PART I.
Like all other newborn animals, whether of the human, or any otherspecies, I can not pretend to remember what passed during my infantdays. The first circumstance I can recollect was my mother's addressingme and my three brothers, who all lay in the same nest, in the followingwords:-'I have, my children, with the greatest difficulty, and at theutmost hazard of my life, provided for you all to the present moment;but the period is arrived, when I can no longer pursue that method:snares and traps are everywhere set for me, nor shall I, withoutinfinite danger, be able to procure sustenance to support my ownexistence, much less can I find sufficient for you all; and, indeed,with pleasure I behold it as no longer necessary, since you are ofage now to provide and shift for yourselves; and I doubt not but youragility will enable you to procure a very comfortable livelihood. Onlylet me give you this one caution--never (whatever the temptation maybe) appear often in the same place; if you do, however you may flatteryourselves to the contrary, you will certainly at last be destroyed.'So saying, she stroked us all with her fore paw as a token of heraffection, and then hurried away, to conceal from us the emotions of hersorrow, at thus sending us into the wide world.
She was no sooner gone, than the thought of being our own directors socharmed our little hearts, that we presently forgot our grief at partingfrom our kind parent; and, impatient to use our liberty, we all setforward in search of some food, or rather some adventure, as our motherhad left us victuals more than sufficient to supply the wants of thatday. With a great deal of difficulty, we clambered up a high wall on theinside of a wainscot, till we reached the story above that we wereborn in, where we found it much easier to run round within theskirting-board, than to ascend any higher.
While we were there, our noses were delightfully regaled with the scentof the most delicate food that we had ever smelt; we were anxious toprocure a taste of it likewise, and after running round and round theroom a great many times, we at last discovered a little crack, throughwhich we made our entrance. My brother Longtail led the way; I followed;Softdown came next; but Brighteyes would not be prevailed upon toventure. The apartment which we entered was spacious and elegant; atleast, differed so greatly from anything we had seen, that we imaginedit the finest place upon earth. It was covered all over with a carpet ofvarious colours, that not only concealed some bird-seeds which we cameto devour, but also for some time prevented our being discovered; aswe were of much the same hue with many of the flowers on the carpet.At last a little girl, who was at work in the room, by the side of hermamma, shrieked out as if violently hurt. Her mamma begged to know thecause of her sudden alarm. Upon which she called out, 'A mouse! a mouse!I saw one under the chair!' 'And if you did, my dear,' replied hermother, 'is that any reason for your behaving so ridiculously? If therewere twenty mice, what harm could they possibly do? You may easily hurtand destroy then; but, poor little things! they cannot, if they would,hurt you.' 'What, could they not bite me?' inquired the child. 'Theymay, indeed, be able to do that; but you may be very sure that they haveno such inclination,' rejoined the mother. 'A mouse is one of the mosttimorous things in the world; every noise alarms it: and though itchiefly lives by plunder, it appears as if punished by its fears for themischiefs which it commits among our property. It is therefore highlyridiculous to pretend to be alarmed at the sight of a creature thatwould run from the sound of your voice, and wishes never to come nearyou, lest, as you are far more able, you should also be disposed tohurt it.' 'But I am sure, madam,' replied the little girl, whose name Iafterwards heard was Nancy, 'they do not always run away; for one day,as Miss Betsy Kite was looking among some things which she had in herbox, a mouse jumped out and ran up her frock sleeve--she felt it quiteup on her arm.' 'And what became of it then?' inquired the mother. 'Itjumped down again,' replied Nancy, 'and got into a little hole in thewindow-seat; and Betsy did not see it again.' 'Well, then, my dear,'resumed the lady, 'what harm did it do her? Is not that a convincingproof of what I say, that you have no cause to be afraid of them, andthat it is very silly to be so? It is certainly foolish to be afraid ofany thing, unless it threatens us with immediate danger; but to pretendto be so at a mouse, and such like inoffensive things, is a degree ofweakness that I can by no means suffer any of my children to indulge.''May I then, madam,' inquired the child, 'be afraid of cows and horses,and such great beasts as those?' 'Certainly not,' answered her mother,'unless they are likely to hurt you. If a cow or an horse runs afteryou, I would have you fear them so much as to get out of the way; but ifthey are quietly walking or grazing in a field, then to fly from them,as if you thought they would eat you instead of the grass, is mostabsurd, and discovers great want of sense. I once knew a young lady,who, I believe, thought it looked pretty to be terrified at everything,and scream if dog or even a mouse looked at her: but most severely wasshe punished for her folly, by several very disagreeable accidents sheby those means brought upon herself.
'One day when she was drinking tea in a large company, on the door beingopened, a small Italian greyhound walked into the drawing-room. Shehappened to be seated near the mistress of the dog, who was making tea:the dog, therefore, walked toward her, in order to be by his favourite;but, upon his advancing near her, she suddenly jumped up, withoutconsidering what she was about, overturned the water-urn, the hot ironof which rolling out, set fire to her clothes, which instantly blazedup, being only muslin, and burnt her arms, face, and neck, mostdreadfully: she was so much hurt as to be obliged to be put immediatelyto bed; nor did she recover enough to go abroad for many months. Now,though every one was sorry for her sufferings, who could possibly helpblaming her for her ridiculous behaviour, as it was entirely owing toher own folly that she was so hurt? When she was talked to upon thesubject, she pleaded for her excuse, that she was so frightened she didnot know what she did, nor whither she was going; but as she thoughtthat the dog was coming to her she could not help jumping up, to get outof his way. Now what ridiculous arguing was this! Why could not she helpit? And if the dog had really been going to her, what harm would it havedone? Could she suppose that the lady whose house she was at, would havesuffered a beast to walk about the house loose, and go into company,if he was apt to bite and hurt people? Or why should she think he wouldmore injure her, than those he had before passed by? But the real casewas, she did not think at all; if she had given herself time for that,she could not have acted so ridiculously. Another time, when she waswalking, from the same want of reflection, she very nearly drownedherself. She was passing over a bridge, the outside rails of which werein some places broken down: while she was there, some cows, which a manwas driving, met her: immediately, without minding whither she went,she shrieked out, and at the same time jumped on one side just where therail happened to be broken, and down she fell into the river; nor wasit without the greatest difficulty that she was taken out time enoughto save her life. However, she caught a violent cold and fever, and wasagain, by her own foolish fears, confined to her bed for some weeks.Another accident she once met with, which though not quite so bad as thetwo former, yet might have been attended with fatal consequences. Shewas sitting in a window, when a wasp happened to fly toward her; shehastily drew back her head, and broke the pane of glass behind her, someof which stuck in her neck. It bled prodigiously; but a surgeon happilybeing present, made some application to it, which prevented its beingfollowed by any other ill effects than only a few days weakness,occasioned by the loss of blood. Many other misfortunes of the like kindshe frequently experienced; but these which I have now related may serveto convince you how extremely absurd it is for people to give way toand indulge themselves in such groundless apprehensions, and, by beingafraid when there is no danger, subject themselves to real misfortunesand most fatal accidents. And if being afraid of cows, dogs, and wasps(all of which, if they please, can certainly hurt us) is so ridiculous,what must be the folly of those people who are terrified at a littlesilly mouse, which never was known to hurt anybody?'
