The Life and Perambulations of a Mouse
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Dorothy Kilner >> The Life and Perambulations of a Mouse
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It is impossible to describe our consternation and surprise upon
this occasion, which was greatly increased when we advanced near
the place, at seeing him (through some little wire bars) confined
in a small box, without any visible way for him to get out, and
hearing him in the most moving accents beg us to assist him in
procuring his liberty. We all ran round and round his place of
confinement several times; but not the least crack or opening
could we discover, except through the bars, which being of iron,
it was impossible for us to break or bend. At length we
determined to try to gnaw through the wood-work close at the edge,
which being already some little distance from one of the bars, we
hoped, by making the opening a little wider, he would escape:
accordingly we all began, he on the inside, and we all on the out,
and by our diligence had made some very considerable progress,
when we were interrupted by the entrance of Mrs. Nurse with the
child in her arms.
Upon the sight of her, though much grieved to leave our brother in
his distress, yet fearing instant death would be the fate of all
of us if we stayed, to preserve our own existence, we retired as
quick as possible, but not without her seeing some of us, for we
heard her say to herself, or to the babe in her arms, 'I declare,
this closet swarms with mice, they spoil everything one puts
here.' Then taking up the box in which was poor Softdown (and
which I afterwards learned was called a trap) she carried it intO
the room. I crept softly after her, to see what would be the fate
of my beloved brother. But what words can express my horror, when
I saw her holding it in one hand close to the candle, whilst in
the other she held the child, singing to her with the utmost
composure, and bidding her to look at the mousy! mousy!
What were the actions or sensations of poor Softdown at that
dreadful moment I know not: but my own anguish, which it is
impossible to describe, was still augmented every moment by seeing
her shake the trap almost topsy-turvy, then blow through the trap
at one end, at which times I saw the dear creature's tail come out
between the wires on the contrary side, as he was striving, I
suppose, to retreat from her. At length, after she had thus
tortured him for some time, she set the trap on the table, so
close to a large fire, that I am sure he must have been much
incommoded by the heat, and began to undress her child.
Then hearing somebody go by the door, she cried out, 'Who is
there? is it you, Betty? if it is, I wish you would come and take
down the mouse-trap, for I have caught a mouse.' Betty instantly
obeyed her call, and desired to know what she wanted. 'I want you
to take down the mouse-trap,' she replied, 'for I cannot leave the
child. I am glad that I have got it, I am sure, for the closet
swarms so, there is no such thing as bearing it. They devour
everything: I declare they have eaten up a whole pound of sugar,
which cost me elevenpence, sugar is now so monstrously dear!
indeed the man made a favour to let me have it for that; only, he
said, as our family were good customers, and I was but a servant,
he would take no more. And enough too I thought it was, to have
only a penny back in change out of a whole shilling for one pound
of sugar: and then to think of the poison mice to have it all;
but I will break their filthy necks. Do, Betty, pray take the
trap down, and return with it as soon as you can, and I will set
it again: for I dare say I shall catch another before I go to
bed, for I heard some more rustling among the things.' 'O lauk!'
replied Betty, 'yon do not think that I will take down the trap,
do you? I would not touch it for twenty pounds. I am always
frightened, and ready to die at the sight of a mouse. Once, when
I was a girl, I had one thrown in my face, and ever since I have
always been scared out of my wits at them; and if ever I see one
running loose, as I did one night in the closet below stairs,
where the candles are kept, I scream as if I was being killed.'
'Why then,' answered Nurse, 'I think you behave like a great fool,
for what harm could a mouse do to you?' 'O la! I hate them,'
returned she, and then ran away without the trap. Greatly was I
rejoiced at her departure, as I hoped that, by some means,
Softdown might still be able to make his escape. But, alas! no
such good fortune attended him. Some person again passing the
door, Nurse once more called out, 'Who is there? John is it you?'
'Yes,' replied a man's voice. 'Then do you step in, will you, for
a moment?' rejoined Mrs. Nurse: and instantly entered a man whom
I had never before seen. 'What do you want, Nurse?' said he. 'I
only want to get rid of a mouse,' returned she; 'and, do you know,
Betty is such a fool that she is afraid of taking it, and I want
the trap to set it again, for they swarm here like bees in a hive,
one can have no peace for them: they devour and spoil every
thing; I say sometimes that I believe they will eat me up at
last.' While she was saying this, John took the trap in his hand,
held it up once more to the candle, then taking a piece of thread
out of a paper, that lay bound round with a dirty blue ribbon upon
the table, he shook the trap about till he got my brother's tail
through the wires, when catching hold of it, he tied the thread
tight round it and dragged him by it to the door of the trap,
which he opened, and took him out, suspending the weight of his
body upon his tail.
