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"I will give you
a picture from a little country town I was passing over one night. I
noticed quite a plain-looking house, painted green. No, it was not a
private residence, but the county store, where the men of the town
gathered in the evening, after their day's labor, to discuss the
village news. As I stopped, for a few minutes, to throw my rays
through the dusty window-panes, a strange thing occurred. At one
side of the stove was an old chimney- piece; the fire-place had not
been used for many years, and the mice had found it a very
convenient place to build their nests, high up on the inside of the
chimney. Just as I peeped in, a baby mouse fell to the floor; it was
a wee, pink creature, no larger than a small peanut, and, evidently,
only a few hours old; every one heard it fall, and supposed the tiny
creature was killed by the fall, but such was not the case.
Presently, the mamma mouse slipped down the chimney, grabbed the
baby by the back of the neck, and began to climb up to the nest;
but, after going up a short distance, she fell back. She repeated
her efforts to reach the nest several times, but with the same
result; finally, she laid the baby down, and went home. Papa mouse
supposed she had abandoned the little mouse, but after awhile, she
re-appeared, accompanied by the papa mouse, who, this time, grabbed
the little fellow by the back of the neck, and the mamma took his
tail in her mouth, and in this way they succeeded in getting back to
their nest with their baby. There was a great uproar in that store,
as the men cheered the old mouse, lustily."
The Mouse Family
A Fictional Short Story by
Agnes Taylor Ketchum & Ida M. Jorgensen
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