Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Our friend then takes a higher flight, and discusses, with equal fervor
and more notes of admiration, the question whether--on theological
grounds--man has a right to kill these creatures, even though they be
rats. But he soars into such altitudes of rhetorical theology, that we
dare not follow him. He dismisses, in the same paragraph, several
remedies for rats, with a brevity almost savoring of contempt; gliding
gracefully from theology to arsenic and other poisons, he returns, with
a gush of enthusiasm, to his old refrain, "Tiny."
The breed of small terriers of the Tiny breed must be increased. "I do
not mean," he says, "the little pigmy dwarf terrier; they are tantamount
to useless, even where they are well-bred, not having strength enough
for hunting. A dog, to be of sound service, ought to be from six to
sixteen pounds weight; I would not recommend them over that, as they
become too large and unwieldy for the purpose, and too expensive
keeping: besides, little dogs will kill mice as well as rats, and that
is a great recommendation. I would also recommend, above all others, the
London rat-killing terrier; he is as hard as steel, courageous as a
lion, and as handsome as a racehorse: the village dogs, on the other
hand, are, generally speaking, too large, too coarse, and too soft. You
ought to be as particular about breeding terriers as they are with
racehorses."
The writer suggests the abolition of the duty upon rat-catching terriers
of the "Tiny" family; that associations should be encouraged in the
rural parts of England for the promotion of rat-catching in all its
branches; that the bodies of the vermin be sold for manure; and lastly,
that rewards be given to the greatest killers.
Literature has, from first to last, been strengthened by recruits from
nearly every class; but till now we know of no volunteer who has
enlisted under her banner from the ranks of rat-catching. We know not if
the publication that has afforded a text for this article will
effectually augment the exterminators of the rat-tribe; but this is
certain, that, rat-killer though its writer be, he has produced between
forty and fifty pages, in which, though there may be much comical
exaggeration, there are, nevertheless, many curious facts and
suggestions for abating one of the greatest animal nuisances that have
infested our homes and fields, since the days when an English king
levied tribute of wolves' heads upon our brethren of Wales.
THE BROKEN HEART; OR, THE WELL OF PEN-MORFA.
A WELSH TALE.
IN TWO CHAPTERS.--CHAPTER I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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