Here the conversation was interrupted by
the entrance of some gentlemenand ladies; and we having enjoyed a very fine repast under one of thechairs during the time that the mother and daughter had held the abovediscourse, on the chairs being removed for some of the visitors to situpon, we thought it best to retire: highly pleased with our meal,and not less with the kind goodwill which the lady had, we thought,expressed towards us. We related to our brother Brighteyes all that hadpassed, and assured him he had no reason to apprehend any danger fromventuring himself with us. Accordingly he promised, if such was thecase, that the next time we went and found it safe, if we would returnback and call him, he would certainly accompany us. 'In the mean time,do pray, Nimble,' said he, addressing himself to me, 'come with me tosome other place, for I long to taste some more delicate food than ourmother has provided for us: besides, as perhaps it may be a long whilebefore we shall be strong enough to bring anything away with us, we hadbetter leave that, in case we should ever be prevented from going abroadto seek for fresh supplies.' 'Very true,' replied I; 'what you say isquite just and wise, therefore I will with all my heart attend you now,and see what we can find.' So saying, we began to climb; but not withoutdifficulty, for very frequently the bits of mortar which we stepped upongave way beneath our feet, and tumbled us down together with them lowerthan when we first set off. However, as we were very light, we were notmuch hurt by our falls; only indeed poor Brighteyes, by endeavouring tosave himself, caught by his nails on a rafter, and tore one of them fromoff his right fore-foot, which was very sore and inconvenient. Atlength we surmounted all difficulties, and, invited by a strong scentof plum-cake, entered a closet, where we found a fine large one, quitewhole and entire. We immediately set about making our way into it, whichwe easily effected, as it was most deliciously nice, and not at all hardto our teeth.
Brighteyes, who had not before partaken of the bird-seed, was overjoyedat the sight. He almost forgot the pain of his foot, and soon buriedhimself withinside the cake; whilst I, who had pretty well satisfiedmy hunger before, only ate a few of the crumbs, and then went to take asurvey of the adjoining apartment. I crept softly under the door of thecloset into a room, as large as that which I had before been in, thoughnot so elegantly furnished; for, instead of being covered with a carpet,there was only a small one round the bed; and near the fire was acradle, with a cleanly-looking woman sitting by it, rocking it with herfoot, whilst at the same time she was combing the head of a little boyabout four years old. In the middle of the room stood a table, coveredwith a great deal of litter; and in one corner was the little girl whomI had before seen with her mamma, crying and sobbing as if her heartwould break. As I made not the least noise at my entrance, no oneobserved me for some time; so creeping under one of the beds, I heardthe following discourse:--
'It does not signify, miss,' said the woman, who I found was thechildren's nurse, 'I never will put up with such behaviour: you knowthat I always do everything for you when you speak prettily; but to beordered to dress you in such a manner, is what I never will submit to:and you shall go undressed all day before I will dress you, unless youask me as you ought to do.' Nancy made no reply, but only continuedcrying. 'Aye! you may cry and sob as much as you please,' said thenurse; 'I do not care for that: I shall not dress you for crying androaring, but for being good and speaking with civility.' Just as shesaid these words, the door opened, and in came the lady whom I beforesaw, and whose name I afterwards found was Artless. As soon as sheentered, the nurse addressed her, saying, 'Pray, madam, is it byyour desire that Miss Nancy behaves so rudely, and bids me dress herdirectly, and change the buckles in her shoes, or else she will slap myface? Indeed she did give me a slap upon my hand; so I told her, that Iwould not dress her at all; for really, madam, I thought you wouldnot wish me to do it, whilst she behaved so; and I took the libertyof putting her to stand in the corner.' 'I do not think,' replied Mrs.Artless, 'that she deserves to stand in the room at all, or in the houseeither, if she behaves in that manner: if she does not speak civillywhen she wants to be assisted, let her go without help, and see whatwill become of her then. I am quite ashamed of you, Nancy! I could nothave thought you would behave so; but since you have, I promise that youshall not be dressed today, or have any assistance given you, unless youspeak in a very different manner.'
Whilst Mrs. Artless was talking, nurse went out of the room. Mrs.Artless then took her seat by the cradle, and looking into it, foundthe child awake, and I saw her take out a fine little girl, about fivemonths old: she then continued her discourse, saying, 'Look here, Nancy,look at this little baby, see how unable it is to help itself; werewe to neglect attending to it, what do you think would become of it?Suppose I were now to put your sister upon the floor, and there leaveher, tell me what do you think she could do, or what would becomeof her?' Nancy sobbed out, that she would die. 'And pray, my dear,'continued Mrs. Artless, 'if we were to leave you to yourself, what wouldbecome of you? It is true, you talk and run about better than Polly: butnot a bit better could you provide for, or take care of yourself. Couldyou buy or dress your own victuals? could you light your own fire? couldyou clean your own house, or open and shut the doors and windows? couldyou make your own clothes, or even put them on without some assistance,when made? And who do you think will do anything for you, if you arenot good, and do not speak civilly? Not I, I promise you, neither shallnurse, nor any of the servants; for though I pay them wages to help todo my business for me, I never want them to do anything unless they aredesired in a pretty manner. Should you like, if when I want you topick up my scissors, or do any little job, I were to say, "Pick up myscissors this moment, or I will slap your face?" Should not you thinkthat it sounded very cross and disagreeable?' 'Yes, madam,' repliedNancy. 'Then why,' rejoined Mrs. Artless, 'should you speak cross toanybody, particularly to servants and poor people? for to behave so tothem, is not only cross, but insolent and proud: it is as if you thoughtthat because they are rather poorer, they are not so good as yourself,whereas, I assure you, poverty makes no difference in the merit ofpeople; for those only are deserving of respect who are truly good; anda beggar who is virtuous, is far better than a prince who is wicked.' Iwas prevented from hearing any more of this very just discourse, by thelittle boy's opening the door and letting in a cat; which, though it wasthe first that I had ever seen in my life, I was certain was the samedestructive animal to our race, which I had frequently heard my motherdescribe. I therefore made all possible haste back to the closet, andwarning Brighteyes of our danger, we instantly returned by the same waywhich we came, to our two brothers, whom we found waiting for us, andwondering at our long absence. We related to them the dainty cheer whichwe had met with, and agreed to conduct them thither in the evening.Accordingly, as soon as it grew towards dusk, we climbed up the wall,and all four together attacked the plum-cake, which no one had touchedsince we left it; but scarcely had we all seated ourselves round it,than on a sudden the closet-door opened, and a woman entered. Away weall scampered as fast as possible, but poor Brighteyes, who could notmove quite so fast on account of his sore toe, and who likewise havingadvanced farther into the cake, was discovered before he could reachthe crack by which we entered. The woman, who had a knife in her hand,struck at him with it, at the same time exclaiming, 'Bless me, nurse,here is a mouse in the closet!' Happily, she missed her aim, and he onlyreceived a small wound on the tip of his tail. This interruption sadlyalarmed us, and it was above an hour before we could have courage toventure back, when finding everything quiet, except Mrs. Nurse's singingto her child, we again crept out, and once more surrounded the cake. Wecontinued without any further alarm till we were perfectly satisfied,and then retired to a little distance behind the wainscot, determinedthere to sleep, and to breakfast on the cake the next day.
Early in the morning I waked, and calling my brothers, we all marchedforward, and soon arrived at the delightful cake, where we highlyenjoyed ourselves without the least disturbance, till our appetites werefully satisfied. We then retired, took a little run round some otherparts of the house,
but met with nothing worth relating. At noon weagain made our way into the closet, intending to dine on the dish onwhich we breakfasted; but, to our no small mortification, the deliciousdainty was removed. This you may be sure was a sad disappointment; yetas we were not extremely hungry, we had time to look about for more. Wewere not long in finding it; for upon the same shelf from which the cakewas removed, there was a round tin box, the lid of which was not quiteclose shut down; into this we all crept, and were highly regaled withsome nice lumps of sugar. But it would be endless to enumerate all thevarious repasts which we met with in this closet, sometimes terrifiedby the entrance of people, and sometimes comfortably enjoying ourselveswithout alarm: it is sufficient to inform you, that, unmindful of ourmother's advice, we continued to live upon the contents of the samecupboard for above a week; when, one evening, as we were as usualhastening to find our suppers, Softdown, who happened to be first, raneagerly to a piece of cheese, which he saw hanging before him. 'Comealong,' said he, 'here is some nice cheese, it smells most delightfullygood!' Just as he spoke these words, before any of us came up to him, alittle wooden door on a sudden dropped down, and hid him and the cheesefrom our sight.
