, not a well-informed quadru- 
 ped. I insist upon your embarking with us 
 to-night, and we'll make a rat of you, my good 
 fellow!" 
 
 Oddity shook his head. 
 
 " What ! you are resolved not to travel ?"
 
 84 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 
 
 " Not by water," was his short reply. 
 
 " He is going into the country with me," 
 cried Bright-eyes, springing with a few light 
 bounds to my side. " We're going to my 
 birth-place, near the sea-side. We will feast 
 amongst the young corn there ; and when the 
 pea-blossom has faded, and the ripe pods hang 
 temptingly down, we'll climb up the stalks 
 and shell them, and banquet on the sweet 
 green seeds ! We'll revel in the strawberry 
 beds, and try which peach is the ripest ! Oh ! 
 merry lives lead the rats in a kitchen-garden, 
 beneath the bright sun of summer ! " 
 
 " I've half a mind to go with you myself," 
 said I, charmed with the rural description. 
 But I remembered my engagement with Whis- 
 kerandos, and repressed the rising longing to 
 feast upon English fruits, whose names sounded 
 so tempting. 
 
 " Then farewell, Oddity," cried I; " I fear I 
 shall never meet you again." 
 
 " I'll come back to the old shed in winter," 
 said he. 
 
 "But I ah! where shall I be then? How 
 do I know, once crossing the sea, whether I 
 fihall ever be able to return?" 1 had not the
 
 A NEW ROAD TO FAME. 85 
 
 faintest idea where Russia might be, or what 
 sort of a place I should find it; whether its 
 rats are black, brown, or white, fierce as the 
 Hamster, or gentle as Zibethicus. A feeling 
 of misgiving came suddenly over me; one fear 
 above all others depressed my heart, and un- 
 consciously I uttered it aloud : " I wonder 
 whether in Russia rats find plenty to eat!" 
 
 The snub face of Oddity grew very grave 
 at a question which he could not answer, and 
 whose importance he felt. But light-hearted 
 Bright-eyes quickly relieved our apprehensions. 
 
 " If we are to judge of what is in Russia 
 by what comes from it," he cried, " I should 
 say that you have little to fear. I examined 
 the cargo of a Russian ship once, and never 
 did I see a finer collection of everything that 
 could charm a rat. I say nothing of the furs, 
 skins of all kinds of creatures, sables, black 
 and white foxes, ermines, lynxes, hyaenas, 
 bears, panthers, wolves, martens, white hares " 
 
 " Stop, stop ! " I exclaimed, " we do not 
 want any furs beyond those with which nature 
 has adorned us." 
 
 " There was copper, iron, talc, (a mineral 
 resembling glass )"
 
 86 HOAV I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 
 
 " "We don't care about them ; no rat ever 
 lived upon minerals." 
 
 " Linen, flax, hemp, feathers " 
 
 " If there is nothing more nutritious to be 
 Lad in Russia, why I'd rather stay at home," 
 cried I, with a little vexation. 
 
 " What do you say, then, to oil, both lin- 
 seed and train-oil? to delicious honey, corn 
 without end, soap, isinglass, and, to crown the 
 whole, hogsheads upon hogsheads of tallow ! " 
 
 "Enough, enough!" I exclaimed with de- 
 light, " Russia is the country for me." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 
 
 the passengers of the Nautilus went 
 on board, the bright sun was glittering on the 
 water, the whole river was full of life, covered 
 with vessels of all kinds, the light boat, the 
 lugger, the steamer, with her gaily-coloured 
 paddle-boxes and long dark stream of smoke; 
 the heavy coal-barge, scarcely moving at all, 
 sunk down almost to a level with the water: 
 and there were sounds of all sorts, both from
 
 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 87 
 
 the vessels and the shore puffing of steam, 
 dipping of oars, creaking of rigging, ringing 
 of bells, shouts and calls, and the sailors' musi- 
 cal " yo, heave, yo ! " 
 
 But when we went on board a few hours 
 before, all was comparatively quiet, though the 
 great pulse of life in London never quite ceases 
 to be heard, even in the middle of the night. 
 When we crept down to the edge of the shore, 
 the yellow lamps were gleaming around, and 
 the quiet stars twinkling above, and the young 
 moon was looking down at her own image 
 dimly reflected in the river. 
 
 "Where is our vessel?" whispered I to 
 Whiskerandos. 
 
 " Yonder ; don't you see her black hull?" 
 
 "But how are we to get to her?" said I. 
 nervously; " I have no great mind to swim." 
 
 " Do you mark that dark line that cuts the 
 sky? That is the rope which fastens her to 
 shore. We will make our way easily along 
 that." 
 
 I had a tolerably intimate acquaintance with 
 ropes, and the feat was not a difficult one for 
 a rat ; and yet shall I confess it ? my heart 
 quaked a little as I followed my leader across
 
 88 HOW I SET OUT OK MY VOYAGE. 
 
 tliis trembling suspension bridge. I was, how- 
 ever, always unwilling to show fear in the 
 presence of Whiskerandos, so I concealed even 
 the relief which I felt when I reached the 
 vessel without a ducking. 
 
 It was indeed a delightful home for rats, 
 and many of my race had thought so, for the 
 number of us on board certainly trebled that 
 of the sailors. The majority of our brethren 
 in the vessel were ship rats, whose appearance 
 so much resembled my own that terms of 
 friendship were at once established between us. 
 The brown rats kept together in quite a sepa- 
 rate part of the ship, a wise precaution to 
 avoid the quarrels and fights which must other- 
 wise have constantly ensued. I consequently 
 saw less of Whiskerandos during the voyage 
 than I otherwise should have done. 
 
 I managed to establish myself, audacious 
 rat that I was, in Captain Blake's own cabin. 
 I knew that it was a spot of danger, that 
 much skill and caution would be required to 
 avoid detection ; but I employed myself indus- 
 triously in enlarging a small hole, till I had 
 secured for myself a passage for escape in case 
 I should be discovered, and also the means of
 
 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOTAGE. 89 
 
 free communication with the other parts of 
 the ship. 
 
 I need not describe the cabin more than by 
 saying that it appeared to be a very snug little 
 place. It held both a swinging-cot and a 
 hammock ; and I examined with great curiosity 
 these and other articles of furniture, as this 
 was the first opportunity which I had had of 
 observing how man makes himself comfortable. 
 Assuredly his wants are not so few nor his 
 requirements so simple as ours. 
 
 Early in the day the captain came on board 
 with his son, and after he had given sundry 
 orders on deck, they both descended to the 
 cabin. Imagine my surprise when, on their 
 entrance, I recognised my old acquaintance of 
 the Zoological Gardens, the blue-eyed boy and 
 his father ! I instinctively looked, though in 
 vain, to see if they were followed by Billy and 
 Bob. 
 
 Soon afterwards the anchor was weighed, 
 and the vessel began to move. It was to me 
 a strange and new sensation. I had never 
 before experienced any motion but that of my 
 own little feet. 
 
 Towards evening the motion grew stronger.
 
 90 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 
 
 The vessel heaved up and down, rocked to and 
 fro; the creaking sounds above grew louder, 
 and were mingled with a constant splashing 
 noise. Neddy, who had been very merry and 
 active all day, now on deck, now in the cabin, 
 asking questions, and examining everything 
 upon which he could lay his hands, appeared 
 now quite heavy and dull. He complained of 
 headache, and lay down in his hammock. I 
 thought that the boy was ill. However, he 
 was lively as ever in the morning. 
 
 Our sea life was rather a same one, after 
 the first excitement of starting was over. 
 Neddy spent some hours every day in the 
 cabin, poring over things which I found were 
 called books. I could not at first comprehend 
 why, when his eyes were fixed on the pages 
 which to me seemed exactly alike, he should 
 sometimes look grave, sometimes merry, and 
 sometimes laugh outright, as though some one 
 were talking with him out of the book. When, 
 however, his father read aloud to the boy, or 
 he read aloud to his father, I could imagine 
 why they were amused, though I never could 
 find out by what means the book could make 
 itself heard. I have often snuffed round the
 
 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 91 
 
 volumes, and even touched them with my 
 whiskers, but they seemed to me dead as clay. 
 It must be some wonderful talent, possessed 
 only by man, which enables him to hear any 
 voice from them. 
 
 There was one large volume in particular, 
 which Captain Blake called "Shakespeare," 
 from which he sometimes read extracts to his 
 son. I heard him say once that this very 
 Shakespeare had been dead for more than two 
 hundred years. Is it not marvellous that his 
 thoughts, preserved in leaves of paper in some 
 manner inexplicable to a rat, should survive 
 himself so long, that he should make others 
 both laugh and weep when he himself laughs 
 and weeps no more? 
 
 As may be supposed, I took no great interest 
 in the reading until my ear was caught one 
 evening by an allusion to my own race in 
 Shakespeare, " Rats, and mice, and such small 
 deer." We had then a place in the wondrous 
 volume ; this made me all attention, and more 
 than once that attention was rewarded by 
 hearing of the race of Mus. One mention 
 both surprised and puzzled me. The rhyme 
 still rests on my memory :
 
 92 now i SET our ON MY VOYAGE. 
 
 " But in a sieve I'll thither sail, 
 
 And like a rat without a tail, 
 
 I'll do I'll do I'll do !" 
 
 The do, of course, represents nibble, nibble, 
 nibble; but the rat without a tail is of some 
 species of which I had never before heard, and 
 have certainly never met with. 
 
 When Neddy read to his father, it was from 
 a different book ; he called it " History of the 
 French Revolution." It might have been a 
 history of my race, for it seemed to be all 
 about rats: democ -rats and aristoc-rats ; "doubt- 
 less," thought I, " tribes peculiar to France." 
 Most savage fellows the first seemed to have 
 been to our race what tigers are to cats, 
 still more powerful, bloody, and destructive. 
 I, like others who jump at conclusions, and do 
 not understand half of what they hear, had 
 made a ridiculous mistake. My vanity had 
 led me to over-estimate the importance of my 
 family ; but a conversation between Neddy 
 and his father undeceived me, and made me a 
 sadder and a wiser rat. 
 
 Neddy. " Well, papa, I fancy that we shall 
 have a great deal to see at St. Petersburg 
 palaces, churches, gardens, all sorts of sights! 
 But what I most want to see is the czar
 
 HOW I SET OUT ON MY VOYAGE. 93 
 
 himself, the great autoc-rat of all the Rua- 
 sias." 
 
 I gave such a start at this, that I dreaded 
 for a moment that I had betrayed my hiding- 
 place. Here was another rat, and one so sin- 
 gular artd so great, that he was thought more 
 worthy to be seen than all St. Petersburg be- 
 sides! I really felt my whole frame swelling 
 with pride; every hair in my whiskers qui- 
 vered! 
 
 " Is he really so powerful, papa, as people 
 say that he is?" 
 
 " Very powerful indeed, my boy." 
 
 " And he's despotic, is he not? He has 
 no Parliament?" 
 
 " No Parliament ! " I repeated to myself; 
 " well, that's no great matter in a country so 
 abounding with other good things ! But what 
 a rat of rats this must be, to be so spoken of 
 and thought of by the lords of creation ! " 
 
 " It must be a fine thing to be an autoc-rat, 
 papa, and have no law but one's own will!" 
 
 " It is a giddy elevation, Neddy, which no 
 truly wise man, conscious of human infirmity, 
 would ever covet to attain." 
 
 "Wise man' human infirmity!" exclaimed
 
 94 A TERRIBLE WORD. 
 
 I. These few words, like a touch to a bubble, 
 had burst my high-blown ideas of family dig- 
 nity. It was a man, then, one of human race, 
 who chose to add rat to his name; and these 
 democ-rats and aristoc-rats in France why, 
 they must be men too, nothing but men, 
 after all! 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A TERRIBLE WORD. 
 
