He got up and lit the gas, and saw a little brown mouse run across the
floor.
He set a trap, caught the mouse, which was no sooner in the trap than it
began to sing. The man whistled to it, and the little creature replied.
The man did not seem to realize that he had found a great prize, but
pretending that his wife was afraid of the mouse, he drowned it in a pail
of water.
When it was safely dead, he began to search through his encyclopedia to
see what kind of a "beastie" he had caught. But the encyclopedia, as
studied by the good man, did not seem to be any wiser than he, and he
finally wrote a note to the newspaper for information.
[Illustration]
It is a great pity he did not keep the mouse until he had looked the
matter up, for chance had sent him a very gentle and charming little pet.
His singing mouse was a deer or white-foot mouse. This mouse is found all
over the United States, and while several other kinds are known to sing,
the deer-mouse is the sweetest of the singers.
These mice can be very easily tamed, and live happily in cages, like
dormice.
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