Softdown, who till the thread was tied had patiently continued
perfectly quiet, could no longer support the pain without dismal
cries and anguish: he squeaked as loud as his little throat would
let him, exerting at the same time the utmost of his strength to
disengage himself. But in such a position, with his head
downward, in vain were all his efforts to procure relief; and the
barbarous monster who held him discovered not the smallest
emotions of pity for his sufferings. Oh! how at that moment did I
abhor my own existence, and wish that I could be endowed with size
and strength sufficient, at once both to rescue him, and severely
punish his tormentors. But my wish was ineffectual, and I had the
inexpressible affliction of seeing the inhuman wretch hold him
down upon the hearth, whilst, without remorse, he crushed him
beneath his foot, and then carelessly kicked him into the ashes,
saying, 'There! The cat will smell it out when she comes up.' My
very blood runs cold within me at the recollection of seeing
Softdown's as it spurted from beneath the monster's foot; whilst
the crunch of his bones almost petrified me with horror. At
length, however, recollecting the impossibility of restoring my
beloved brother to life, and the danger of my own situation, I,
with trembling feet and palpitating heart, crept softly back to my
remaining two brothers, who were impatiently expecting me behind
the closet. There I related to them the horrid scene which had
passed before my eyes, whilst the anguish it caused in their
gentle bosoms far exceeds my power to describe.
After having mingled our lamentations for some time, I thus
addressed them: 'We have this night, my brothers, tasted the
severest affliction in the cruel death of our dear brother,
companion, and friend; let us not, however, only mourn his loss,
but also gather wisdom from our misfortune, and return to that
duty which we have hitherto neglected. Recollect, my dear
friends, what were the last words which our good mother spoke to
us at parting. She charged us, upon no account, for no temptation
whatever, to return frequently to the same place: if we did, she
forewarned us that death and ruin would certainly await us. But
in what manner have we obeyed this her kind advice? We have not
even so much as once recollected it since she left us; or, if we
thought of it for a moment, we foolishly despised it as
unnecessary. Now, therefore, we sincerely feel the consequence of
our disobedience; and, though our sufferings are most distressing,
yet we must confess that we amply deserve them. Let us therefore,
my brothers, instantly fly from a place which has already cost us
the life of our beloved Softdown, lest we should all likewise fall
a sacrifice to our disobedience.'--And here the writer cannot help
observing how just were the reflections of the mouse on the crime
which they had been guilty of; and begs every reader will be
careful to remember the fatal consequences that attended their
disobedience of their mother's advice, since they may be assured
that equal if not the same misfortune will always attend those who
refuse to pay attention to the advice of their parents. But, to
return to the history.
To this proposal (continued the mouse) my brothers readily agreed;
and we directly descended to the place we were in when we
discovered the crack that led us to the room in which we feasted
on bird-seed. Here we determined to wait, and when the family
were all quiet in bed, to go forth in search of provision, as we
began to be rather hungry, not having eaten anything a long while.
Accordingly we stayed till after the clock struck twelve, when
peeping out, we saw that the room was empty: we then ventured
forth, and found several seeds, though not enough to afford a very
ample meal for three of us.