It is impossible to describe our consternation and surprise upon thisoccasion, 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 mostmoving accents beg us to assist him in procuring his liberty. We allran round and round his place of confinement several times; but not theleast crack or opening could we discover, except through the bars, whichbeing of iron, it was impossible for us to break or bend. At length wedetermined to try to gnaw through the wood-work close at the edge, whichbeing already some little distance from one of the bars, we hoped, bymaking the opening a little wider, he would escape: accordingly we allbegan, he on the inside, and we all on the out, and by our diligence hadmade some very considerable progress, when we were interrupted by theentrance of Mrs. Nurse with the child in her arms.
Upon the sight of her, though much grieved to leave our brother in hisdistress, yet fearing instant death would be the fate of all of us if westayed, 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 whichwas poor Softdown (and which I afterwards learned was called a trap) shecarried it into the room. I crept softly after her, to see what wouldbe 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 theother she held the child, singing to her with the utmost composure, andbidding her to look at the mousy! mousy!
What were the actions or sensations of poor Softdown at that dreadfulmoment I know not: but my own anguish, which it is impossible todescribe, was still augmented every moment by seeing her shake the trapalmost topsy-turvy, then blow through the trap at one end, at whichtimes I saw the dear creature's tail come out between the wires on thecontrary side, as he was striving, I suppose, to retreat from her. Atlength, after she had thus tortured him for some time, she set the trapon the table, so close to a large fire, that I am sure he must have beenmuch 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 themouse-trap, for I have caught a mouse.' Betty instantly obeyed hercall, and desired to know what she wanted. 'I want you to take down themouse-trap,' she replied, 'for I cannot leave the child. I am glad thatI have got it, I am sure, for the closet swarms so, there is no suchthing as bearing it. They devour everything: I declare they have eatenup a whole pound of sugar, which cost me elevenpence, sugar is now somonstrously dear! indeed the man made a favour to let me have it forthat; only, he said, as our family were good customers, and I was but aservant, he would take no more. And enough too I thought it was, to haveonly a penny back in change out of a whole shilling for one pound ofsugar: and then to think of the poison mice to have it all; but I willbreak their filthy necks. Do, Betty, pray take the trap down, and returnwith it as soon as you can, and I will set it again: for I dare say Ishall catch another before I go to bed, for I heard some more rustlingamong the things.' 'O lauk!' replied Betty, 'you do not think that Iwill 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 havealways been scared out of my wits at them; and if ever I see one runningloose, as I did one night in the closet below stairs, where the candlesare kept, I scream as if I was being killed.' 'Why then,' answeredNurse, 'I think you behave like a great fool, for what harm could amouse do to you?' 'O la! I hate them,' returned she, and then ran awaywithout the trap. Greatly was I rejoiced at her departure, as I hopedthat, by some means, Softdown might still be able to make his escape.But, alas! no such good fortune attended him. Some person again passingthe 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 amoment?' rejoined Mrs. Nurse: and instantly entered a man whom I hadnever before seen. 'What do you want, Nurse?' said he. 'I only want toget rid of a mouse,' returned she; 'and, do you know, Betty is sucha fool that she is afraid of taking it, and I want the trap to set itagain, for they swarm here like bees in a hive, one can have no peacefor them: they devour and spoil every thing; I say sometimes that Ibelieve they will eat me up at last.' While she was saying this, Johntook the trap in his hand, held it up once more to the candle, thentaking a piece of thread out of a paper, that lay bound round with adirty blue ribbon upon the table, he shook the trap about till he got mybrother's tail through the wires, when catching hold of it, he tied thethread 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 bodyupon his tail.
Softdown, who till the thread was tied had patiently continued perfectlyquiet, could no longer support the pain without dismal cries andanguish: he squeaked as loud as his little throat would let him,exerting at the same time the utmost of his strength to disengagehimself. But in such a position, with his head downward, in vain wereall his efforts to procure relief; and the barbarous monster who heldhim 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 couldbe endowed with size and strength sufficient, at once both to rescuehim, and severely punish his tormentors. But my wish was ineffectual,and I had the inexpressible affliction of seeing the inhuman wretchhold him down upon the hearth, whilst, without remorse, he crushed himbeneath 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 runscold within me at the recollection of seeing Softdown's as it spurtedfrom beneath the monster's foot; whilst the crunch of his bonesalmost petrified me with horror. At length, however, recollecting theimpossibility of restoring my beloved brother to life, and the dangerof my own situation, I, with trembling feet and palpitating heart, creptsoftly back to my remaining two brothers, who were impatiently expectingme behind the closet. There I related to them the horrid scene whichhad passed before my eyes, whilst the anguish it caused in their gentlebosoms far exceeds my power to describe.
After having mingled our lamentations for some time, I thus addressedthem: 'We have this night, my brothers, tasted the severest afflictionin the cruel death of our dear brother, companion, and friend; letus not, however, only mourn his loss, but also gather wisdom from ourmisfortune, and return to that duty which we have hitherto neglected.Recollect, my dear friends, what were the last words which our goodmother spoke to us at parting. She charged us, upon no account, for notemptation whatever, to return frequently to the same place: if we did,she forewarned us that death and ruin would certainly await us. But inwhat m
anner have we obeyed this her kind advice? We have not even somuch as once recollected it since she left us; or, if we thought of itfor a moment, we foolishly despised it as unnecessary. Now, therefore,we sincerely feel the consequence of our disobedience; and, thoughour sufferings are most distressing, yet we must confess that we amplydeserve them. Let us therefore, my brothers, instantly fly from a placewhich has already cost us the life of our beloved Softdown, lest weshould all likewise fall a sacrifice to our disobedience.'--And here thewriter cannot help observing how just were the reflections of the mouseon the crime which they had been guilty of; and begs every readerwill be careful to remember the fatal consequences that attended theirdisobedience of their mother's advice, since they may be assured thatequal if not the same misfortune will always attend those who refuseto pay attention to the advice of their parents. But, to return to thehistory.
To this proposal (continued the mouse) my brothers readily agreed; andwe directly descended to the place we were in when we discovered thecrack that led us to the room in which we feasted on bird-seed. Herewe determined to wait, and when the family were all quiet in bed, togo forth in search of provision, as we began to be rather hungry, nothaving eaten anything a long while. Accordingly we stayed till after theclock struck twelve, when peeping out, we saw that the room was empty:we then ventured forth, and found several seeds, though not enough toafford 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 topick up the crumbs which had fallen from the table. Whilst we were thusemployed, at a distance from our place of retreat, we were alarmed bythe entrance of two boys, who appeared to be about twelve or thirteenyears of age. We directly ran towards the crack; but alas! we were notquick enough to escape their observation; for, seeing us, they both atonce exclaimed, 'Some mice! some mice!' and at the same time took offtheir hats, and threw at us. Longtail happily eluded the blow, andsafely got home, but poor Brighteyes and myself were less fortunate;and though we for a considerable time, by our quickness, prevented theircatching us, at length, being much disabled by a blow that one of themgave me with a book which he threw at me, I was unable any longer torun, and hobbling very slowly across the room, he picked me up. At thesame moment Brighteyes was so entangled in a handkerchief which theother boy tossed over him, that he likewise was taken prisoner. Ourlittle hearts now beat quick with fear of those tortures we expected toreceive; nor were our apprehensions lessened by hearing the boys consultwhat they should do with us, 'I,' said one, 'will throw mine into thepond, 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 hiscompanion. 'Oh,' replied he, 'I will keep it under a little pan tillI can get a house made for it.' He then, holding me by the skin at theback of my neck, ran with me into the kitchen to fetch a pan. Here I wasnot only threatened with death by three or four of the servants, who allblamed Master Peter for keeping me; but likewise two or three cats cameround him, rubbing themselves backward and forward against his legs, andthen standing upon their hind feet to endeavour to make themselves highenough to reach me. At last, taking a pan in his hand, he returned tohis brother with one of the cats following him. Immediately upon ourentrance, the boy exclaimed, 'Oh, now I know what I will do: I will tiea piece of string to its tail, and teach the cat to jump for it.' Nosooner did this thought present itself than it was put into practice,and I again was obliged to sustain the shocking sight of a brother putto the torture. I, in the mean time, was placed upon the table, with apan put over me, in which there was a crack, so that I could see as wellas hear all that passed: and from this place it was that I beheld mybeloved Brighteyes suspended at one end of a string by his tail; onewhile swinging backward and forward, at another pulled up and down, thensuffered to feel his feet on the ground, and again suddenly snatched upas the cat advanced, then twisted round and round as fast as possibleat the full length of the string: in short, it is impossible to describeall his sufferings of body, or my anguish of mind. At length a mostdreadful conclusion was put to them, by the entrance of a gentlemanbooted 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 gotthere?' 'Only a mouse, sir,' replied the boy. 'He is teaching the cat tojump, sir,' said Peter, 'that is all.'