 WHEN I met my old friend Whiskerandos, it 
 was usually at night, as moving about by day 
 was dangerous; for who ever showed mercy 
 to a rat, or even thought of inquiring whether 
 he possessed qualities which might render him 
 deserving of it? 
 
 "How do you like your quarters?" said 
 Whiskerandos to me one starry night, when all 
 was still upon deck, and, save one sailor on the 
 watch, all of humankind were sleeping. 
 
 " They please me well enough," I replied. 
 
 " For my part," said Whiskerandos, " I shall 
 be heartily glad when our voyage is over; 
 and I am half vexed that I ever led you to 
 make it."
 
 A TERRIBLE WORD. 95 
 
 "Why so? We do not fare ill; we have 
 plenty to eat." As I have mentioned before, 
 this is ever the firs.t consideration with a rat. 
 
 " The sailors don't starve," said Whisker- 
 andos more slowly; " yet they think of adding 
 another dish to their mess." 
 
 " Glad to hear it," said I; "you know that 
 I am curious about dishes, and should like to 
 have my whiskers in a new one." 
 
 "Oh! but they won't be contented with 
 your whiskers!" cried my friend, with a funny, 
 forced laugh. 
 
 " What do you mean?" said I quickly. 
 
 " Well, I heard Jack and Tom, two of the 
 sailors, talking together to-day down in the 
 hold; and there was one word of their con- 
 versation which, I own, struck me like the paw 
 of a cat. That word was " 
 
 " What was it?" cried I nervously ; for if 
 a hero like Whiskerandos felt anything ap- 
 proaching to fear, I might be expected to be 
 half-dead with fright. 
 
 He drooped his head for a moment, and 
 uttered one word "rat-pies!" 
 
 I started as though I had seen a tabby 
 pounce down from the rigging!
 
 9G A TERRIBLE WORD. 
 
 " Tis impossible ! " I faintly exclaimed ; 
 '' human beings never, never eat rats ! " 
 
 " Oh! I\ beg your pardon!" replied Whis- 
 kerandos, regaining his usual brisk manner; 
 " don't you remember old Furry telling us that 
 his reason for quitting China was, that he was 
 afraid of being dished up for the dinner of 
 some mighty mandarin, whose hair hung in a 
 long tail behind him? Amongst the lowest 
 classes in France, and the gypsies in England, 
 we poor rats are known as an article of food ; 
 and I have heard that in the islands of the 
 South Seas we were held in so much esteem, 
 that ' sweet as a rat' passed as a proverb." 
 
 " I don't like such compliments ! " exclaimed 
 I, beginning to tremble all over. 
 
 " Come, Ratto, you must pluck up a little 
 courage, and show yourself worthy of the race 
 of Mus! There is never any use in meeting 
 misfortune half way. To be caught, killed, 
 and put into a pie, is, I grant it, a serious 
 evil; to -be always afraid of being so is an- 
 other. The first we may or we may not 
 escape ; but the second which is perhaps the 
 worse of the two lies in some degree within 
 the power of our o\vn will. We need not
 
 A TERRIBLE WORD. 97 
 
 make ourselves wretched before the time, about 
 some event which never may happen." 
 
 Good philosophy this, I believe, but not a 
 little difficult to act upon. When I have seen 
 the younger members of that race which 
 proudly styles itself " lords of creation," trem- 
 bling, shrinking, nay I shame to say it 
 even crying, at fear of. some possible evil, a 
 little disappointment perhaps, or a little pain, 
 I have thought of Whiskerandos and the pies, 
 and fancied that reasoning mortals might learn 
 something even from a rat. 
 
 I was so terribly afraid of being caught by 
 the sailors, that I confined myself more than 
 usual to the cabin, keeping close to the hole 
 that I had made, that I might always be ready 
 for a start should the blue eyes ever happen 
 to rest upon me ; but those books, those famous 
 books, happily gave them other occupation. 
 
 " Papa," said Neddy to his father one day, 
 " I should rather have gone to some other 
 place than St. Petersburg, I feel such a dislike 
 to the Russians." 
 
 " Why should you dislike them," said the 
 captain. 
 
 " Oh ! because thev were our enemies so 
 "7
 
 98 A TEKUIBLE WORD. 
 
 long, and killed so many of our fine fel- 
 lows ! " 
 
 " They were but obeying the orders of their 
 czar doing what they believed to be their 
 duty." 
 
 " But they were horribly cruel, papa." 
 
 " It would both be ungenerous and unjust 
 to charge upon a whole nation the crimes of a 
 few individuals. It is singular that one of 
 the most striking examples of mercy to a foe 
 of which I have ever heard, was shown by a 
 Russian. The story is given as a fact, and I 
 have pleasure in relating it, not only from 
 its own touching interest, but from the hope 
 that it may teach my son what our conduct 
 should be towards those who, though our foes, 
 are our fellow-creatures still 
 
 " In the time of the first Napoleon, the French 
 invaded Russia, from whence they were obliged 
 to retreat, suffering the most fearful hardships, 
 not only from the usual privations of war, but 
 those caused by famine and the fearful cold of 
 that northern clime. Thousands and thousands 
 ol brave troops perished in this fatal retreat. 
 The splendid army which had marched into 
 Russia so numerous and strong, melted away
 
 A TERRIBLE WORD. 99 
 
 like a snow-ball ! . The fierce Cossacks hovered 
 around the lessening bands, cutting off the 
 weary stragglers who, unable to keep up with 
 the rest, sank down upon the snow to die ! 
 
 " At this fearful time two poor French officers, 
 separated from their comrades, helpless and 
 exhausted, sought refuge at the house of a lady, 
 beseeching her to preserve them from the 
 terrible death with which they were threatened, 
 either from cold and hunger, or the swords of 
 their enemies. The lady was a Russian, the 
 officers were her foes, she had probably 
 suffered from the devastating march of the 
 French army, but she had the heart of a 
 woman. She dared not conceal the officers 
 in her own house for fear of her servants and 
 the rage of her countrymen, who would pro- 
 bably have not only slain the fugitives, but 
 have wreaked their vengeance also upon her 
 for seeking to protect their enemiea The 
 Russian lady hid them in a wood, at some little 
 distance from her dwelling, and thither every 
 night, braving both the danger of discovery 
 and the peril of being attacked by wolves, did 
 this noble-hearted woman go alone, to bear 
 food and necessaries to the suffering Frenchmen."
 
 100 A TERRIBLE WORD. 
 
 " Ob ! papa, just fancy hurrying along the 
 snow, with the sharp winter's wind cutting like 
 a knife, and then perhaps to hear a distant 
 howl, showing that a wolf was on one's track ! 
 Oh ! T should not have fancied those night 
 expeditions .'" 
 
 " It would have been noble," resumed the 
 captain, " to have ventured thus for a friend, 
 the Russian lady did so for her enemies." 
 
 " And were the French officers saved at 
 last?" 
 
 " Yes ; by freely giving her money as she 
 had freely risked her safety, after a while the 
 lady contrived the escape of the fugitives 
 beyond the frontier. When a considerable 
 time had elapsed, a present of a piece of plate, 
 which she received from France, showed that 
 the officers were not ungrateful to their pre- 
 server." 
 
 " She was a generous enemy, papa, and a 
 noble woman. But are not the common 
 people in Russia very ignorant and bad ?" 
 
 " Very ignorant I believe they are, but it 
 would be harsh and wrong to call them very 
 bad. They are cheerful and good-tempered, 
 and even when intoxicated they do not show
 
 A TERRIBLE WORD. 101 
 
 the ferocity which disgraces a drunkard in 
 England." 
 
 " But are they not dreadful thieves?" 
 
 " They are said to be very skilful in cheat- 
 ing, and singularly dexterous in picking 
 pockets. But here again it would be unjust 
 to brand a whole nation with a disgraceful 
 stigma.* I have another true story for you, 
 Neddy, and this time it shall be of a poor 
 Russian, a messenger, or as they call him, an 
 Isdavoi. 
 
 "An English lady living at St. Petersburg 
 gave five hundred rubles-}- in charge to an 
 Isdavoi to deliver to her daughter, who dwelt 
 at some distance. On the following day the 
 Russian returned, kissed the lady's hand after 
 the fashion of his country, and said, ' Pardon 
 me, I am guilty. I cannot tell how it has hap- 
 pened, but I have lost your money, and cannot 
 find it again. Deal with me as you please/" 
 
 " The poor fellow," continued the captain, 
 " probably expected a severe flogging, or dis- 
 missal from his office, but the lady had no 
 
 * The materials for my little sketch of Russian manners, <fec., have been 
 chiefly drawn from the translation of a work by the German traveller 
 IxoliL 
 
 t A Russian piece of money.
 
 102 A TERRIBLE WORD. 
 
 inclination to punish him with such rigour. 
 Unwilling to ruin the Isdavoi, she made no 
 mention of his offence, considered the money 
 as gone for ever, and after a while lost sight 
 of the messenger entirely. After six years 
 had elapsed he came to her one day with a 
 joyful face, laden with six hundred rubles, 
 which he brought in the place of those which 
 had been intrusted to his care. On inquiry it 
 was found that this honest Russian had for 
 those six years been denying himself every 
 little pleasure, and by resolute economy had 
 saved up his wages until he had collected 
 about half of the sum required. He had then 
 married a wife whose feelings of honour ap- 
 peared to have been as delicate as his own, 
 for not only her dower of one hundred rubles 
 was added to his hard-earned savings, but her 
 little valuables had been sold to make up the 
 full amount of the money that had been lost!" 
 
 " Oh, papa ! what honest people ! But did 
 the English woman take all their money ! " 
 
 " No entreaties on her part could induce 
 the poor Isdavoi to take back the rubles to 
 save up which had been for so long the object 
 of his lifa The lady, however, generously
 
 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 103 
 
 placed the money in a public bank to accu- 
 mulate for the benefit of his children." 
 
 "Bravo!" exclaimed Neddy, clapping his 
 hands; "that was just how a lady should 
 behave ; and as for the poor Isda what do 
 you call him? he was a fine fellow, and 
 quite worthy to have been an Englishman !" 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 " CKONSTADT ! Oonstadt 1" I heard the shout 
 from the deck one evening when the sun was 
 going down, and his red disk seemed resting 
 on the heaving waters, while to the east the 
 strong fortifications stood clearly defined against 
 the sky, bathed in his glowing light. Being 
 quite alone in the cabin, for every human being 
 was on deck, I was taking my survey of the 
 place from the open port-hole before ma 
 
 It was a very gay scene upon which I 
 looked. Not even on the Thames, our own 
 river, have I seen a greater variety of craft. 
 Steam-boats, and sailing-boats, schooners, 
 cutters, brigs and gondolas, paddled along
 
 104 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 the water, or spread snowy wings to the breeze. 
 I gazed upon them, and upon the formidable 
 batteries, bristling with guns, which defend 
 the " water-gate of St. Petersburg" as Cron- 
 stadt has been called, till the shadows of night 
 fell around, and I could without risk of ob- 
 servation, join Whiskerandos in the hold. 
 - He was in company with another rat, of 
 rather a foreign appearance. 
 
 " My friend Dwishtswatshiksky here," said 
 he, " tells me that we shall soon arrive at the 
 capital of Russia." 
 
 " I am very glad to hear it ! " cried I ; " I 
 long to be again on shore. If we had any 
 means of landing here, I should not care if I 
 stopped short of St. Petersburg." I had not 
 forgotten the pies. 
 
 " You would doubtless, little brother, from 
 natural association, like to visit Rat Island," 
 said the stranger with the unpronounceable 
 name. 
 