After we had cleared the room, we again returned to our
hiding-place, where we continued till after the family had
finished their breakfast. They all then went to take a walk in
the garden, and we stepped out to pick up the crumbs which had
fallen from the table. Whilst we were thus employed, at a
distance from our place of retreat, we were alarmed by the
entrance of two boys, who appeared to be about twelve or thirteen
years of age. We directly ran towards the crack; but alas! we
were not quick enough to escape their observation; for, seeing us,
they both at once exclaimed, 'Some mice! some mice!' and at the
same time took off their hats, and threw at us. Longtail happily
eluded the blow, and safely got home, but poor Brighteyes and
myself were less fortunate; and though we for a considerable time,
by our quickness, prevented their catching us, at length, being
much disabled by a blow that one of them gave me with a book which
he threw at me, I was unable any longer to run, and hobbling very
slowly across the room, he picked me up. At the same moment
Brighteyes was so entangled in a handkerchief which the other boy
tossed over him, that he likewise was taken prisoner. Our little
hearts now beat quick with fear of those tortures we expected to
receive; nor were our apprehensions lessened by hearing the boys
consult what they should do with us, 'I,' said one, 'will throw
mine into the pond, and see how he will swim out again.' 'And I,'
said the other, 'will keep mine and tame it.' 'But where will you
keep it?' inquired his companion. 'Oh,' replied he, 'I will keep
it under a little pan till I can get a house made for it.' He
then, holding me by the skin at the back of my neck, ran with me
into the kitchen to fetch a pan. Here I was not only threatened
with death by three or four of the servants, who all blamed Master
Peter for keeping me; but likewise two or three cats came round
him, rubbing themselves backward and forward against his legs, and
then standing upon their hind feet to endeavour to make themselves
high enough to reach me. At last, taking a pan in his hand, he
returned to his brother with one of the cats following him.
Immediately upon our entrance, the boy exclaimed, 'Oh, now I know
what I will do: I will tie a piece of string to its tail, and
teach the cat to jump for it.' No sooner did this thought present
itself than it was put into practice, and I again was obliged to
sustain the shocking sight of a brother put to the torture. I, in
the mean time, was placed upon the table, with a pan put over me,
in which there was a crack, so that I could see as well as hear
all that passed: and from this place it was that I beheld my
beloved Brighteyes suspended at one end of a string by his tail;
one while swinging backward and forward, at another pulled up and
down, then suffered to feel his feet on the ground, and again
suddenly snatched up as the cat advanced, then twisted round and
round as fast as possible at the full length of the string: in
short, it is impossible to describe all his sufferings of body, or
my anguish of mind. At length a most dreadful conclusion was put
to them, by the entrance of a gentleman booted and spurred, with a
whip in his hand. 'What in the world, Charles!' said he, as he
came in, 'are you about? What have you got there?' 'Only a
mouse, sir,' replied the boy. 'He is teaching the cat to jump,
sir,' said Peter, 'that is all.'
Brighteyes then gave a fresh squeak from the violence of his pain.
The gentleman then turning hastily round, exclaimed eagerly,
'What, is it alive?' 'Yes, sir,' said the boy. 'And how can you,
you wicked, naughty, cruel boy,' replied the gentleman, 'take
delight in thus torturing a little creature that never did you any
injury? Put it down this moment,' said he, at the same time
giving him a severe stroke with his horse-whip across that hand by
which he held my brother. 'Let it go directly,' and again
repeated the blow: the boy let go the string, and Brighteyes fell
to the ground; and was instantly snapped up by the cat, who
growling, ran away with him in her mouth, and, I suppose, put a
conclusion to his miseries and life together, as I never from that
moment have heard any account of him.
As soon as he was thus taken out of the room, the gentleman sat
down, and, taking hold of his son's hand, thus addressed him:
'Charles, I had a much better opinion of you, than to suppose you
were capable of so much cruelty. What right, I desire to know,
have you to torment any living creature? If it is only be cause
you are larger, and so have it in your power, I beg you will
consider, how you would like, that either myself, or some great
giant, as much larger than you as you are bigger than the mouse,
should hurt and torment you? And I promise you, the smallest
creature can feel as acutely as you, nay, the smaller they are,
the more susceptible are they of pain, and the sooner they are
hurt: a less touch will kill a fly than a man, consequently a
less wound will cause it pain; and the mouse which you have now
been swinging by the tail over the cat's mouth, has not, you may
assure yourself, suffered less torment or fright than you would
have done, had you been suspended by your leg, either over water,
which would drown you, or over stones, where if you fell you must
certainly be dashed to pieces. And yet you could take delight in
thus torturing and distressing a poor inoffensive animal. Fie
upon it, Charles! fie upon it! I thought you had been a better
boy, and not such a cruel, naughty, wicked fellow.' 'Wicked!'
repeated the boy, 'I do not think that I have been at all wicked.'