Brighteyes then gave a fresh squeak from the violence of his pain. Thegentleman then turning hastily round, exclaimed eagerly, 'What, is italive?' 'Yes, sir,' said the boy. 'And how can you, you wicked, naughty,cruel boy,' replied the gentleman, 'take delight in thus torturing alittle 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-whipacross that hand by which he held my brother. 'Let it go directly,' andagain repeated the blow: the boy let go the string, and Brighteyes fellto 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 hismiseries and life together, as I never from that moment have heard anyaccount 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 hada much better opinion of you, than to suppose you were capable of somuch cruelty. What right, I desire to know, have you to torment anyliving creature? If it is only be cause you are larger, and so have itin your power, I beg you will consider, how you would like, that eithermyself, or some great giant, as much larger than you as you are biggerthan the mouse, should hurt and torment you? And I promise you, thesmallest 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: aless touch will kill a fly than a man, consequently a less wound willcause it pain; and the mouse which you have now been swinging by thetail over the cat's mouth, has not, you may assure yourself, sufferedless torment or fright than you would have done, had you been suspendedby 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 youcould take delight in thus torturing and distressing a poor inoffensiveanimal. Fie upon it, Charles! fie upon it! I thought you had been abetter boy, and not such a cruel, naughty, wicked fellow.' 'Wicked!'repeated the boy, 'I do not think that I have been at all wicked.' 'ButI think you have been extremely so,' replied his father; 'every actionthat is cruel, and gives pain to any living creature, is wicked, andis a sure sign of a bad heart. I never knew a man, who was cruel toanimals, kind and compassionate towards his fellow-creatures: he mightnot perhaps treat them in the same shocking manner, because the laws ofthe land would severely punish him if he did; but if he is restrainedfrom bad actions by no higher motive than fear of present punishment,his goodness cannot be very great. A good man, Charles, always takesdelight in conferring happiness on all around him; nor would he offerthe smallest injury to the meanest insect that was capable of feeling.'I am sure,' said the boy, 'I have often seen you kill wasps, andspiders too; and it was but last week that you bought a mouse-trapyourself to catch mice in, although you are so angry now with me.' 'Andpray,' resumed his father, 'did you ever see me torment as well as killthem? Or did I ever keep them in pain one moment longer than necessary?I am not condemning people for killing vermin and animals, providedthey do it expeditiously, and put them to death with as little pain aspossible; but it is putting them to needless torment and misery thatI say is wicked. Had you destroyed the mouse with one blow, or rathergiven it to somebody else to destroy it (for I should not think atender-hearted boy would delight in such operations himself), I wouldnot have condemned you; but, to keep it hanging the whole weight ofits body upon its tail, to swing it about, and, by that, to hold itterrifying over the cat's jaws, and to take pleasure in hearing itsqueak, and seeing it struggle for liberty, is such unmanly, suchdetestable cruelty, as calls for my utmost indignation and abhorrence.But, since you think pain
so very trifling an evil, try. Charles, howyou like that,' said he, giving him at the same time some severe strokeswith his horsewhip. The boy then cried, and called out, 'I do not likeit at all, I do not like it at all.' 'Neither did the mouse,' repliedhis father, 'like at all to be tied to a string, and swung about byhis tail: he did not like it, and told you so in a language which youperfectly well understood; but you would not attend to his cries; youthought it pleasure to hear it squeak, because you were bigger, and didnot feel its torture. I am now bigger than you and do not feel yourpain. I therefore shall not yet leave off; as I hope it will teach younot to torment anything another time.' Just as he said these words, theboy, endeavouring to avoid the whip, ran against the table on which Iwas placed, and happily threw down the pan that confined me. I instantlyseized the opportunity, jumped down, and once more escaped to the littlehole by which I first entered. There I found my only brother waitingfor me, and was again under the dreadful necessity of paining his tenderheart with the recital of the sufferings which I had been witness to inour dear Brighteyes, as well as the imminent danger I myself had beenexposed to. 'And, surely,' said I, 'we have again drawn this evil uponourselves 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 otherbut this, which has occasioned us such heavy affliction. Therefore, uponno account, let us continue another night under this roof; but, assoon as the evening begins to grow dark enough to conceal us from theobservation of any one, we will set off, and seek a lodging in someother place; and should any misfortune befall us on our passage, weshall at least have the consolation of thinking that we were doingour duty by following the advice of our parent.' 'It is true,' said mybrother, 'we have been greatly to blame; for the future we will bemore careful of our conduct; but do, my dear Nimble,' continued he,'endeavour to compose yourself, and take a little rest, after the painand fatigue which you have gone through, otherwise you may be sick; andwhat will become of me, if any mischief should befall you? I shall thenhave 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 twomurdered brothers, and with his tender solicitude for my welfare. Iendeavoured all in my power to comfort him, and said I hoped that Ishould soon recover from the bruises I had received both from the boy'shat and book, as well as the pinches in my neck with his finger andthumb, by which he held me, and promised to compose myself. This promiseI fulfilled by endeavouring to sleep; but the scene that I had so latelybeen witness to was too fresh in my imagination to suffer me to close myeyes: however, I kept for some time quiet.
The rest of the day we spent in almost total silence, having no spiritsfor conversation, our hearts being almost broken with anguish. Whenit grew toward evening, we agreed to find our way out of that detestedhouse, and seek for some other habitation, which might be morepropitious. But we found more difficulty in this undertaking than wewere at all aware of; for though we could with tolerable ease go fromroom to room within the house, still, when we attempted to quit it, wefound it every way surrounded with so thick a brick wall, that it wasimpossible for us to make our way through it: we therefore ran round andround it several times, searching for some little crevice through whichwe might escape; but all to no purpose, not the least crack could wediscover: and we might have continued there till this time, had we notat length, after the family were in bed, resolved to venture through oneof the apartments into the hall, and so creep out under the house door.But the dangers we exposed ourselves to in this expedition were manyand great; we knew that traps were set for us about the house, and wherethey might chance to be placed we could not tell. I had likewise beeneye-witness to no less than four cats, who might, for ought we knew tothe contrary, at that hour of darkness, be prowling in search of some ofour unhappy species.
But, in spite of every difficulty and hazard, we determined to venturerather than continue in opposition to our mother's commands; and, toreward our obedience, we escaped with trembling hearts, unobserved,at least unmolested, by any one. And now, for the first time since ourbirth, we found ourselves exposed to the inclemency of the weather. Thenight was very dark and tempestuous; the rain poured down in torrents;and the wind blew so exceedingly high, that, low upon the ground aswe were, it was with difficulty that we could keep our legs: added towhich, even step we took, we were in water up to our stomachs. In thiswretched condition we knew not which way to turn ourselves, or where toseek for shelter. The spattering of the rain, the howling of the wind,together with the rattling and shaking of the trees, all contributed tomake such a noise as rendered it impossible for us to hear whether anydanger was approaching us or not.