 "Rat Island !" exclaimed Whiskerandos and 
 I at the same moment. 
 
 '' That fortified island opposite to Cronstadt, 
 lying across the bay upon which the place 
 stands, and giving to its waters the appearance
 
 FIRST VIEW CF ST. PETERSBURG. 105 
 
 of a lake, was called Ratusare, or Rat's Island 
 in the days of old." 
 
 " Not the only Rat's Island in the world," 
 observed Whiskerandos; "we have one off the 
 coast of Devon." 
 
 " And doubtless it still bears that name," 
 said the Russian rat, with a graceful wave of 
 his whiskers. " But things, alas ! were altered 
 here when the warriors of Peter the Great 
 drove the Swedes from this island in 1703. 
 The vanquished left behind them nothing but 
 a great kettle, which in default of other trophy 
 the Russians reared in triumph on a pole ; so 
 the name of the place has been changed since 
 that time, and Rat Island is called Kettle 
 Island." 
 
 " It is fortunate for us, sir rat," said I, (I did 
 not venture to attempt to call him by his name,) 
 " it is fortunate for us that before landing in a 
 strange country, we have met with a friend so in- 
 telligent and well-informed as you appear to be." 
 
 He made me so many polite assurances of 
 the gratification which he felt in making ray 
 acquaintance, the pleasure which it would 
 give him to conduct us to the house in which 
 he usually quartered in the city, and the pride
 
 106 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 which he would feel in showing us everything 
 which he could hope would interest us, that 
 we blunt English rats felt almost abashed at 
 his excessive courtesy. He only followed the 
 manners of his country, where the poorest 
 labourer is quite overwhelming in his polite- 
 ness. 
 
 Dwishtswatshiksky (we soon shortened his 
 name to Wisky) was as good as his word. We 
 kept close while the passengers landed at a mag- 
 nificent quay at St. Petersburg ; while the rapid 
 tread of feet, loud voices, shouts and hurried 
 movements, were heard above, not a rat ven- 
 tured forth from his hiding-place. Alas ! with 
 every precaution, when we mustered before 
 landing, our numbers were sadly diminished, 
 though of rat pies we had heard no more. In 
 darkness we a second time made a suspension 
 bridge of the rope which bound the vessel to 
 the shore, and with delight I found myself 
 again upon land, a free denizen of earth, no 
 longer cooped up in the narrow, dangerous 
 prison of a vessel. 
 
 Wisky led the way, closely followed by Whis- 
 kerandos. They moved on so fast that I was 
 in danger of losing sight of my guides, so apt
 
 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 107 
 
 was ] to linger on my way to look at the 
 wonders around me. It is a beautiful city, 
 St. Petersburg ; at least so it seemed to me 
 in the moonlight. With its streets of palaces, 
 its lively green roofs, sky-blue cupolas dotted 
 with stars, gilt spires, columns, statues, and 
 obelisks, it is a place not soon to be forgottea 
 If I might venture to suggest a fault, it is that 
 all looks too perfectly new. Antiquity gives 
 added interest to beauty, at least such is the 
 opinion of a rat. That which looks as if it 
 had risen but yesterday, appears as though it 
 might fall to-morrow. 
 
 " Would you believe it," said Wisky, " a 
 great part of tliis splendid city is built upon 
 piles ! The foundation alone of yonder great 
 church cost a million of rubles ! There is a 
 constant fight going on here between water 
 and the efforts of man. To look at the fine 
 buildings around us, you would say that man 
 had secured the victory. He has thrown over 
 the river a variety of bridges, stone, suspen- 
 sion, and pontoon, that can be taken to pieces 
 at pleasure, to connect the numerous islands 
 together, and has raised the most stately edifices 
 on a trembling bog ! But the water is not
 
 108 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 conquered after all! I have known houses 
 burst asunder from the foundations giving way. 
 I have seen a palace separated from the very 
 steps that led up to its door. And in spring, 
 when the snow melts which has been collecting 
 for months, the horses can scarcely flounder 
 along through the rivers of mud in the 
 streets ! " 
 
 " Does the water ever rise very high ? " 
 inquired Whiskerandos. This was no idle 
 question on his part ; he made it as a practical 
 rat, who knew what it was to live in a cellar, 
 and had no desire to be drowned. 
 
 " Ah, my dear brother!" replied the Russian 
 rat, " many stories are still told of the fearful 
 inundation which happened in 1824. Im- 
 pelled by a furious west wind, the waters then 
 rose to a fearful height, streamed through the 
 streets, floated the carriages, made boats of 
 the carts, nay, lifted some wooden houses right 
 from the ground, and sent them floating about, 
 with all their inhabitants in them, like so 
 many men-of-war ! Horses were drowned, and 
 so, alas ! were rats in terrible numbers. The 
 trees in the squares were crowded with men, 
 clinging to them like bees when they cluster!
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 109 
 
 It is said that thousands of poor human beingg 
 perished, and that the inundation cost the 
 city more than a hundred millions of rubles ! " 
 " Well, St. Petersburg is a splendid place!" 
 cried I; " but after all, the merry banks of the 
 Thames, and dear dingy old London for me f> ' 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 
 
 UNDER the guidance of Wisky we took up 
 our abode in a Russian house. House did I 
 call it! if ever there was a palace this 
 was one. We established ourselves in the 
 kitchen ; a warm, comfortable place we found 
 it, where we had much opportunity for obser- 
 vation, both of the denizens of the place and 
 their various occupations. 
 
 " It seems to me, Wisky," said I, on the 
 night following that of our arrival, " that there 
 is no end to the number of servants that pass 
 in and out of this dwelling ! Who is that 
 fellow in the blue cloth caftan* fastened under 
 his left arm with three silver buttons, and 
 girded round the waist with a coloured silk
 
 110 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 
 
 scarf? His fine bushy beard seems to match 
 the fur with which his high four-cornered cap 
 is trimmed." 
 
 "That is the Tartar coachman," replied 
 Wisky ; " a dashing fellow is he, and a bold 
 driver through the crowded streets of the city. 
 The pretty youths yonder are the postilions. 
 Young and small they must be, to suit the 
 taste of a Russian noble. The worse for them, 
 poor boys, as they are less able to endure the 
 bitter cold of a winter's night, when, if they 
 drop asleep on their horses, they are never 
 likely to awake any more !" 
 
 " And are their masters actually cruel 
 enough," I exclaimed, "to expose them to 
 such suffering and risk?" 
 
 " My much esteemed brother," replied the 
 Russian rat, "doubtless your clear mind has 
 already come to the conclusion that selfishness 
 is inherent in the human race. A young noble 
 is at a ball ; must he quit its bright enchant- 
 ments, and the society of the fair whom he 
 admires, because a bearded coachman is freezing 
 without? A beauteous lady, wrapped in ermine 
 and velvet, is weeping in the theatre over the 
 woes of some imaginary heroine ; wouM you
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. HI 
 
 have her dry her tearful eyes, and leave the 
 scene of touching interest and elegant excite- 
 ment, because icicles are hanging from the 
 locks of her little postilion, and his head is 
 gradually sinking on his breast, as the fatal 
 sleep steals over him ? Selfish ! yes, all 
 human beings are selfish !" 
 
 " There are exceptions to that rule," thought 
 I, for I remembered the stories which I had 
 heard in the cabin ; and I also recollected the 
 conduct of their narrator, Captain Blake, to- 
 wards the starving little thief in London. 
 
 " I have been trying," said Whiskerandos, 
 " <> count the servants in this house ; but no 
 sooner do I think that my task is done, than 
 in comes some new one, speaking some differ- 
 ent language, wearing some different costume, 
 and puts all my calculations to fault" 
 
 " It would puzzle even one possessing the 
 talents of my brother to count the number of 
 the servants here," replied Wisky. "Why, 
 even I, who, before my visit to England, spent 
 months amongst the household, can scarcely 
 number them now. To begin with the inmates 
 of a higher rank, who never appear in the 
 kitchen, there are the French governess and
 
 112 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 
 
 the German tutor, to polish up the minds of 
 the children, and the family physician to look 
 after their health. Then there are the su- 
 perintendent of accounts, the secretary, the 
 dworezki he who has charge of the whole 
 establishment, the valets of the lord, the valets 
 of the lady, the. overseer of the children, the 
 footmen, the bufietshik or butler, the table- 
 decker, the head groom, the coachman and 
 postilions of the lord, the coachman and 
 postilions of the lady, " 
 
 " What !" cried Whiskerandos, " are their 
 carriages so small that they will not hold 
 two, or are the grandees afraid of quarrel- 
 ling, that husband and wife cannot travel 
 together !" 
 
 " Surely, Sir Wisky," exclaimed I, " you 
 must have come to the end of your list !" 
 
 " Pardon me, little brother, not yet. There 
 are the attendants on the boys and on the 
 tutor, the porter, the head cook and the under 
 cook, the baker, brewer, the waiting-maids 
 and wardrobe-keeper of the lady, the waiting- 
 maid who attends the French governess, the 
 nurses that take care of the children, and the 
 nurses that once took care of the children, the
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEX. 113 
 
 kapell-meister or head musician, and all the 
 men of his band!" 
 
 "Well!" cried I, much amused, "at any 
 rate a Kussian noble must be well served. If 
 he calls for his shoes, I suppose that half-a- 
 dozen servants start off in a race to fetch them, 
 and knock their heads together in their eager- 
 ness to get them I" 
 
 A valet at this moment entered the kitchen, 
 where, secure in our hiding-place, we were 
 watching all that passed. 
 
 "Where's Ivan?" said he, " where's Ivan?" 
 The coachman, who was playing at draughts 
 with the head groom, looked up for an 
 instant, then silently made his move. 
 
 " My lady's a-fainting, and my lord's calling 
 for water ! Where's Ivan, I say? 'tis his 
 business to fetch it." 
 
 " There's Ivan," said the cook, pointing con- 
 temptuously to a sandy-haired figure fast asleep 
 under the table. 
 
 " Get up, ye lazy fellow I " exclaimed the 
 valet ; " my lady's fainting, my lord's calling 
 for water; take a glass of it on a silver salver 
 directly." 
 
 Ivan got up slowly, yawned, stretched him-
 
 114 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 
 
 self, rubbed his eyes ; then, taking a tumbler 
 off the dresser, he leisurely filled it with water. 
 
 " And where am I to get the silver salver?" 
 said he. 
 
 " That's in keeping of Matwei the buffet- 
 shik," observed the table-decker. 
 
 " And where is Matwei to be found ? " 
 
 " Here you, Vatka," pursued the valet, turn- 
 ing to another attendant, who was busy over 
 his basin of kwas, " go you to Matwei and tell 
 him that we want a silver salver on which to 
 carry a tumbler, for my lady's fainting up stairs, 
 and my lord is calling for water." 
 
 A loud ring from above was heard, as if to 
 enforce the order. " Sei tshas ! sei tshas ! 
 directly, directly!" called out Vatka ; but he 
 nevertheless finished his kwas, and wiped his 
 mouth before he went to Matwei the butler to 
 procure the silver salver on which Ivan the 
 footman would carry the tumbler of water 
 which Paul the valet had been ordered to bring. 
 
 Before all was ready another messenger 
 came to tell Ilia the bearded coachman to put 
 to the horses, for the lady was ready for her 
 drive. It was evident that she had managed 
 to recover from her fainting fit without the aid
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 1 1 5 
 
 of the glass of water, a bappy tbing for one 
 who had the misfortune to keep fifty or sixty 
 servants. 
 
 Wisky laughed at my look of surprise. " I 
 believe that one pair of bands," said he, 
 " often serve better than a dozen. The Rus- 
 sian proverb says that ' directly ' means to- 
 morrow morning, and ' this minute' this day 
 week." 
 