'But I think you have been extremely so,' replied his father;
'every action that is cruel, and gives pain to any living
creature, is wicked, and is a sure sign of a bad heart. I never
knew a man, who was cruel to animals, kind and compassionate
towards his fellow-creatures: he might not perhaps treat them in
the same shocking manner, because the laws of the land would
severely punish him if he did; but if he is restrained from bad
actions by no higher motive than fear of present punishment, his
goodness cannot be very great. A good man, Charles, always takes
delight in conferring happiness on all around him; nor would he
offer the smallest injury to the meanest insect that was capable
of feeling. 'I am sure,' said the boy, 'I have often seen you
kill wasps, and spiders too; and it was but last week that you
bought a mouse-trap yourself to catch mice in, although you are so
angry now with me.' 'And pray,' resumed his father, 'did you ever
see me torment as well as kill them? Or did I ever keep them in
pain one moment longer than necessary? I am not condemning people
for killing vermin and animals, provided they do it expeditiously,
and put them to death with as little pain as possible; but it is
putting them to needless torment and misery that I say is wicked.
Had you destroyed the mouse with one blow, or rather given it to
somebody else to destroy it (for I should not think a
tender-hearted boy would delight in such operations himself), I
would not have condemned you; but, to keep it hanging the whole
weight of its body upon its tail, to swing it about, and, by that,
to hold it terrifying over the cat's jaws, and to take pleasure in
hearing it squeak, and seeing it struggle for liberty, is such
unmanly, such detestable cruelty, as calls for my utmost
indignation and abhorrence. But, since you think pain so very
trifling an evil, try. Charles, how you like that,' said he,
giving him at the same time some severe strokes with his
horsewhip. The boy then cried, and called out, 'I do not like it
at all, I do not like it at all.' 'Neither did the mouse,'
replied his father, 'like at all to be tied to a string, and swung
about by his tail: he did not like it, and told you so in a
language which you perfectly well understood; but you would not
attend to his cries; you thought it pleasure to hear it squeak,
because you were bigger, and did not feel its torture. I am now
bigger than you. and do not feel your pain. I therefore shall
not yet leave off; as I hope it will teach you not to torment
anything another time.' Just as he said these words, the boy,
endeavouring to avoid the whip, ran against the table on which I
was placed, and happily threw down the pan that confined me. I
instantly seized the opportunity, jumped down, and once more
escaped to the little hole by which I first entered. There I
found my only brother waiting for me, and was again under the
dreadful necessity of paining his tender heart with the recital of
the sufferings which I had been witness to in our dear Brighteyes,
as well as the imminent danger I myself had been exposed to.
'And, surely,' said I, 'we have again drawn this evil upon
ourselves by our disobedience to our mother's advice; she,
doubtless, intended that we should not continue in the same house
long together; whereas from the day of her leaving us, we have
never been in any other but this, which has occasioned us such
heavy affliction. Therefore, upon no account, let us continue
another night under this roof; but, as soon as the evening begins
to grow dark enough to conceal us from the observation of any one,
we will set off, and seek a lodging in some other place; and
should any misfortune befall us on our passage, we shall at least
have the consolation of thinking. that we were doing our duty by
following the advice of our parent.' 'It is true,' said my
brother, 'we have been greatly to blame; for the future we will be
more careful of our conduct; but do, my dear Nimble,' continued
he, 'endeavour to compose yourself, and take a little rest, after
the pain and fatigue which you have gone through, otherwise you
may be sick; and what will become of me, if any mischief should
befall you? I shall then have no brother to converse with, no
friend to advise me what to do.' Here he stopped, overpowered
with his grief for the loss of our two murdered brothers, and with
his tender solicitude for my welfare. I endeavoured all in my
power to comfort him, and said I hoped that I should soon recover
from the bruises I had received both from the boy's hat and book,
as well as the pinches in my neck with his finger and thumb, by
which he held me, and promised to compose myself. This promise I
fulfilled by endeavouring to sleep; but the scene that I had so
lately been witness to was too fresh in my imagination to suffer
me to close my eyes: however, I kept for some time quiet.