In this truly melancholy situation we waded on for a considerabletime, till at length we reached a small house, and very easily gainedadmittance through a pretty large hole on one side of the door. Mostheartily did we rejoice at finding ourselves once more under shelterfrom the cold and rain, and for some time only busied ourselves indrying our hair, which was as thoroughly wet as if we had been served asthe boy threatened my brother Brighteyes, and we had really beendrawn through a pond. After we had done this, and had a little restedourselves, we began to look about in search of food, but we could findnothing 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, yetserved to satisfy our present hunger; and we had just finished thecandle when we were greatly alarmed by the sight of a human hand (for wemice can see a little in the dark) feeling about the very chair on whichwe stood. We jumped down in an instant, and hid ourselves in a littlehole 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 thecandle by the bedside?' 'Yes, that I am very sure I did,' replied afemale voice. 'I thought so,' answered the man; 'but I am sure it is nothere now. Tom! Tom! Tom!' continued he. 'What, father?' replied a boy,starting up, 'what is the matter?' 'Why, do you know anything of thecandle? I cannot find it, my dear, and I want it sadly, for I fancy itis time we should be up and be jogging. Dost know any thing of it, mylad?' 'Not I, truly, father,' said the boy, 'I only know that I sawmother 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 theback of it; I know I saw her put it there, so it must be there now, Ifancy.' 'Well, I cannot find it,' replied the father; so we must e'enget up in the dark, for I am sure it must be time.' The father and sonthen both dressed themselves, and the man, taking a shilling out of hispocket, 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 thecandle, for where that is I cannot tell any more than the carp at thebottom of the squire's fish-pond.' He then unlocked the door, and wentaway, accompanied by his son.
After their departure, we again came out, and took another walk roundthe room, and found our way into a little cupboard, which we had notbefore observed. Here we discovered half a loaf of bread, a piece ofcold pudding, a lump of salt butter, some soft sugar in a basin, and afine large slice of bacon. On these dainties we feasted very amply, andagreed that we should again hide ourselves behind the black trunk allday, and at night, when the family were in bed, return to take anothermeal on the plenty of nice provision which we so happily discovered.Accordingly, we crept back just as the woman went to fill her teakettleat a pump, which stood between her house and the next neighbour's. Whenshe returned, she put it upon the fire she had just lit, and, taking apair of bellows in her hand, sat down to blow it.
While she was so employed, a young gentleman, about ten years of age,very genteelly dressed, entered the room, and in a familiar manner askedher how she did. 'I am very well, thank you, my dear,' replied she:'and pray, Master George, how does your mamma and papa do; and all yourbrothers and sisters?' 'They are all very well, thank you,' returnedthe boy: '
And I am come to bring you a slice of cake, which my grandpapagave me yesterday.' Then throwing his arms round her neck, he went onsaying, 'Oh! my dear, dear Betty Flood, how I do love you! I would doanything in the world to serve you. I shall save all my Christmas-boxesto give to you; and when I am a man, I will give you a great deal ofmoney. I wish you were a lady, and not so poor.' 'I am much obliged toyou, my dear,' said she, 'for your kind good-wishes; but, indeed, love,I am very well contented with my station: I have a good husband, andthree good children, and that is more than many a lady can say; andriches, Master George, unless people are good, and those one lives withare kind and obliging, will never make anybody happy. What comfort, now,do you think a body could ever have at Squire Stately's? I declare, ifit was put to my choice, I would rather a thousand times be as I am.To be sure, they are very rich; but what of that? they cannot eat gold;neither can gold ease their hearts when they are bursting almost withpride and ill-nature. They say, indeed, that Madam Stately would be kindenough, if they would let her rest; but what with the Squire's drinkingand swearing, and the young gentleman's extravagance, and her daughter'spride and quarrelling, she is almost tired out of her life. And so,Master George, I say I had rather be poor Betty Flood, with honestAbraham for my husband, than the finest lady in the land, if I mustlive at such a rate. To be sure, nobody can deny but that money is verydesirable, and people that are rich can do many agreeable things whichwe poor ones cannot; but yet, for all that, money does not make peoplehappy. Happiness, Master George, depends greatly upon people's owntempers and dispositions: a person who is fretful and cross will neverbe happy, though he should be made king of all England; and a person whois contented and good-humoured will never be wretched, though he shouldbe as poor as a beggar. So never fret yourself, love, because BettyFlood is poor; for though I am poor, I am honest; and whilst my husbandand I are happy enough to be blessed with health, and the use of ourlimbs, we can work for our living; and though we have no great plenty,still we have sufficient to support us. So pray, dear, eat your cakeyourself, for I would not take it from you for ever so much.' They thendisputed for some time who should have it: at last, George scuffled awayfrom her, and put it into the closet, and then, nodding his head at her,ran away, saying, he must go to school that moment.
Betty Flood then ate her breakfast; and we heard her say something aboutthe nasty mice, but what we could not make out, as she muttered softlyto herself. She then came to the trunk behind which we lay, and takingout of it a roll of new linen, sat down to needlework. At twelve o'clockher husband and son returned; so moving her table out of the way, shemade room for them at the fire, and, fetching the frying pan, dressedsome rashers of the nice bacon we had before tasted in the cupboard. Theboy, in the mean time, spread a cloth on the table, and placed the breadand cold pudding on it likewise: then, returning to the closet for theirplates, he cried out, 'Lauk! father, here is a nice hunch of plum-cake;can you tell how it came?' 'Not I, indeed, Tom,' replied his father; 'Ican tell no more than the carp at the bottom of the squire's fish-pond.''Oh, I will tell you.' said Mrs. Flood; 'I know how it came. Do youknow, that dear child, Master George Kendall, brought it for me; hecalled as he went to school this morning. I told him I would not haveit; but the dear little soul popped it into the cupboard, and ran awaywithout it. Bless his little heart! I do think he is the sweetest childthat ever was born. You may laugh at me for saying so; but I am sure Ishould have thought the same if I had not nursed him myself.' 'Indeed,'replied her husband, 'I do not laugh at you for saying so, for I thinkso too, and so must everyone who knows him; for when young gentlemenbehave as he does, everybody must love and admire them. There is nothingI would not do to help and serve that child, or any of his family; theyalways are so kind, and speak as civilly to us poor folk as if we werethe first lords or ladies in the land. I am sure, if it were needful, Iwould go through fire and water for their sakes; and so would every manin the parish, I dare say. But I wonder who would do as much to helpSquire Stately or any of his family, if it was not that I should thinkit my duty (and an honest man ought always to do that, whether he likesit or not); but I say, if it was not that it would be my duty to help myfellow-creature, I would scarcely be at the trouble of stepping over thethreshold to serve them, they are such a set of cross, good-for-nothinggentry. I declare, it was but as we came home to dinner now, that we sawMaster Sam throwing sticks and stones at Dame Frugal's ducks, for thesake of seeing them waddle; and then, when they got to the pond, he senthis dog in after them to bark and frighten them out of their wits. Andas I came by, nothing would serve him but throwing a great dab of mudall over the sleeve of my coat. So I said, "Why, Master Sam, you neednot have done that; I did nothing to offend you; and however amusing youmay think it to insult poor people, I assure you it is very wicked, andwhat no good person in the world would be guilty of." He then set upa great rude laugh, and I walked on and said no more. But if allgentlefolk were to behave like that family, I had rather be poor as Iam, than have all their riches, if that would make me act like them.''Very true, Abraham,' replied his wife, 'that is what I say, and what Itold Master George this morning; for to be poor, if people do not becomeso through their own extravagance, is no disgrace to any body: but to behaughty, cruel, cross, and mischievous, is a disgrace to all who are so,let their rank be as exalted as it may.'