 With quiet night came our feasting-time 
 and when the kitchen was deserted by the 
 crowds of servants, Whiskerandos, Wisky, and 
 I, crept softly out of our hole, provided with 
 pretty sharp appetites for our meal. 
 
 " I am curious to taste that liquor which 
 you call kwas/' said I ; " Vatka seemed to 
 relish it exceedingly." 
 
 " Relish it, brother! I should think so !" ex- 
 claimed Wisky. " Kwas is to a Russian what 
 water is to a fish ; rich or poor could hardly 
 bear existence without it." 
 
 ".Not bad at all," said I, dipping my 
 whiskers carefully into a bowl that had been 
 set aside by the cook. 
 
 " Mind you don't tumble in, old fellow ! ' 
 cried Whiskerandos, " and be drowned in kwa.i
 
 1 1 G A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 
 
 as I have heard that a duke once was drowned 
 in wine." 
 
 " And what may this kwas be made of ?" 
 inquired I, after another approving sip. 
 
 " I ought to know, little brother," replied 
 Wisky, " for many and many a time have I 
 seen it brewed. A pailful of water is poured 
 into an earthen jar, into which are shaken two 
 pounds of barley-meal, half a pound of salt, 
 and a pound and a half of honey. The whole 
 is then placed in an oven with a moderate fire, 
 and constantly stirred It is left for a time 
 to settle, and in the morning the clear liquor 
 is poured off. In a week it is in the highest 
 perfection." 
 
 " I wonder that kwas is not made in Eng- 
 land," observed I ; " but honey is not so plentiful 
 there." 
 
 " Sugar would make a good substitute, I 
 should think," said Wisky ; " the beverage 
 would not then be an expensive one. But 
 here is our beloved Whiskerandos busy with 
 his shtshee, the dish of all dishes in this 
 country, that which nothing, I believe, could 
 ever drive from the table or the heart of a 
 Russian. When in a foreign land, it is said, it
 
 A RUSSIAN KITCHEN. 1 1 7 
 
 is not the remembrance of native bills or plains, 
 or the tender delights of home, that draws tears 
 into an exile's eyes, but the loss of his beloved 
 shtshee, the favourite dish of his childhood." 
 
 " Leave a little for me ! " I cried eagerly 
 to Whiskerandos, who had nearly finished, by 
 dint of steady perseverance, a portion which 
 had been left in a plate. " Why," I added, 
 as I tasted the liquid, " this seems to me simply 
 cabbage soup ! " 
 
 " Whatever my brother may think of it," 
 observed Wisky, dipping his whiskers into the 
 nearly empty plate, " he is now tasting that 
 which forms the principal article of food of 
 forty millions of human beings ! Better live 
 without bread than without shtshea" 
 
 "And the ingredients?" said I, for I always 
 delighted to pick up any scrap of information 
 interesting to a rat. 
 
 " There are almost as many ways of making 
 ehtshee as of cooking potatoes. I have seen 
 six or seven cabbages chopped up small, half a 
 pound of butter, a handful of salt, and two 
 pounds of minced mutton added, the whole 
 mixed up with a can or two of kwas. But it 
 is now time, brothers, for us to sally fortlt I
 
 118 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 must do the honours of this our city, and show 
 my illustrious guests whatever I may deem 
 worthy of their observation." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 " WHAT a nation of painters Russia must be \" 
 exclaimed I, as we quietly moved through the 
 silent streets. Every shop had a picture before 
 it, expressive of the occupation of its owner. 
 Here was a tempting board covered with 
 representations of every loaf and roll that a 
 painter's fancy could devise ; there a tallow- 
 chandler did his best to make candles appear 
 picturesque. Even from the second and third 
 floors hung portraits of fiddles, and flutes, 
 boots, shoes, caps, bonnets, and bears' grease, 
 and on one board a sad likeness of a rat in a 
 trap made us quicken our steps as we passed it. 
 We moved through a deserted market. Here 
 whole lanes are devoted to the sale of a single 
 kind of article. There is the stocking row, the 
 shoe row, the hat row. at which it appeared
 
 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 1 J 3 
 
 that a whole nation might have provided 
 covering for head and for feet. 
 
 " I wish, dear brother," said Wisky, " that 
 your visit had been in the season of winter. 
 I could then have led you to a market which 
 strangers must indeed have surveyed with 
 surprise. You would then have seen beast^ 
 fishes, and fowls, all frozen so hard that the 
 hatchet is required to divide them. You would 
 have passed through rows of dead sheep stand- 
 ing upon their feet, motionless oxen that seemed 
 ready to low, whole flocks of white hares ap- 
 pearing actually in motion, reindeer and elks 
 on whose mighty horns the pigeons fearlessly 
 perch I" 
 
 " The cold must then be fearful in winter, ' 
 said I. 
 
 " Oh ! the houses are kept so warm with 
 stoves that there but little suffering is known. 
 But woe to the men who loiter in the streets 
 when the} T are paved with ice and glistening 
 with snow ! The passengers run for their lives, 
 with the sharp wind rushing after them, as a 
 cat after a mouse ! Men cover even their 
 faces with fur ; but should an unlucky nose 
 peep out from the warm shelter, the Litter
 
 120 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 frost often bites it on a sudden. " Father 
 father ! thy nose ! " thus will one stranger 
 salute another as he passes ; and if not speedily 
 rubbed with snow, the nose of the poor pas- 
 senger is lost! Men's very eyes are sometimes 
 frozen up, and they have no resource but to 
 beg admission at the first door to which they 
 can grope, to unthaw their glued lashes at a 
 stove!" 
 
 " All this is very curious," observed I, " but 
 still I have little desire to witness it. The 
 long winter must be dreary indeed ! " 
 
 " The Russians are lively fellows," observed 
 Wisky, "and instead of grumbling at dark 
 skies and piercing blasts, they make merry 
 where others would murmur. When winter 
 must perforce be their companion, they oblige 
 the grim old giant to add to their amusements. 
 You should see .the gay sledges as they dash 
 at full speed over the frozen surface of the 
 River Neva! and the ice-mountains which the 
 people raise, and down which they glide swift 
 as lightning, laughing, shouting, and singing ! 
 I have seen snow piled up to the very roof 
 of a house ; and down its steep slope, merely 
 seated on a mat, a large merry party glide
 
 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 121 
 
 gaily to the ground. But," he cried, suddenly 
 interrupting himself, " have a care where you 
 tread, my brother, or you will be down into 
 that ice-pit ! Never was there such a place 
 as St. Petersburg for these, no large house is 
 deemed complete without one. If Kussians 
 cannot be without abundance of ice in winter, 
 they show that they will not be without it 
 during their brief hot summer, the quantities 
 consumed could scarcely be believed I" 
 
 Whiskerandos, who had been lingering 
 behind us, in a tempting quarter of the market, 
 now scampered up and joined us. We were 
 passing at the time a large building, and I 
 could not avoid looking up in wonder at its 
 strange columns. Of these there were no fewer 
 than a hundred, and the capital of each was 
 formed by three cannon, with their round open 
 mouths yawning down into the street. 
 
 " This," said our guide, following the direc- 
 tion of my eyes, " is the Spass Preobrashenskoi 
 Sabor ; a church - greatly adorned with the 
 spoils of nations vanquished by Russia." 
 
 " Well," said Whiskerandos, who in the 
 course of his adventurous life had both seen 
 cannon and learnt their use. "perhaps those
 
 122 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 big instruments of war are just as well up 
 there, where they are seen, and not heard or 
 felt. Man is the only creature, I fancy, who, 
 not content with what powers of destruction 
 nature has given him, cuts down trees from 
 the forest, digs iron from the mine, sets the 
 furnace glowing, and the engine working, to 
 fashion means of killing his brothers in a 
 wholesale manner." 
 
 " Yonder," said Wisky, pointing with his 
 nose, " are the father of the Kussian fleet and 
 the grandmother of the houses of St. Peters- 
 burg." 
 
 " Let's see them by all means!" I exclaimed; 
 " I have viewed plenty of Russian ships and 
 Russian houses, and I have a lively curiosity 
 to see the father and the grandmother of so 
 famous a family ! " 
 
 Wisky rapidly led the way to a hut, into 
 which with little difficulty we entered, for 
 locks and bars do not keep out rats, nor surly 
 porters refuse them admission. 
 
 " Is this the father of the Russian fleet ! " 
 exclaimed Whiskerandos rather contemptuously, 
 running, audacious rat that he was, along the 
 edge of a boat about thirty feet long. " Is
 
 A RAMBLE OVER ST. PETERSBURG. 123 
 
 Russia a child, that she should amuse herself 
 with a toy, and keep a big boat under a roof 
 where there is no water to float it, as if it 
 were some delicate jewel ! " 
 
 " On no jewel in the Emperor's crown," re- 
 plied Wisky, " would a Russian look with the 
 same interest as on that poor boat. Peter the 
 Great helped to fashion it himself ! He found 
 his countiy without a navy, and he gave her 
 one ; he laboured himself as a common ship- 
 wright : and now, as a mighty oak springs from 
 a single acorn, in that one boat his people view 
 with reverence " The father of the Russian 
 fleet." 
 
 " And where is the grandmother of the 
 houses V inquired I. 
 
 " That is hard by," replied Wisky. " It is 
 nothing but a small wooden cottage which 
 Peter built for himself by the Neva, before a 
 single street stretched across the dreary bog 
 upon which he founded this city of palaces I" 
 
 And so we rambled on, light-hearted rats 
 that we were, picking up scraps here and there, 
 and exchanging observations, till a faint blush 
 in the eastern sky warned us that it was time 
 to go home. Before we reached the house
 
 124 A RAMBLE OVEIl ST. PETEUSBUKG. 
 
 already criers were abroad in the streets, 
 screaming, " Boots from Casan !" " Pictures 
 from Moscow ! " " Flowers, fine flowers ! " as 
 they wandered on, carrying their wares on 
 their heads. Fierce-looking fellows, with long 
 shaggy hair and beards, wrapped up in skins 
 were passing about, exchanging good-natured 
 greetings, strangely in contrast with their 
 appearance. " Good-day, brother ! how goes 
 it? what is your pleasure? how can I serve 
 you?" Smiling, bowing, baring their rough 
 heads to each other, these poor Russians 
 appeared the very pictures of politeness shroud- 
 ed in sheepskin. But remembering that even 
 amongst the most civilized nations of the 
 world, rats are considered as quite beyond the 
 pale of courtesy, and that the most good-natured 
 Musjik in this city would have thought no- 
 thing of hitting one of us over with his shoe, we 
 thought it better to retreat while our skins 
 were whole, and regain our comfortable quarters 
 in the kitchen.
 
 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 
 
 IT was my intention, as well as that of Whis- 
 kerandos, after hearing of the cheerfulness of a 
 Russian winter, and the comfort preserved in 
 the houses, to remain to witness the ice- 
 mountains, the frozen Neva, and, above all, 
 the wonderful market which Wisky had 
 described to us on that night. 
 
 Our intentions, however, were frustrated, 
 and our projects of amusement defeated by an 
 incident which suddenly altered the whole 
 course of our affairs. 
 
 Whiskerandos, who was of a very bold and 
 independent disposition, cared not to place 
 himself constantly under the guidance of his 
 Russian companion. He made forays by 
 himself into the streets, moon or no moon, it 
 was all one to him. He brought us back 
 accounts of many singular adventures, how he 
 had been seen by a dog, chased by a cat, and 
 nearly run over by a drosky, the name given 
 to the vehicles which in St. Petersburg take 
 the place of our London cabs. . ..
 