The rest of the day we spent in almost total silence, having no
spirits for conversation, our hearts being almost broken with
anguish. When it grew toward evening, we agreed to find our way
out of that detested house, and seek for some other habitation,
which might be more propitious. But we found more difficulty in
this undertaking than we were at all aware of; for though we could
with tolerable ease go from room to room within the house, still,
when we attempted to quit it, we found it every way surrounded
with so thick a brick wall, that it was impossible for us to make
our way through it: we therefore ran round and round it several
times, searching for some little crevice through which we might
escape; but all to no purpose, not the least crack could we
discover: and we might have continued there till this time, had
we not at length, after the family were in bed, resolved to
venture through one of the apartments into the hall, and so creep
out under the house door. But the dangers we exposed ourselves to
in this expedition were many and great; we knew that traps were
set for us about the house, and where they might chance to be
placed we could not tell. I had likewise been eye-witness to no
less than four cats, who might, for ought we knew to the contrary,
at that hour of darkness, be prowling in search of some of our
unhappy species.
But, in spite of every difficulty and hazard, we determined to
venture rather than continue in opposition to our mother's
commands; and, to reward our obedience, we escaped with trembling
hearts, unobserved, at least unmolested, by any one. And now, for
the first time since our birth, we found ourselves exposed to the
inclemency of the weather. The night was very dark and
tempestuous; the rain poured down in torrents; and the wind blew
so exceedingly high, that, low upon the ground as we were, it was
with difficulty that we could keep our legs: added to which, even
step we took, we were in water up to our stomachs. In this
wretched condition we knew not which way to turn ourselves, or
where to seek for shelter. The spattering of the rain, the
howling of the wind, together with the rattling and shaking of the
trees, all contributed to make such a noise as rendered it
impossible for us to hear whether any danger was approaching us or
not.
In this truly melancholy situation we waded on for a considerable
time, till at length we reached a small house, and very easily
gained admittance through a pretty large hole on one side of the
door. Most heartily did we rejoice at finding ourselves once more
under shelter from the cold and rain, and for some time only
busied ourselves in drying our hair, which was as thoroughly wet
as if we had been served as the boy threatened my brother
Brighteyes, and we had really been drawn through a pond. After we
had done this, and had a little rested ourselves, we began to look
about in search of food, but we could find nothing. except a few
crumbs of bread and cheese in a man's coat pocket, and a piece of
tallow-candle stuck on the top of a tinder-box. This, however,
though not such delicate eating as we had been used to, yet served
to satisfy our present hunger; and we had just finished the candle
when we were greatly alarmed by the sight of a human hand (for we
mice can see a little in the dark) feeling about the very chair on
which we stood. We jumped down in an instant, and hid ourselves
in a little hole behind a black trunk that stood in one corner of
the room.
We then heard very distinctly a man say, 'Betty, did you not put
the candle by the bedside?' 'Yes, that I am very sure I did,'
replied a female voice. 'I thought so,' answered the man; 'but I
am sure it is not here now. Tom! Tom! Tom!' continued he. 'What,
father?' replied a boy, starting up, 'what is the matter?' 'Why,
do you know anything of the candle? I cannot find it, my dear,
and I want it sadly, for I fancy it is time we should be up and be
jogging. Dost know any thing of it, my lad?' 'Not I, truly,
father,' said the boy, 'I only know that I saw mother stick it in
the box-lid last night, and put it upon the chair, which she set
by the bedside, after you had put your clothes upon the back of
it; I know I saw her put it there, so it must be there now, I
fancy.' 'Well, I cannot find it,' replied the father; so we must
e'en get up in the dark, for I am sure it must be time.' The
father and son then both dressed themselves, and the man, taking a
shilling out of his pocket, laid it upon the chair, saying at the
same time, 'There, Betty. I have left a shilling for you; take
care it does not go after the candle, for where that is I cannot
tell any more than the carp at the bottom of the squire's
fish-pond.' He then unlocked the door, and went away, accompanied
by his son.
After their departure, we again came out, and took another walk
round the room, and found our way into a little cupboard, which we
had not before observed. Here we discovered half a loaf of bread,
a piece of cold pudding, a lump of salt butter, some soft sugar in
a basin, and a fine large slice of bacon. On these dainties we
feasted very amply, and agreed that we should again hide ourselves
behind the black trunk all day, and at night, when the family were
in bed, return to take another meal on the plenty of nice
provision which we so happily discovered. Accordingly, we crept
back just as the woman went to fill her teakettle at a pump, which
stood between her house and the next neighbour's. When she
returned, she put it upon the fire she had just lit, and, taking a
pair of bellows in her hand, sat down to blow it.
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