Here the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a man, whobegged Mr. Flood to assist him in unloading his cart of flour, as hisman was gone out, and he could not do it by himself. 'Well, I will comeand help you, with all my heart,' said Flood; 'and so shall Tom too:will you, my lad? I cannot live without help myself; and if I do notassist others, I am sure I shall not deserve any when I want it.' Sosaying, he left his house; and his wife, after cleaning and putting intheir proper places those things which had been used at dinner, againsat down to her sewing.
Soon after the clock had struck six, the man and his son returned; and,sitting round the fire, they passed the evening in social conversation,till they went to bed, which was a little after eight; and theyconvinced me, by their talk and behaviour, that happiness in this worlddepends far more upon the temper and disposition of the heart, than uponany external possessions; and that virtue, and a desire to be usefulto others, afford far greater satisfaction and peace of mind thanany riches and grandeur can possibly supply without such necessaryqualifications. After they were all fallen asleep, we crept out; and,leaving the candle unmolested, which was again placed on the tinder-boxby the bed-side, we hastened into the closet, where we regaled heartily,and devoured that part of the plum-cake which Tom had very generouslyleft for his sister Polly, who we found was expected home the next day.
We then retired to our safe retreat, and thought we might venture tostay for one more night's provisions without running any danger from ourtoo frequent return to the same place. But in the morning we found ourscheme frustrated; for, on the woman's going to the closet to gether breakfast, she observed the robbery which we had committed, andexclaimed, 'Some teasing mice have found their way into the closet: Iwill borrow neighbour Savewell's trap to-night, and catch some of thelittle toads; that I will!' After hearing this, it would have beenmadness to make any further attempts: we therefore agreed to watch foran opportunity, and escape on the very first that offered. Accordingly,about noon, when Mrs. Flood was busily employed in making some pancakes,we slipped by her unobserved, and crept out at the same hole by which wefirst entered. But no sooner were we in the open road, than we repentedour haste, and wished that we had continued where we were tillthe darkness of the night might better have concealed us from theobservation of anyone. We crept as close to the wall of the house (asfar as it reached, which was but a few paces) as we possibly could, andthen stepped into a little ditch, which we were soon obliged to leaveagain, as the water ran in some parts of it almost up to the edge.
At length we reached a little cottage, which we were just entering, whena cat that was sleeping unnoticed by us upon a chair, jumped down, andwould certainly
have destroyed me (who happened to go first) had she notat the same moment tried to catch my brother, and by that means missedher aim, and so given us both an opportunity to escape, which we did byscrambling behind a brick that a child had been playing with by the sideof the door. Fortunately, the brick lay too close to the house for thecat to get her paw behind it, so as to be able to reach us; though toavoid it we were obliged to use the greatest precaution, as she couldthrust it in a little way, so that if we had gone one inch too neareither end, she would certainly have dragged us out by her talons. Inthis dreadful situation did we spend some hours, incessantly movingfrom one end of the brick to the other; for the moment she had, by theentrance of her paw at one end, driven us to the other, she steppedover, and again made us retreat. Think with what dreadful terror ourlittle hearts must have been oppressed, to see our mortal enemy soclosely watching us, expecting every moment when she shook the brickwith her two forepaws in searching, and with her mouth endeavoured tolift it up, that she would be so far able to effect her purpose, as tomake it impossible for us to escape her jaws. But, happily for us, ithad somehow or other got so wedged that she could not move it to anydistance; though it kept momentarily increasing our terrors, by shakingas she strove to turn it.
From this state of horror, however, we were at length delivered by alittle boy of about two years old, who came out of the house, and takingthe cat up round its body with both hands, tottered away with it, andshut the door.
Finding ourselves thus unexpectedly once more at liberty, we determinedto make use of it, by seeking some safer retreat, at least, till nightshould better hide us from public view. Terrified almost out of oursenses, we crept from behind the brick, and, after running a few yards,slipped under the folding doors of a barn, and soon concealed ourselvesamidst a vast quantity of threshed corn. This appeared to us the mostdesirable retreat that we had yet found; not only as it afforded suchimmense plenty of food, but also as we could so easily hide ourselvesfrom the observation of any one: beside, as it did not appear to be adwelling-house, we could in security reside, free from any danger oftraps, or the cruelty of man. We therefore congratulated each other, notmore on account of the wonderful escape which we had, than upon our goodfortune in coming to a Spot so blessed with peace and plenty.
After we were a little recovered from the fatigue of mind, as well asof body, which we had lately gone through, we regaled very heartily uponthe corn that surrounded us, and then fell into a charming sleep, fromwhich we were awakened the next morning by the sound of human voices.We very distinctly heard that of a boy, saying, 'Let us mix all thethreshed corn with the rest that is not threshed, and that will makea fine fuss, and set John and Simon a swearing like troopers when theycome and find all their labour lost, and that they must do all theirwork over again.' 'And do you think there is anything so agreeable ingiving people trouble, and hearing them swear,' replied another voice,'that you can wish to do it? For my part. I think it is so wicked athing, that I hate to hear anybody guilty of it, much less would I bethe cause of making them commit so great a sin; and as for giving themall their trouble over again, so far would it be from affording me anypleasure, that on the contrary it would give me great pain; for howeveryou may think of it, Will, I assure you, it always gives me muchuneasiness to see people labouring and working hard. I always think howmuch I should dislike to be obliged to do so myself, and thereforevery sincerely pity those who must. On no account therefore will I doanything to add to their labour, or that shall give them unnecessarywork.'
'Pooh!' answered Will, 'you are wonderfully wise; I, for my part, hatesuch super-abundant wisdom; I like to see folk fret, and stew, andscold, as our maids did last week when I cut the line, and let all thesheets, and gowns, and petticoats, and frocks, and shirts, and aprons,and caps, and what not, fall plump into the dirt. O! how I did laugh!and how they did mutter and scold! And do you know, that just as thewash ladies were wiping their coddled hands, and comforted themselveswith the thought of their work being all over, and were going to siptheir tea by the fireside, I put them all to the scout; and they wereobliged to wash every rag over again. I shall never forget how crossthey looked, nay, I verily believe Susan cried about it; and how I didlaugh!'
'And pray,' rejoined the other boy, 'should you have laughed equallyhearty if, after you had been at school all day, and had with muchdifficulty just got through all your writing, and different exercises,and were going to play, should you laugh, I say, if somebody was torun away with them all, and your master oblige you to do them all overagain? Tell me, Will, should you laugh, or cry and look cross? And eventhat would not be half so bad for you, as it was for the maids to beobliged to wash their clothes over again; washing is very hard labour,and tires people sadly, and so does threshing too. It is very unkind,therefore, to give them such unnecessary trouble; and everything thatis unkind, is wicked; and I would not do it upon any account, I assureyou.' 'Then I assure you,' replied Will, 'you may let it alone; I cando it without your assistance.' He then began mixing the grain and thechaff together, the other boy strongly remonstrating against it, towhich he paid no attention; and whilst he was so employed, two men,Simon and John, entered the barn.