 126 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 
 
 " Have a care, brother, have a care Even 
 the brave may dare too much, and the for- 
 tunate venture once too often!" with such 
 exclamations as these our courteous Russian 
 rat would listen to the tales of such hair- 
 breadth escapes. 
 
 The effect of his words upon me was to 
 render me cautious, timid perhaps you will 
 call it. The only motives which usually 
 roused me to encounter danger, were hunger, 
 or overpowering curiosity. I liked to see all, 
 hear all, and know all, and picked up scraps of 
 general information with the same relish that 
 I would have picked up scraps of cheese. 
 
 Once Whiskerandos came home in high 
 spirits. He had made such 'a discovery, found 
 such treasures, been in the very place where 
 of all others a rat might rejoice in boundless 
 content. 
 
 Directly behind the Exchange he had found 
 a large open space, fenced round with iron 
 railing, which, while keeping out man, offered 
 everywhere a door of welcome to rats. Here, 
 protected by nothing but tarpaulin, was col- 
 lected a quantity of goods, both those which 
 had been imported into Russia, and those with
 
 WERE TRANSPORTED. 127 
 
 which she paid back from her own productions 
 the contributions of the world. 
 
 ' " Oh, the mountains of tallow which I saw 
 there ! " exclaimed Whiskerandos, executing 
 a somerset in the air, in the excess of his 
 admiration and delight. 
 
 " There may well be mountains, brother," 
 observed Wisky, " since, besides the quantities 
 which she uses herself, Russia is said to export 
 every year about two hundred and fifty 
 millions of pounds of tallow, of which above 
 one half is shipped from St. Petersburg. 
 
 " Two hundred and fifty millions ! " I ex- 
 claimed, almost breathless with amazement, 
 " why, surely that is enough to light up the 
 whole world, and feast every rat that is in 
 it ! I would give anything to see the place 
 where such glorious mountains are to be 
 found?" 
 
 " Trust yourself with me to-morrow night, 
 and I will guide you to the place," said Whis- 
 kerandos. 
 
 Now commenced a conflict in my n:imi. 
 caution pulling me one way, curiosity the 
 other, while a discussion took place between 
 my comrades, Wisky backing caution, Whis-
 
 128 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 
 
 kerandos curiosity, and the English rat won 
 the day. 
 
 So that night off we two scampered together, 
 and without accident or adventure reached the 
 space at the back of the Exchange. Truly I 
 was in a world of wonders ! I actually revelled 
 in everything that can charm the palate or 
 the nose of a rat ! Here was the division for 
 Russian imports, various and curious were 
 they. There were chests of tea from China, 
 coffee from Arabia, sugar from the West Indies, 
 and English cotton goods, bales on bales piled 
 up to a marvellous height. There was a 
 quantity of tobacco, heaps of cheese, spices of 
 all sorts and kinds. Now we came upon the 
 odour of cinnamon or cloves ; then the strong 
 perfume of musk betrayed an importation from 
 India. 
 
 No wonder that the hours passed unheeded 
 while we lingered in this wonderful place ! 
 We passed on to the portion of the area 
 devoted to Russian exports, and here we were, 
 if possible, still more delighted ! All the 
 articles which Bright-eyes had mentioned as 
 coming from Russia were here ; we were 
 bewildered amongst heaps of furs, piles of
 
 HO\V WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 129 
 
 leather, barrels of tallow, and prodigious 
 quantities of com ! Morn was breaking, in- 
 deed, but we could not tear ourselves away, 
 till the sounds of life, and the signs of motion 
 around us, alarmed me with the idea that it 
 was too late to retreat. 
 
 "Let's bury ourselves in this corn-sack," 
 cried I, " we can sleep here very well during 
 the day, and recommence our explorations after 
 dark." 
 
 Whiskerandos acceded to my proposition. 
 Quiet we kept, very quiet. Noisier the world 
 seemed to grow, till at length voices were 
 heard so alarmingly near, that I crouched 
 closer to my companion in terror ! 
 
 Then oh ! the horrible sensation which I 
 experienced, never shall I forget it ! I felt 
 that our sack was roughly pushed by some 
 one, then suddenly lifted on high ! 
 
 " We are lost I" I gasped to Whiskerandos. 
 Then another sort of motion succeeded, ac- 
 companied by a heavy rumbling sound, like 
 that of the rolling wheel of a truck. Every 
 hair of mine quivered with fear ! 
 
 " Whiskerandos ! oh, Whiskerandos ! if they 
 
 should be carrying us to a mill ! if we should 
 
 H
 
 130 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 
 
 be ground into powder between two great 
 stones ! " 
 
 " Be quiet and never despair," was the 
 answer of the bold-hearted rat. 
 
 I believe that that terrible journey did not 
 last long, but to me the time appeared an 
 age ! Every turn of the grating wheel beneath 
 me sent a pang of anguish through my frame ! 
 At last the truck, if such it were, stopped ; in 
 a few minutes the sack was again rudely 
 moved, carried aloft, and then tumbled, with 
 its living contents, down down we could 
 not tell where ! 
 
 What a shock it gave me, that tumble I 
 I lay for some seconds quite stunned. My 
 first impulse, when I recovered a little, was 
 bitterly to bewail my condition, and to re- 
 proach him who had brought me into it. 
 
 " Oh that I had been content with my 
 kwas and my shtshee ! Oh that I had never 
 left the kitchen ! that I had never ventured 
 forth with a reckless companion, who would, 
 I believe, play at hide and seek with a cat, 
 or nibble at the pocket of a rat-catcher ! " 
 
 My tone was, I knew, both peevish and 
 provoking ; and many a brown rat, in the
 
 HOW WE WERE TRANSPORTED. 131 
 
 position of my companion, would have stopped 
 my doleful squeaking at once by giving me 
 something to squeak for. But Whiskerandos, 
 whatever were his faults, was above that 
 mean one of quarrelling with those who found 
 them out, or attempting to screen and defend 
 them. 
 
 "Ratto, I am sorry that I have led you 
 into trouble/' said he. " I wish that I could 
 suffer alone for my self-will and imprudence. 
 But since no regrets can recall the past, let 
 us not make our miseries greater by reproaches 
 and dissension between those who may soon 
 die, as they have lived, together." 
 
 His mildness quite overcame any feeling of 
 bitterness in my heart ; and hope revived as 
 some time elapsed without fresh cause for 
 alarm occurring. 
 
 " I wonder where we are !" exclaimed I, 
 shaking myself into a more easy positioa 
 
 " I fancy that I hear the creaking of a 
 windlass !" cried Whiskerandos. 
 
 "And the flapping of canvass!" added I. 
 " And I smell tar." 
 
 " A strong odour of tar ! Depend upon it, 
 we are down in the hold of a ship !"
 
 132 A STORM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 " Ha! that's the ripple of water! she moves, 
 she moves ! " 
 
 We were a^ain afloat on the waters ! 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A STORM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 " FAREWELL St. Petersburg, stately city ! 
 with thy flat green roofs, and star-spangled 
 domes ! Farewell merry-hearted, sandy-haired 
 Russians, bearded Tartars, gay Circassians, 
 never may we behold you again ! Farewell 
 kwas and shtshee, and all the luxuries for too 
 brief a time enjoyed ! Where are we going 
 now, where I" 
 
 Such were the complaints which I was 
 wont to pour out during the long tedious 
 voyage which succeeded. Whiskerandos never 
 grumbled, it was not in his nature ; he quietly 
 fed on his corn without uttering one melan- 
 choly word : but I suspected that he, like my- 
 self, associated sailors with rat pies ; anl to 
 hear any one approach the hold, drove me 
 almost wild with terror. 
 
 That was a horrible voyage ! A fearful
 
 A STOUM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 133 
 
 tempest came on before the vessel readied the 
 place of her destination, whatever that might 
 be. The winds whistled and raged, and the 
 ship reeled and plunged like a restive horse ; 
 and again and again torrents of salt water 
 came sweeping down into the hold ! Then, 
 as the furious storm continued, the very seams 
 of the ship seemed to open like pores, to let 
 in the sea, which was knocking and raging 
 without for admittance, till at length the hold 
 became like a ditch, which we rats could not 
 cross but by swimming ! 
 
 Then the pumps were set to work I could 
 hear the men toiling at them day and night; 
 yet the water gained on them notwithstanding 
 their efforts. There were tremendous noises 
 on deck ; I fancied once or twice that I could 
 distinguish human cries ; and what with the 
 constant splashing of the water as the vessel 
 rolled heavily from side to side, and the 
 bumping and thumping of some casks that had 
 got loose, and were smashing against one 
 another, and the shouting, and the roaring of 
 wind and waves, there was enough to stun 
 and terrify any creature, be he quadruped or 
 biped I
 
 134 A STOBM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 Such of the corn as~ remained in our sack 
 was becoming so soft from salt water that it 
 had acquired the consistence of a pudding. 
 But we had now no heart even to eat ! 
 
 We had so often heard the captain's voice 
 raised to give loud orders, that we had ceased 
 to pay any particular attention to them, little 
 dreaming that any would concern us further 
 than as they regarded the safety of the vessel. 
 But at length the result of an order to lighten 
 the ship was speedily felt in the hold ! Our 
 sack (for we still made it our hiding-place) 
 was suddenly lifted with others ; and before 
 we had time even to guess what was intended, 
 iSplash we went into the sea ! 
 
 Ugh ! how the water bubbled in our ears ! 
 What frantic efforts we made to free ourselves 
 from the sack ! Nor were those efforts with- 
 out success, for we had long ago gnawed the 
 string which fastened its mouth: it opened 
 with the motion of the waves, and corn, rats 
 and all, floated upon the surface of the raging 
 billows ! 
 
 Down in two seconds went the corn, 
 swallowed up by the sea; still we struggled, 
 drowning rats that we were, to save oar-
 
 A STORM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 135 
 
 selves by desperate swimming. Of course our 
 strength must soon have been exhausted, and ' 
 the mighty green waves must have swept us 
 to destruction, had not a barrel, thrown out 
 from the ship, been happily floating near us ! 
 
 Whiskerandos saw this little island of hope. 
 As for me, I was too much frightened and 
 confused to look around me; but I instinc- 
 tively followed where he led, and soon found 
 myself, shivering, shaking, dripping with wet, 
 and looking as wretched as a rat can look, on 
 the floating barrel beside my friend! 
 
 How we shook our glistening sides, and 
 shuddered and gazed disconsolately round us 
 on the wide waste of waters, lashed into long 
 streaks of angry foam ! Alas ! there was no 
 land in sight ; but then the white mist rested 
 on the horizon, which shut out the distant 
 view. 
 
 " If we are not drowned we shall be starved!" 
 exclaimed I, very piteously, to Whiskerandos. 
 Alas ! our barrel was empty. 
 
 Oh ! the misery endured that day, and the 
 temble night which succeeded ! We had no 
 resource but to gnaw at the tasteless wood 
 We were surrounded with water, yet perishing
 
 loG A STORM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 with thirst ! pinched by hunger, without hope 
 of relief! Better to have been drowned at 
 once ; better to have fallen by the paw of a 
 mouser, or to have been caught like my bro- 
 thers in a trap, than to be dying thus by inches 
 on a barrel, tossed in the midst of the sea ! 
 
 But with the gray morning hope dawned ! 
 We perceived that our little island had drifted 
 near to some shore. The waves were now 
 much more quiet, and leapt 011 the beach with 
 a pleasant murmur, and strove to roll on, each 
 farther than the other, like children merrily 
 racing together. 
 
 " Could we not swim to the shore ?" said 
 AVhiskerandos. 
 
