Public and private life of animals / [J. Thomson].

  • Thomson, J.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Public and private life of animals / [J. Thomson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    116/432
    Trotter. Reflect, master; you are but a miserable rat, and yet you speak of rendering human beings happy. We are of a despised race. There is nothing so mean in the eyes of men as rats. “ Poor as a rat ” is a common phrase with them. Gnawer. Your temper is soured, my boy. Let us walk to aid diges- tion. The fresh air may clear your mind of these notions. Did you ever come across the songs of Btiranger ? He says that the poor, or rats, if you prefer it, have for their portion probity, wisdom, and happiness. A celebrated Scotch poet has even spoken of mice and men in the same line— “ The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men Gang aft a-gley.” That line recalls some incidents that have come under my personal notice, where the wisdom of the rat proved superior to the schemes of men. Trotter. Yes; it is all very well talking, nevertheless, the fact remains. We are a doomed race. Romantic ideas, however well expressed, will never feed the poor, or rats, when dying from hunger. Gnawer. Yres; who is in the habit of dying from hunger? Are you ? Did you die yesterday ? Are you dying to-day ? Trotter. [Aside in a mysterious tone.\ Who knows ? [Aloud.] If I do not die, others do. Have you forgotten Ratapon and his numerous family ? They suffered for several days from hunger : taking heart, they asked their neighbours for help ; but the first they came to, a big fat porker, whose sty was full of corn and vegetables Gnawer. Well, I know what happened to them as well as you do. Roused by their cries, Mr. Pig looked over the wall, and addressing them in a surly tone, said, “ What is all this noise ? What do you vagrants want ? ” “ Your charity, my lord.” “ Be off instantly. How dare you interrupt me in the middle of my dinner? ” Trotter. That was all that came of it; only, next morning the bodies of Ratapon and his family were found scattered over the country. Want and despair had killed them. Gnawer. Want and despair ! You are drawing on your imagination, my boy. It was simply poison—some balls of lard-and-arsenic which they greedily swallowed without waiting to send them to the parish analyst. Trotter. What more simple, more soothing than death ? Is it not
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3