'Why, how now, Master Billy,' said Simon; 'what are you about? Whatbusiness have you to be here? You are always doing some mischief orother! I wish, with all my heart, that you were kept chained like a dog,and never suffered to be at liberty, for you do more harm in an hour,than a body can set right again in a month!' Will then took up hats fullof the corn and chaff, and threw it in the two men's faces; afterwardstaking up a flail, he gave Simon a blow across his back, saying, at thesame time, 'I will show you the way to thresh, and separate the fleshfrom the bones.' 'O! will you so, young squire?' said John; 'I willshow you the way to make naughty boys good.' He then left the barn, butpresently returned accompanied by a gentleman, upon the sight of whomWill let fall the flail, which he was till then brandishing over Simon'shead, and was going away, when the gentleman taking hold of his hand,said, 'You do not stir from this place, Master William, nor have onemouthful of breakfast, till you have asked the men pardon for yourbehaviour, and likewise sifted every grain of corn from the chaff whichyou have mixed with it. When you have done that, you may have somefood, but not before; and afterward you may spend the rest of the day inthreshing, then you will be a better judge, my boy, of the fatigue andlabour of it, and find how you should like, after working hard all day,to have it rendered useless by a mischievous boy. Remember, William,what I have now said to you, for I do insist upon being minded; and Ipromise you, that if you offer to play, or do anything else today, youshall be punished very severely.' The gentleman then went away. Willmuttered something, I could not exactly hear what, began to sift thecorn, and so much had he mixed together, that he did not go in for hisbreakfast till after I had heard the church clock strike one, thoughit was before eight when he came into the barn. In about an hour hereturned, and the other boy with him, who addressed him, saying, 'Ah!Will, you had better have taken my advice, and not have done so: Ithought what you would get by your nice fun as you called it. I neverknew any good come of mischief; it generally brings those who do it intodisgrace; or if they should happen to escape unpunished, still itis always attended with some inconvenience: it is an ill-natureddisposition which can take pleasure in giving trouble to any one.' 'Dohold your tongue, James,' replied Will; 'I declare I have not patienceto hear you preach, you are so prodigiously wise, and prudent, andsober; you had better go indoors and sew with your mamma, for you talkjust as if you were a girl, and not in the least like a boy of spirit.''Like a girl!' resumed James. 'Are girls then the only folk who have anysense, or good nature? Or what proof does it shew of spirit to be fondof mischief, and giving people trouble? It is like a monkey of spiritindeed; but I cannot say, that I see either spirit or sense in makingthe clean clothes fall into the dirt, or mixing the corn and chaff, forthe sake of making the poor servants do them all over again: if thesethings are a sign of any spirit. I am sure it i
s of an evil one, and notat all such as I wish to possess, though I no more want to sit still,or work with a needle, than you do; but I hope there are other ways ofshowing my spirit, as you call it, than by doing mischief, and beingill-natured. I do not think my papa ever seems to be effeminate, or wantsufficient spirit; but he would scorn to give unnecessary trouble toanybody: and so will Tom Vaulter, though no boy in the world loves playbetter than he does; he plays at cricket the best of any boy in theschool, and I am sure none can beat him at tennis; and as for skipping,I never saw a boy skip so well in all my life; and I am sure he wouldbeat you, with all your spirit, out and out twenty times, either atrunning, or sliding, or swimming, or climbing a tree. And yet henever gives trouble to anybody for the sake of fun; he is one of thebest-tempered boys in the world; and whether it is like a girl or not,he always does what he knows to be right and kind; and if that is beinglike girls, why, with all my heart; I like girls well enough, and ifthey behave well I do not see why you should speak so contemptuously ofthem. My papa always says that he loves girls just as well as boys, andnone but foolish and naughty boys despise and tease them.' Just as hesaid these words, Simon and John entered the barn, and seeing Will standidle, 'Come, come, young gentleman,' said John, 'take up your flail andgo to work, sir, to work! to work! night will be here presently, andyou have done nothing yet.' Presently after the gentleman returned, andenforced John's advice for him to mind his work.
After Master Will had continued his employment some little time, hebegan to cry, saying, his arms ached ready to drop off, and his hand wasso sore he could not bear it. 'Then doubtless,' replied his father, 'youwould prodigiously like, after you have been labouring all day, to haveyour work to do over again, for the sake of diverting a foolish boy. Butgo on, William, I am determined that you shall, for one day, know whatit is to work hard, and thereby be taught to pity, and help, not add tothe fatigue of those who do.' The boy then went on with his business,though not without making great complaints, and shedding many tears. Atlength, however, evening came; and the gentleman, his son, and the twomen, all went away, leaving Longtail and myself to enjoy our abundance.We passed another night in the sweetest undisturbed repose, and in theday had nothing to alarm our fears. In short, our situation was everyway so perfectly happy and desirable, that we thought, although ourmother had charged us not to return frequently to the same place, yetshe could not mean that we should not take up our abode in a spot sosecure and comfortable. We therefore determined to continue where wewere, till we should find some cause for removing. And happy had it beenfor us if we had kept to this resolution, and remained contented when wehad everything requisite to make us so. Instead of which, after we hadthus, free from care, passed our time about seven months, like fools aswe were, we began to grow weary of our retirement, and of eating nothingbut the same food; and agreed that we would again venture forth and seekfor some other lodging, at the same time resolving, in case we couldfind no habitation that suited us, to return to the barn where we hadenjoyed so many days of plenty and repose.
Accordingly, one fine moonlight Monday night, after securing our supperon the corn, we set forth, and travelled for some distance without anyfurther molestation than our own natural fears created. At length wecame to a brick house, with about five or six windows in front, and madeour way into it through a small latticed window which gave air intothe pantry; but on our arrival here we had no opportunity of so much asobserving what it contained, for on our slipping down a cat instantlyflew at us, and by the greatest good luck in the world, there chanced tobe a hole in one of the boards of the floor close to the spot where westood, into which we both were happy enough to pop, before she couldcatch us. Here we had time to reflect, and severely blame ourselvesfor not being satisfied with our state in the barn. 'When,' said I,addressing myself to my brother, 'when shall we grow wise, and learnto know that certain evil always attends every deviation from what isright. When we disobeyed the advice of our mother, and, tempted by cakesand other dainties, frequently returned to the same dangerous place, howseverely did we suffer for it? And now, by our own discontent, and notbeing satisfied when so safely though more humbly lodged, into whattrouble have we not plunged ourselves? How securely have we lived inthe barn for the last seven months, and how happily might we still havecontinued there, had it not been for our restless dispositions? Ah! mybrother, we have acted foolishly. We ought to have been contentedwhen we were at peace, and should have considered that if we had noteverything we could wish for, we had every thing that was necessary;and the life of a mouse was never designed for perfect happiness. Suchenjoyment was never intended for our lot; it is the portion only ofbeings whose capacities are far superior to ours. We ought then to havebeen contented; and had we been so, we should have been as happy as ourstate of life would have admitted of.' 'What you say is certainly verytrue,' replied Longtail, 'and I sincerely wish that we had thought ofthese things before. But what must we now do? we said we would return tothe barn in case of difficulties, but that is now impossible, as, ifwe attempt to retreat, the cat that drove us in here, will certainlydestroy us; and yet in proceeding, what difficulties must we encounter,what dangers may we not run! Oh! my beloved Nimble,' continued he, 'whata life of hazard is ours! to what innumerable accidents are we hourlyexposed! and how is every meal that we eat at the risk of our veryexistence!'
'It undoubtedly is,' replied I; 'but with all its troubles we still arevery desirous of preserving it: let us not then, my brother, indulgeour hearts with murmuring and finding fault with that life, which,notwithstanding all its evils, we value so highly. Rather let usendeavour to learn experience, and, by conducting ourselves better,escape many of those troubles which we now suffer.' So saving, I advisedhim to follow me: 'for,' added I, 'it is impossible for us to exist inthe spot in which we are at present; we must therefore strive to workour way into some other house or apartment, where we can at least findsome food.' To this Longtail agreed; the rest of the night, and all thenext day, we spent in nibbling and finding our way into a closet inthe house, which richly repaid us for all our toil, as it containedsugar-plums, rice, millet, various kinds of sweetmeats, and what weliked better than all the rest, a paper of nice macaroons. On these wefeasted most deliciously till our hunger was fully satisfied, and thencreeping into a little hole, just big enough to contain us both, behindone of the jars of sweetmeats, reposed ourselves with a nap, after ourvarious and great fatigues which we had gone through. I never wasa remarkably sound sleeper, the least noise disturbs me, and I wasawakened in the morning by the servant-maid's coming into the room tosweep it, and get it ready for the reception of her mistress and family,who soon after entered. As I wanted to know from whom the voices I heardproceeded, I stepped softly from behind the jar and just peeped underthe door into the room, where I discovered a gentleman, two ladies, anda little boy and girl.