 But I recoiled from the dangerous attempt. 
 " No, no ; some wave will roll the barrel on 
 the beach," I replied ; " no more struggling in 
 the water for me I" 
 
 And the waves, bearing the barrel on their 
 green backs, seemed often ready to land it 
 safely on shore, but each time changed their 
 minds, and kept it bobbing up and down, while 
 they retired back with a grating noise over 
 the pebbles, as if mocking our distress and im- 
 patience.
 
 CATCH HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 137 
 
 " We are farther off now than we were ten 
 minutes ago," said Whiskerandos. " Perhaps 
 the tide is on the turn. Pluck up a -brave 
 heart, and let's dash in like rats ! " and he 
 plunged fearlessly into the water. 
 
 But for the sharp spur of hunger, I fear 
 that I should have left him to make the bold 
 attempt alone ; but, famished as I was, I re- 
 solved to swim for my life. With a sudden 
 effort I sprang into the waves; and so, fol- 
 lowing in the wake of my companion, I strug- 
 gled in safety to the shore 1 
 
 Oh ! the delight of feeling dry ground again ! 
 of standing once more on the firm, solid 
 earth ! Never, never again, I firmly resolved, 
 would I venture in any vessel, or trust my 
 life to the mercy of the billows that had so 
 nearly accomplished our destruction. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CATCII HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 
 
 WE made a hasty breakfast off a star -fish 
 that we found stranded on the beach ; but thi.s 
 rather increased our painful thirst, and to find
 
 138 CATCH HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 
 
 some means of quenching it we hurried inland 
 at the utmost speed which our weakened 
 powers could command. We had not run far 
 before we came to a large house. 
 
 "There is sure to be a supply of water 
 here/' said Whiskerandos. " Let us explore 
 the place." 
 
 " I fancy that I hear a dripping I" I cried 
 eagerly, as we 'approached the door of the 
 back-yard. 
 
 The door was indeed closed, and sharp bits 
 of broken bottles, on the top both of it and the 
 brick wall, rendered it impossible to climb over 
 them ; but I my wit quickened by my painful 
 thirst discovered in a moment that, at the 
 bottom of the door, part of the wood had been 
 broken away, either by time or perhaps the 
 teeth of our brethren, leaving an opening just 
 large enough for a rat easily to creep through. 
 
 I was not one to venture on an unexplored 
 region, so I looked anxiously through into the 
 yard. 
 
 At the opposite side of it there was oh, 
 joyful sight ! a pump, from which drop by 
 drop fell, with a most inviting sound, into a 
 trough below. And vet, faint with thirst as
 
 CATCH IILM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 139 
 
 I was, the place had an aspect Avhich alarmed 
 me, and made me fear to venture across the 
 }-ard. Not far from the pump, and between 
 it and us, was an open green door, which led 
 into a garden or pleasure-ground, and though 
 I could see nothing to alarm me, iny quick ear 
 distinguished suspicious sounds in that direc- 
 tion. 
 
 " In with you !" exclaimed Wliiskerandos, 
 impatiently. " Don't keep me here, dying 
 with thirst at the hole." 
 
 I drew back with a gesture of caution. 
 "Wliiskerandos," said I, "I don't like the 
 green door open yonder. If any one came 
 through it into the yard and cut off our re- 
 treat I" 
 
 " Nothing dare, nothing win !" he exclaimed; 
 " I am thirsty and I must have water :" and, 
 hurrying through the little opening which I 
 have mentioned, he was soon eagerly drinking 
 at the trough. 
 
 Hesitating, doubting, I was about to follow 
 him, and already my nose was through the 
 hole, when a sight, at the remembrance of 
 which I shudder still, made me withdraw it 
 instanter. Through the fatal green door near
 
 1 40 CATCII HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 
 
 the pump, a young man, with his hands in his 
 pockets and his cap cocked on one side, fol- 
 lowed by several dogs, leisurely sauntered into 
 the yard. 
 
 I saw in an instant that for Whiskerandos 
 escape was impossible. He had the whole 
 length of the yard to cross ; his foes were far 
 nearer to him than me. His only chance was 
 that of not being perceived ; but this in broad 
 daylight, with the noses of three or four dogs 
 not two yards from him, was a miserable chance 
 indeed. The dogs instantly found him out, 
 and were at him in a moment. My unhappy 
 companion darted behind the trough, quick as 
 a flash of lightning. I felt assured that he 
 would there bravely defend himself to the last ; 
 but what could one poor rat do, albeit the 
 boldest of his race, against such terrible odds ! 
 
 " Ha ! a rat !" exclaimed the young man, 
 looking quite amused and pleased barbarian 
 that he was ! at the prospect of seeing a poor 
 defenceless creature torn to pieces before him. 
 " Ha ! Carlo, give it him ! shake him by the 
 ear !" The young man actually laughed aloud 
 with delight ! 
 
 I could not see Whiskerandos, for the trough
 
 CATCH ni3I DEAD OR ALIVE ! 141 
 
 was between us : I fancied his look of fierce 
 despair as he faced the foes from whom he 
 could not flee, and from whom he could expect 
 no pity. He had evidently got into some 
 corner, from which the dogs could not easily 
 dislodge him ; for they stood yelping and 
 barking, showing their white teeth, with their 
 greedy eyes all turned to one point. 
 
 So the human savage came to their aid. 
 Having taken up a stick which happened to 
 be lying on the ground near, while the dogs 
 retired a step to allow their master to give his 
 ungenerous assistance, he pushed the stick be- 
 hind the trough, and by its means dragged 
 poor .Whiskerandos from his last place of 
 refuge ! 
 
 " Ha ! the fellow's dead ! I must have killed 
 him with the stick!" cried the young man; 
 and stooping down he lifted up the poor rat 
 by the tail, and held him aloft to examine him 
 more closely, while the dogs leapt and barked 
 around, eager to tear their victim limb from 
 limb ! 
 
 " He's been in the wars lost his ears ! " 
 laughed the young man, still holding the 
 stiffened body on high by the tail " I'm sorry
 
 142 CATCH II1M DEAD OR ALIVE! 
 
 I poked him with the stick; he'd have given 
 us some sport with the dogs ! " Did ever such 
 a heartless monster walk on two feet before ! 
 
 " Oh ! Whiskerandos ! Whiskerandos ! " 
 thought I, as, almost rooted to the spot with 
 horror, I stood gazing on the pitiful sight. 
 " I am glad that you are dead ! oh, I am glad 
 that you are dead ! bravest, noblest of rats, 
 they can torture you no more !" 
 
 The dogs showed by their impatient move- 
 ments that they considered that their master 
 took a great deal too much time in his survey 
 of a lifeless rat I suspect that he only did 
 so to tease and tantalize them, for suddenly 
 raising Whiskerandos still higher, to give more 
 force to his fling, he cried, "Now Carlo Rover 
 Caesar who's first !" and swung the body 
 away towards the door behind which I stood 
 a trembling, shuddering spectator ! 
 
 But lo and behold ! no sooner did the 
 seemingly dead rat touch the ground, than he 
 found life, strength, and speed in a moment ! 
 The dogs were after him like the wind, but 
 the very force of the fling had given him a 
 good start, and he was through the opening 
 under the door, knocking me over as he pushed
 
 CATCH HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 113 
 
 past, almost before I could recall my scattered 
 senses sufficiently to understand that he was 
 actually alive ! I have some remembrance of 
 the young man's exclamation of amazement 
 as the dead rat found his feet and disappeared, 
 his shout, and the yells of the disappointed 
 dogs, but I recollect no more, for I heard no 
 more. Whiskerandos and I had a fair start, 
 and we made the best of it, and scampered 
 off as rats scamper for their lives. Well for 
 us that that door was locked ! well for us that 
 there were broken bits of bottles on the top ! 
 well for us that the hole was too small for the 
 passage of any thing larger than a rat ! 
 
 I do not think that we were pursued : per- 
 haps the unlocking of the door took our foe 
 too much time, perhaps he did not think it 
 worth while to hunt down such ignoble game, 
 or perhaps he considered (but this I much 
 doubt) that the cleverness which a rat had 
 shown in making so extraordinary an escape, 
 entitled him to a little indulgence. But we 
 ran as though a whole pack of hounds were 
 behind us; we never paused to take breath or 
 look behind us, till we had buried ourselves in 
 a corn-field.
 
 144 CATCH HIM BEAD OR ALIVE ! 
 
 " And are you really unhurt ?" I exclaimed, 
 
 when we stopped at last, panting and exhausted. 
 
 "Unhurt? yes ! only bruised by the fling, 
 
 it was well that the yard was not paved 
 
 with stones." 
 
 " And you were really alive and had your 
 senses while that savage was holding you up 
 with your head hanging down ! Why, you 
 looked as like a dead rat as ever I saw 
 one I" 
 
 " I was wide awake all the time," said 
 AYhiskerandos, "but I knew that it was my 
 only chance to feign death. This has been a 
 narrow escape, Ratto ; I was never so near being 
 torn to pieces before, not even in my fight 
 with the ferret ! " 
 
 "I'll never go near a house in daylight 
 again ! " exclaimed I, still trembling with ex- 
 citement and terror. Whiskerandos appeared 
 to feel the effects of the fright less than I did, 
 though his danger had been so much greater. 
 " It is your thirst that makes you so nervous," 
 said he ; " you have not yet recovered from our 
 voyage on the barrel There seems to be a 
 wet ditch around this field; come and moisten 
 your nose in the water."
 
 CATCH HIM DEAD OR ALIVE ! 1 J 5 
 
 The relief was certainly great, and as I drank 
 the cool liquid, I felt my spirits revive. 
 
 " I wonder where we are now ! " said I. 
 
 " I have no doubt on the subject, we are 
 in old England again ! The look of the house, 
 the hedges, the fields, that young fellow " 
 
 "Oh! don't speak of him!" I exclaimed, 
 " cruel, barbarous monster that he is ! " 
 
 " You are too hard on him," said Whisker- 
 andos, in his own frank, good-humoured manner. 
 " He may be no worse than the rest of his 
 species, who think that there is no harm in 
 being cruel to a rat. I suspect that even your 
 blue-eyed friend would shout with joy to see 
 a cat worry a mouse !" 
 
 " I don't believe it ! " I replied indignantly ; 
 " a generous and noble heart can never take 
 pleasure in seeing pain inflicted on a poor 
 defenceless creature ! " 
 
 " Ah, but " Whiskerandos commenced, but 
 our conversation was suddenly interrupted by 
 a little squeak from the hedge close behind us. 
 
 " I think that I know that voice ! " exclaimed 
 I, and I had hardly uttered the sentence ere 
 from the thick covert sprang the well-remem- 
 bered form of Bright-eyes I 
 10
 
 1-16 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 
 
 WHAT a rubbing of noses ensued ! after all my 
 travels and perils it was such joy to see again 
 the face of a friend ! I had so much also to 
 relate, (I have ever been a loquacious rat,) that 
 I almost lost breath in my long narration. I 
 wound up my account with a description of 
 the last adventure of Whiskerandos, who was 
 now, in my eyes, ten times more a hero than 
 before. 
 
 "And now that I have told you my news," 
 said I, "let's hear a little of yours. In the 
 first place, where is old Oddity?" 
 
 Bright-eyes hung down his head, and drooped 
 his long tail in a touching and melancholy 
 manner. Such conduct in so lively a rat 
 showed me at once that my last surviving 
 brother was dead ! 
 
 " How did it happen?" was all that I could 
 say. 
 
 " Not a week after our arrival in these parts, 
 he was caught in a hay-rick by a fanner ! " 
 faltered Bright-eyes. " I saw him seized by
 
 A NEW KIXD OF WATCH-DOG. 147 
 
 the neck, I heard his despairing cry; I could 
 not stay to see the poor fellow killed, and I 
 was afraid of sharing his fate, so I made off as 
 fast as I could." 
 
