Did you ever hear a singing mouse?
A man wrote a long story to The Sun, a few days ago, telling how he was awakened one night, and frightened out of his wits by hearing a noise like the peeping of a chicken in the adjoining room.
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.
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.