As I was totally unacquainted with all places of retreat, and did notknow how soon any of them might have occasion to open the closet door, Iinstantly returned to my brother; and, awaking him, told him it was timefor us to be upon our guard, as the family were all up and about.
Whilst we were thus situated, the first words I heard distinctly werethose of the gentleman, saying, 'No, Frank, I can never have a goodopinion of him; the boy who could once deceive may, for aught I know,do so again; he has, by breaking his word, forfeited the only dependenceone could possibly have in him. A person who has once lost his honourhas no means left of gaining credit to his assertions. By honour, Frank,I would be understood to speak of veracity, of virtue, of scorningto commit a mean action, and not that brutish sense in which someunderstand it, as if it consisted in a readiness to fight and resent aninjury; for so far am I from considering such behaviour as any proof ofhonour, that, on the contrary, I look upon it as a sure sign of want ofproper spirit and true honour. Fools, bullies, and even cowards, willfight; whereas none but men of sense and resolution and true magnanimityknow how to pardon and despise an insult.' 'But, indeed, sir,' repliedthe
boy, 'at school, if one did not fight, they would laugh at one so,there would be no such thing as bearing it.' 'And for that very reasonit is, my dear, that I say, to pass by and pardon an insult requiresmore resolution and courage than mere fighting does. When I wish youto avoid quarrelling and fighting, I by no means want you to become acoward, for I as much abhor a dastardly spirit as any boy in your schoolcan possibly do; but I would wish you to convince them that you meritednot that appellation, by showing through the whole of your behaviour,a resolution that despised accidental pain, and avoided revenging anaffront for no other reason than because you were convinced it shewed amuch nobler spirit to pardon than to resent. And you may be assured, mydear, few are the days that pass without affording us some opportunityof exerting our patience, and showing that, although we disdainquarrelling, still we are far from being cowards.
'I remember, when I was at school, there was one boy, who, from hisfirst coming, declined upon all occasions engaging in any battle;he even gave up many of his just rights to avoid quarrelling, whichconduct, instead of gaining (as it justly deserved) the approbation ofhis companions, drew upon him the insult and abuse of the whole school;and they were perpetually teasing him with the opprobrious title ofcoward. For some time he bore it with great good-humour, and endeavouredto laugh it off; but, finding that had no effect, he one day thusaddressed us:--"If you suppose that I like to be called a coward, youare all very much mistaken; or if you think me one, I assure you thatyou are not less so; for no boy in the school should, if put to thetrial, show greater resolution than myself. Indeed, I think it no smallproof of patience that I have borne your repeated insults so long;when I could, by behaving more like a savage beast, and less like areasonable creature, have established my character at once; but I abhorquarrelling, my soul detests to treat my fellow-creatures as if theywere brutes, from whose fangs I must defend myself; but if nothing elsebut fighting will convince you that I possess not less courage thanyourselves, I will now offer, in cold blood, to engage with the biggestboy in the school. If I conquer him, it will be a sign that I know howto defend myself; and if he conquers me, I will, by my behaviour, givea proof that I am not wanting in resolution to suffer pain, although Inever will so far demean the character of a reasonable creature and aChristian, as to fight upon every trifling disagreement or insult."No sooner had he uttered these words, than every boy present wasloud either in his commendation or condemnation. One quarter ofthem, convinced of the justness of his arguments, highly extolled hisforbearance; whilst the other three parts, with still greater noise,only called him a bully and a mean-spirited coward, who dared not fight,and for that reason made such a fine speech, hoping to intimidate them."Well then," said he, "if such is your opinion, why will none of youaccept my offer? you surely cannot be afraid, you who are such bravefellows, of such true courage, and such noble spirits, cannot be afraidof a coward and a bully! Why, therefore, does not one of you stepforward, and put my fine speech to the test? Otherwise, after I havethus challenged you all, I hope none for the future will think they haveany right to call me coward; though I again declare my fixed resolutionagainst fighting."
'Just as he said this, a voice calling for help, was heard from a laneadjoining to the play-yard. Immediately we all flocked to theside nearest whence it proceeded; and, clambering upon benches,watering-pots, or whatever came first in our way, peeped over the wall,where we discovered two well-grown lads, about seventeen or eighteen,stripping a little boy of his clothes, and beating him for his outcriesin a most cruel manner; and at a little distance farther down the lane,sat a company of gypsies, to whom the two lads evidently belonged. Atthe sight of this we were all much distressed, and wished to relieve theboy; though, discovering so large a party, we were too much afraid toventure, till Tomkins (the boy I before spoke about) instantly jumpedfrom the wall, and only saying, "Has nobody courage to follow me?" rantoward them as fast as possible, and with uncommon strength and agilityplaced himself between them and the boy, and began defending himselfin the best manner he could; which he did for some time with greatdexterity, none of his fighting schoolfellows having courage to go tohis assistance. At length, however, seeing it impossible for him tostand out any longer against two so much stronger than himself, theboys agreed to secure themselves by numbers, and to sally forth to hisassistance altogether. This scheme succeeded, and very shortly rescuedTomkins from his antagonists. He thanked them for their assistance,saying, at the same time, "I hope you will no longer doubt my courage,or my abilities to fight, when it is necessary or in a good cause."After so signal a proof of his viler, his greatest enemies could nolonger doubt it; and, without ever engaging in foolish battles, hepassed through school as much respected as any boy, and his magnanimitywas never again called in question.'
As the gentleman stopped speaking, the little girl called out, 'O, papa,the coach is at the door.' 'Is it, my dear?' returned the father. 'Wellthen, stop, my love,' said one of the ladies, 'I have got a few cakesfor you: stay, and take them before you go.' She then unlocked thecloset where we were, and took down the paper of macaroons, among whichwe had so comfortably regaled ourselves; when, observing the hole in thepaper through which we entered, 'O dear!' she exclaimed, 'the mice haveactually got into my cupboard. I will move all the things out this verymorning, and lock the cat up in it; for I shall be undone if the miceonce get footing here; they will soon spoil all my stores, and thatwill never do.' She then kissed both the children; and, giving themthe cakes, they, the gentleman, and another lady, all departed; and sheinstantly began to move the boxes and jars from the closet; whilst we,terrified almost out of our wits, sat trembling behind one of them, notdaring to stir, yet dreading the cat's approach every moment.
We were soon, however, obliged to move our quarters, for the lady takingdown the very jar which concealed us, we were forced (without knowingwhere we were) to jump down instantly. In vain we sought all round theroom for some avenue whereat we might escape; the apartment was too wellfitted up to admit the smallest crack; and we must then certainly havebeen destroyed, had we not, with uncommon presence of mind, ran up theback of the lady's gown, by which means she lost sight of us, and gaveus an opportunity to make our escape, as she opened the door to orderthe cat to be brought in. We seized the lucky moment, and, droppingfrom her gown, fled with the utmost haste out at the house door, whichhappened to be wide open; and I, without once looking behind me, ran ontill I discovered a little crack in the brick wall, which I entered, andwhich, after many turnings and windings, brought me to this house, whereI have now continued skulking about in its different apartments forabove a month; during which time I have not heard the least tidings ofmy beloved brother Longtail. Whether, therefore, any mischief befell himas he followed me, or whether he entered the crack with me and then lostsight of me, I know not; but in vain have I sought him every day sincemy arrival within these walls, and so anxious am I to learn what isbecome of him, that I am now come forth, contrary to my nature, toengage your compassion, and to beseech you, in case--
The Life and Perambulations of a Mouse Page 3