 "Poor Oddity I" sighed I very mournfully, 
 " never was there an uglier nor a better-hearted 
 rat ! Ah ! what pleasure I vainly promised 
 to myself in relating to you all my adventures ! 
 I have been across the deep waters, encountered 
 various perils, now in danger of being cooked 
 in a pie, now shivering on a barrel in the 
 ocean, and yet here am I safe and sound after 
 all; while you, leraaining quietly in England, 
 have ignominiously perished in a hay-rick !" 
 
 Whiskerandos, who, being a brown rat, could 
 not be expected to feel the same regret as my- 
 self, now turned towards Bright-eyes, and asked 
 him how far we were from London " For 1 
 long to be back in my old quarters," said ha 
 
 " A fortnight's journey for a rat, should he 
 travel by land," replied Bright-eyas: " we came 
 down very comfortably in a river boat, which 
 carried us to within five miles of this spot" 
 
 " I have had enough of water for some time," 
 said Whiskerandos; "and now that the fields 
 are full of ripe corn, and the gardens of fruit*
 
 J 48 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 
 
 nothing so pleasant as a journey by land 1 
 What say you, Mend Ratto ?" inquired he. 
 
 " I have no mind for a long journey either 
 by land or by sea/' replied I in a melancholy 
 tone ; " I'll keep company with you for a day 
 or two, Whiskerandos, but I would rather not 
 return now to London. I will settle quietly 
 for a time in the country near the spot where 
 poor Oddity died ! " 
 
 " And you ?" said Whiskerandos, turning to 
 Bright-eyes. 
 
 The lively rat shook his ears with all his 
 natural vivacity. " Pardon me/' he cried, " but 
 I'm of Oddity's opinion, heroes like Sir Whis- 
 kerandos are the very worst travelling compan- 
 ions in the world ! How Eatto has escaped with 
 his life I cannot imagine, but I shall certainly 
 not try the experiment of following your 
 fortunes for an hour ! I've no fancy to be 
 baked in a pie, or starved on a barrel, crushed 
 by a drosky, or worried by a dog, drow7ied 
 in a sack, or suspended by my tail ! No, no, 
 valiant Whiskerandos, I'm quite content to 
 admire your courage at a distance, but I don't 
 want to share your exploits, and would rather 
 .have my ears than your fame ! "
 
 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOC!. 149 
 
 And off skipped the merry little rat, before 
 we could say a word to stay him. 
 
 Whiskerandos and I, being weary enough 
 with the adventures through which we had 
 passed, slept for the greater part of that day 
 in the field, and wandered about during the 
 night in a not vain search for food. 
 
 The next day was remarkably hot. It was 
 the season of harvest, and we felt the necessity 
 of keeping quietly concealed, as many men, 
 and women also, were busily engaged in the 
 fields. The heat, however, produced thirst, 
 and no water was near in which we could 
 quench it. 
 
 " I say, Ratto," observed Whiskerandos, "do 
 you see yonder object, near that sheaf, that 
 glitters so brightly in the sun?" 
 
 " It is a can," replied I, " doubtless belong- 
 ing to one of the reapers." 
 
 " I should not wonder if there were a hunch 
 of bread and cheese beside it," said Whisker- 
 andos. 
 
 "I should not be surprised if there were." 
 
 Whiskerandos remained for a minute in 
 silence, then said, " I want to compare English 
 beer with Russian kwas."
 
 150 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 
 
 " You are not going into the field ! " I cried 
 in alarm. 
 
 "I am going, why, there is nothing to 
 fear; there is not a reaper near, and if there 
 were, he would need to be a sharp fellow who 
 could catch a rat in an open field ! " 
 
 So the daring fellow went on his way, and 
 I, after peeping cautiously on this side and 
 that, to make sure that no human being could 
 see us in the stubble, hurried after my com- 
 panion, being to the full as curious as himself 
 to make acquaintance with the contents of the. 
 can. 
 
 There was a bundle of something beside it, 
 tied up in a large red handkerchief, something 
 of a very inviting odour. But scarcely had 
 Whiskerandos, who was foremost, touched the 
 reaper's dinner with the end of his whiskers, 
 when something jumped up suddenly from be- 
 hind the bundle, and the voice of a rat fiercely 
 exclaimed, " Keep off, or I'll bite you ! " 
 
 Whiskerandos looked surprised at the unex- 
 pected defiance, but my feelings of amazement 
 can scarcely be conceived when I recognised, 
 (could it be !) the dumpy form, blunt head, and 
 piebald skin of my lost brother Oddity !
 
 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 151 
 
 I rushed forward with a squeak of delight! 
 No doubt, though less eager and excited in his 
 manner, Oddity also was greatly pleased at 
 meeting with his brother again. He looked, 
 however, suspiciously from the handkerchief 
 to Whiskerandos, and again desired him to 
 " keep off," with a resolution of which I had 
 never dreamed the piebald rat capable. 
 
 " What is in that bundle, that you guard it 
 so carefully?" said I, after we had rubbed noses 
 again and again, with every expression of 
 affection. 
 
 "The property of my master," replied my 
 brother. 
 
 "Master!" exclaimed both Whiskerandos 
 and I in amazement, "who ever heard of the 
 master of a rat! Since when have you taken 
 upon yourself the office of a watch-dog, to 
 guard what belongs to our enemy, man?'' 
 
 "Since man first showed mercy to one of 
 the race of Mus, since he spared a defenceless 
 rat when in his power. I know you, Whis- 
 kerandos, I know you," continued Oddity, the 
 hairs bristling up on his back, as my com- 
 panion, either in jest or earnest, took the cor- 
 ner of the handkerchief between his sharp teeth :
 
 152 A NEW KIND OF WATCH-DOG. 
 
 " you are reckoned a hero amongst rats, but I 
 too can fight in defence of what is confided to 
 my charge; you have killed a ferret, and you 
 may kill me, but while I have a tooth in my 
 jaw, or a drop of blood in my body, you shall 
 not touch a crumb belonging to my master ! " 
 
 Whiskerandos would have been more than a 
 match for three Odditys, for the piebald one 
 had neither his strength, nor agility, nor ex- 
 perience in fighting; but the strong rat seemed 
 at this juncture to have no inclination to give 
 battle to the weak one. I hope that it will be 
 considered no sign of cowardice on his part, 
 that he quietly dropped the corner of the hand- 
 kerchief, and never even attempted to examine 
 the contents of the can. 
 
 Of course I was all curiosity to know every 
 particular of my brother's deliverance. In his 
 own quiet, homely way, he told me his simple 
 tale, keeping, however, all the time, a watch- 
 ful eye upon the bundle beside him, while Whis- 
 kerandos acted the part of a sentinel to give 
 me timely warning if any human being should 
 approach so near as to endanger our safety. I 
 will tell the story of Oddity as nearly as I can 
 in his own words, I only wish that I could de-
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 153 
 
 scribe the expression of his bluff, honest face, 
 at various parts of his narration. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 v I WAS caught one evening in a hay-rick. A 
 swift-footed creature like you, Whiskerandos, 
 might perhaps have escaped, but I was never 
 remarkable for agility or speed. I felt a 
 strong hand grasping me by the back of my 
 neek, and I gave myself up for lost. 
 
 " ' Well, here's an odd creature, a piebald rat ! 
 I take it that's quite a curiosity!' cried the 
 fanner who held me in his grasp. I expected 
 that he would dash me against the wall the 
 next moment, and then set his heel upon my 
 poor body! 
 
 " ' I wonder whether Mary ever saw the like 
 of it before,' he continued, examining me with 
 attention; '111 put it in the empty wire-cage, 
 and try if I cannot tame it for her.' 
 
 " Here was a reprieve, and a most unexpected 
 one. No one who has not believed himself to 
 be just on the point of being smashed, can tell
 
 154 TIIE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 how glad I was when I was set loose from the 
 fanner's terribe gripe, though only to find my- 
 self in a cage ! 
 
 " But soon the longing for liberty came. I 
 attempted to gnaw through the wires, but 
 they resisted my utmost efforts. The farmer 
 watched me, spoke to me, gave me food treated 
 me like a creature that could feel. That man 
 has a gentle and kindly heart! At length I 
 grew accustomed to my master, and to see him 
 approach my prison with food was the only 
 pleasure of my life. He ventured his ,finger 
 between the bars, and I never attempted to 
 bite it. He released me at last from my cage, 
 and gave me a far warmer, snugger home in 
 the pocket of his own great-coat ! " 
 
 At this point in the story Whiskerandos and 
 I uttered expressions of amazement. 
 
 " Wherever he went," continued Oddity, " I 
 went too. He taught me many things alto- 
 gether new to a rat. It is our nature to take 
 what we can get, he taught me to see food 
 and not to touch it! He never suffered me 
 to feel hungry : he conversed with me as though 
 I were a little companion, and never one 
 blow did I receive from his hand, or one kick
 
 THE FARMER AND II1S BRIDE. 155 
 
 from his heel ! It was not in the nature of a 
 quadruped to be insensible to kindness like 
 this!" 
 
 " And yet you owed it all to your piebald 
 coat !" exclaimed I. " Never was beauty such 
 an advantage to a four-footed beast as ugliness 
 has been to you ! " 
 
 "I found," pursued Oddity very quietly, 
 " that Will Grange, my master, was going to 
 London, to be married to the young woman 
 whom he had spoken of as Mary. We travelled 
 to the city together, I snugly sleeping, coiled 
 up in his pocket." 
 
 " And were you given to the lady ? " said 
 Whiskerandos. 
 
 " I was placed before her on a table, in a 
 quiet little back-parlour, in which she and my 
 master sat together. She admired my appear- 
 ance." 
 
 "No, no !" interrupted I, " that's impossible, 
 I can believe anything but that !" 
 
 "Well, then, she wished to gratify my 
 master by appearing to do so. She praised 
 me, and fed me from her hand, and said that 
 such a rat she never had seen in her life. 
 Then I crept under my master's chair, and
 
 156 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 there very quietly remained, while he and his 
 Mary talked over future plans together. 
 
 " He told her of the various things that he 
 had bought to make his home more comfort- 
 able for his wife. How he had planted the 
 garden himself with all her favourite flowers, and 
 twined honeysuckle over his porch. Then he 
 took her hand within his own, and in a lower 
 and softer voice asked her if she were happy. 
 
 " ' Veiy happy/ she replied, looking on the 
 ground, while her cheek grew like a cloud at 
 sunrise ; ' only I cannot help feeling sorry/ 
 her voice trembled a little as she spoke, 'sorry 
 to leave father, and home, and the dear chil- 
 dren in the ragged school whom I have taught 
 so long ! ' I fancy," continued my brother, 
 " that something like a dewdrop glistened on 
 her lashes. 
 
 " ' "Well, Mary/ said the farmer heartily, 
 ' father will come and see us ; and as for 
 your old home, why, you get a new one in 
 exchange, and fair exchange is no robbery, 
 you know. Then for your ragged children, 
 why, I'm wanting an active, steady boy on my 
 farm, and though I've no great fancy for your 
 pale-faced Londoners, yet if you know any
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 157 
 
 really good one, we'll take him down with us 
 into Kent/ 
 
 " You should have seen how much pleased 
 the young teacher looked ! She knew one, 
 she said, a poor motherless boy, she would be 
 so glad to give him a helping hand. He was 
 one of the best boys in the school, she would 
 trust him in a room full of gold ! 
 
 " So it was agreed between them that she 
 should speak to the lad, and tell him to call 
 in the evening. 
 
 " In the evening he accordingly came. I ' 
 had again taken my place under the farmer's 
 chair, and was just falling into a doze, when 
 I was roused by a gentle knock at the door. 
 Mary's cheerful 'Come in!' was followed by 
 the entrance of, whom do you think?" 
 
 "Bob and Billy!" I exclaimed at a venture. 
 
 "Yes, Bob and Billy!" repeated Oddity, 
 with a look of great glee; "I had never 
 thought to have seen them again ! And they 
 were so changed, I should scarcely have known 
 them. Bob, in particular, looked so much 
 taller, and stronger, and oh ! so much happier 
 than he had done last year ! He was no more 
 the wretched, joyless, hopeless, creature, cower-
 
 158 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 ing in rags, one that even rats might look on 
 vrith pity ; he had a bright, fearless eye, and 
 hopeful smile ; and if ever a face expressed 
 gratitude and affection, it was his when he 
 looked on his gentle young teacher ! 
 
 " ' I beg pardon for bringing Billy/ said he, 
 modestly but frankly, ' I was afraid to let 
 him go home quite alone/ 
 
 " The farmer spoke in his kindly manner to 
 the boy. He offered him a place on his farm, 
 and Bob's eyes sparkled, and his cheek flushed 
 with pleasure. It was but for a minute; the 
 brightness and the glow faded away as he 
 glanced down at his little lame brother. I 
 saw that Billy was squeezing his hand, that 
 squeeze served all the purpose of words. 
 
 " ' Thank 'ee, sir/ said the boy, glancing first 
 at the farmer, then at his teacher, ' but I think 
 as how I should rather leastways I had 
 better stay and earn my bread here in Lunnon/ 
 
 " ' And how do you earn it?' inquired the 
 farmer/ 
 
 " ' Please, sir, I clean boots/* answered the 
 boy ; ' I am one of the yellow brigade/ 
 
 * Tn the course of a single year no less than two thousand nine hundred 
 and eighty-one pounds were honestly earned irt this manner by 132 boys 
 connected with ragged schools!
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 159 
 
 " There was such a look of cheerful inde- 
 pendence on the little fellow's face, that no one 
 could have glanced at him and doubted that 
 his bread was honestly earned. 
 
 " ' And would you rather stay here and 
 rub in blacking/ said the farmer, ' than be out 
 in the open fields? Yours is an odd taste, I 
 take it ! Would you not rather come with us ?' 
 
 " ' Oh, sir ! ' said Bob, uneasily, shifting from 
 one foot to the other, while Billy was squeez- 
 ing his hand harder than ever, and looking 
 half ready to cry, as he pressed closer to his 
 side ; ' you see I could not leave him behind, 
 poor lame Billy, he's no one to care for 
 him but me/ 
 
 " ' That's it, is it ! ' cried the farmer, clapping 
 his knee. ' Well, Mary, what say you ? could 
 we take the two with us do you think ? If 
 they've always been together, poor fellows, 
 'twould be a pity to part them now !' 
 
 " Bob's only answer was a look of pleasure 
 and gratitude, but little Billy almost burst 
 into tears of delight as he exclaimed, 'Oh, 
 yes ! please, sir, take me too ! take me too ! 
 I'll do anything, 111 work, 111 make baskets 
 for your fruit.'
 
 1GO THE FARMER AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 " ' Aud coops for my poultry, bey ? We'll 
 find some way of making you useful.' And 
 he turned to Mary with that smile which I 
 think that all human beings wear when they 
 are doing some act of kindness. 
 
 " I was so much pleased," continued Oddity, 
 " at this conclusion to the affair, that I ran 
 out from my place beneath the chair. Billy 
 uttered a cry of surprise : 
 
 " ' There look ! if that an't my own pretty 
 spotted rat !' " 
 
 Here I rather rudely interrupted my pie- 
 bald brother. " Pretty ! did he call you pretty? 
 well, well, I shall be obliged to think you so 
 myself, I suppose. Spared by a man, petted 
 by a woman, admired by a child, and all for 
 your beauty, Oddity's beauty ! " I could not 
 help laughing outright at the thought. 
 
 "My ugliness has at least done me no harm," 
 he replied, with a meekness which made me 
 more ashamed of my rudeness than if he had 
 fired up at my ridicule. 
 
 " And so you live all together here ?" said 
 Whiskerandos ; " this farmer, his wife, the i\\ o 
 boys, and you ?" 
 
 " Yes, and we are as happy as the day is long."
 
 THE FARMER AND HIS EfilDE. 1C1 
 
 " Humph I" said Whiskerandos ; " I should 
 prefer my wild freedom ; but it is different, I 
 suppose, with man. And as for you, Oddity, 
 you were never like other rats; you were 
 always intended for a watch-dog. And you 
 really guard that can and parcel for hours, 
 and resist the temptation to nibble ?" 
 
 " I am trusted," was the simple reply. 
 
 "Now, Oddity," said I, "I should much 
 like to see you in your new home, surrounded 
 by all your human companions." 
 
 " Yonder is my master's house/' answered 
 Oddity, pointing across the field with his nose. 
 " You have but to clamber up to the window 
 in the evening, and peep through the clustering 
 roses, and you will see us all there together." 
 
 " I'll have a peep," said Whiskerandos, 
 " and then off to old London again !" 
 
 " You must take nothing from my master's 
 house," cried Oddity. 
 
 " Not a potato paring !" laughed our valiant 
 companion. 
 
 " And now I would advise you to be off," 
 said my brother ; " here's my master coming 
 for his dinner." 
 
 Away we scampered at full speed, my light 
 11
 
 162 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 
 
 footed comrade and I ; for Avell we knew what 
 was certain to be our fate if caught even by 
 the kind-hearted farmer. We were only rats 
 after all. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 
 
 THAT night, when the round harvest moon 
 was throwing her soft light on the earth, we 
 climbed up the rose-tree by the window, and, 
 quietly pushing aside the fragrant flowers, 
 peeped in upon such a scene as rarely meets 
 the eye of a rat. 
 
 There was a neat little kitchen, with a 
 sanded floor and white-washed walls, so clean, 
 so perfectly clean, that not even the sharp eyes 
 of the race of Mus could have detected a speck 
 upon them. Rows of plates lined the shelves 
 on the wall, pans burnished till they shone 
 like silver, a framed sampler hung over the 
 mantelpiece, and a large clock merrily ticked 
 behind the door. Near the wide hearth there 
 was a table, on which a substantial supper was 
 spread on a cloth white as new-fallen snow.
 
 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 1G3 
 
 Round this table were seated the fanner, 
 his wife, and our two old friends, Bob and 
 Billy, in their clean smock-frocks, with country 
 roses on their once sickly and sunken cheeks. 
 One might have read Will Grange's character 
 in his kind, honest face ; and his wife looked 
 like a morning in May, all sweetness, bright- 
 ness, and beauty, such beauty as is not merely 
 skin-deep. 
 
 The farmer tapped gaily on the table, and 
 at the signal, Oddity, whom I had not at first 
 perceived, clambered up to his knee, and from 
 thence jumped on the cloth, to be fed from his 
 master's hand. He made his round of the 
 party, every one had something to give him; 
 and I heard the merry voice of Billy as he 
 patted his favourite's snub nose, " He's a 
 pretty little fellow ! now, an't he ? I wonder 
 what's become of the old blind rat that he 
 used to lead about in the shed ?" 
 
 " Whiskerandos," said I, pensively, to my 
 companion, " I could almost wish myself in 
 Oddity's place I" 
 
 " So do not I," he replied quickly, as he 
 turned from the window. " One rat in ten 
 millions may be petted and trusted, and show
 
 1 G4 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 
 
 himself worthy of the trust ; but our race was 
 never intended by nature to hold the position 
 of lap-dogs or cats." 
 
 " And are we always to be hated by the 
 lords of creation, never to be useful to man ?" 
 
 " We are useful to man," said my com- 
 panion. 
 
 " Ah ! in those places where he bakes us in 
 pies, or makes hats or glove-thumbs of our 
 poor skins. But in London " 
 
 " When you join me in London I will show 
 you, friend Ratto, how, by acting the part of 
 a scavenger, and clearing away that which, if 
 left, would poison the air, the race of Mus 
 does good service to man." 
 
 " Little man thanks us for it !" cried L 
 
 " Well, Bob," said the farmer, as he leant 
 back in his chair, and watched, with an air of 
 amusement, his piebald favourite nibbling at 
 a nut, " is it true what my good wife here 
 tells me, that the post this morning actually 
 brought a letter for you ?" 
 
 "From Master Neddy," exclaimed Bob, 
 with sparkling eyes. 
 
 " He's come back from Hussy, and so has 
 his father, and they're so glad to be in old
 
 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 1C5 
 
 England again," cried Billy, as in old times 
 the most ready to speak. " The letter was 
 sent first to the school, the dear old school ! 
 for they wam't to know that missus was 
 married, and we so snug down here in the 
 country. Oh ! won't they be pleased to hear 
 it ? And is it not good in them, after all their 
 travels, not to forget poor boys like us ? Do 
 you know, there was money in the letter ?" he 
 added, lowering his voice. 
 
 " Ah ! Captain Blake did you some good 
 turn, did he not ?" said the farmer to Bob. 
 
 " He saved me from " the boy coloured 
 and paused, 
 
 " From want, I suppose," said Grange, end- 
 ing his sentence for him, and stroking back 
 Oddity's sleek ears. 
 
 " From worse," said Bob, looking down. 
 
 " Not from death ?" 
 
 " Worse than that," murmured the boy. 
 
 " Eh ?" said the farmer, in surprise. 
 
 " But for him what should I have been now 1 
 Oh sir!" cried Bob, suddenly raising his eyes, 
 " I've often thought I should have told you 
 tlus before, before you took me in here, 
 me and my brother too, and treated us so
 
 1G6 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 
 
 kindly, and trusted us and all You should 
 have known what I was before that day when 
 Captain Blake bless him for it ! first took 
 me into a ragged school" 
 
 " My business is with what you are, not 
 what you were," said the farmer, kindly ; but 
 Bob did not seem to hear the interruption, for 
 he continued, in an agitated voice, the tears 
 rising into and then overflowing his eyes : 
 " He found me a poor, ignorant, miserable 
 creature, not knowing so much as that it was 
 a sin to take what was not my own. He 
 found me with no comfort and no hope, going 
 on the broad way which leads to the prison 
 and the gallows ; and worse, worse beyond, 
 I know that now. He found me a wretched 
 thief, and he did not hate me, despise me, 
 despair of me : he gave me a chance, he gave 
 me a friend ! Blessings on him ! he saved 
 me from ruin !" 
 
 Here let me drop the curtain, here let me 
 close my tale. These are feelings, these are 
 scenes, into which higher beings alone can 
 enter ; they are too solemn for a story like 
 mine. 
 
 And here I and my companions divide ; I
 
 A PEEP THROUGH THE ROSES. 167 
 
 to luxuriate for awhile in the plenty with 
 which rich autumn crowns the fields around ; 
 my bold comrade to return to the city, and 
 there, in new adventures, to display a sagacity 
 and courage which even the lords of the crea- 
 tion would admire if belonging to any race but 
 ours ; Oddity, in the happy home of his kind 
 master, remains to share the board and the 
 hearth, an instance that even a rat can show 
 fidelity to man, where man can show mercy to 
 a rat ! 
 
 Perhaps the human race would despise us 
 less proudly, and persecute us less severely, 
 perhaps even boys would take less pleasure in 
 torturing, worrying, and hunting us down, if 
 our characters and instincts were better known. 
 Who can say that some truth may not be 
 learned, some lesson of kindliness gained, even 
 from a narration simple as mine, the his- 
 tory of 
 
 THE RAMBLES OF A RAT.
 
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