THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE(小耗子游记)

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THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

THE LIFE AND

PERAMBULATIONS OF

A MOUSE

(1783-1784)

by Dorothy Kilner

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

INTRODUCTION

During a remarkably severe winter, when a prodigious fall of snow

confined everybody to their habitations, who were happy enough to have

one to shelter them from the inclemency of the season, and were hot

obliged by business to expose themselves to its rigour, I was on a visit to

Meadow Hall; where had assembled likewise a large party of young folk,

who all seemed, by their harmony and good humour, to strive who should

the most contribute to render pleasant that confinement which we were all

equally obliged to share. Nor were those further advanced in life less

anxious to contribute to the general satisfaction and entertainment.

After the more serious employment of reading each morning was

concluded, we danced, we sung, we played at blind-man's-buff, battledore

and shuttlecock, and many other games equally diverting and innocent;

and when tired of them, drew our seats round the fire, while each one in

turn told some merry story to divert the company.

At last, after having related all that we could recollect worth reciting,

and being rather at a loss what to say next, a sprightly girl in company

proposed that every one should relate the history of their own lives; 'and it

must be strange indeed,' added she, 'if that will not help us out of this

difficulty, and furnish conversation for some days longer; and by that time,

perhaps, the frost will break, the snow will melt, and set us all at liberty.

But let it break when it will, I make a law, that no one shall go from

Meadow Hall till they have told their own history: so take notice, ladies

and gentlemen, take notice, everybody, what you have to trust to. And

because,' continued she, 'I will not be unreasonable, and require more from

you than you can perform, I will give all you who may perhaps have

forgotten what passed so many years ago, at the beginning of your lives,

two days to recollect and digest your story; by which time if you do not

produce something pretty and entertaining, we will never again admit you

to dance or play among us.' All this she spoke with so good-humoured a

smile, that every one was delighted with her, and promised to do their best

to acquit themselves to her satisfaction; whilst some (the length of whose

lives had not rendered them forgetful of the transactions which had passed)

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

instantly began their memoirs, as they called them: and really some

related their narratives with such spirit and ingenuity, that it quite

distressed us older ones, lest we should disgrace ourselves when it should

fall to our turns to hold forth. However, we were all determined to

produce something, as our fair directress ordered. Accordingly, the next

morning I took up my pen, to endeavour to draw up some kind of a history,

which might satisfy my companions in confinement. I took up my pen, it

is true, and laid the paper before me; but not one word toward my

appointed task could I proceed. The various occurrences of my life were

such as, far from affording entertainment, would, I was certain, rather

afflict; or, perhaps, not interesting enough for that, only stupefy, and

render them more weary of the continuation of the frost than they were

before I began my narration. Thus circumstanced, therefore, although by

myself, I broke silence by exclaiming, 'What a task his this sweet girl

imposed upon me! One which I shall never be able to execute to my own

satisfaction or her amusement. The adventures of my life (though deeply

interesting to myself) will be insipid and unentertaining to others,

especially to my young hearers: I cannot, therefore, attempt it.'--'Then

write mine, which may be more diverting,' said a little squeaking voice,

which sounded as if close to me. I started with surprise, not knowing any

one to be near me; and looking round, could discover no object from

whom it could possibly proceed, when casting my eyes upon the ground,

in a little hole under the skirting-board, close by the fire, I discovered

thehead of a mouse peeping out. I arose with a design to stop the hole

with a cork, which happened to lie on the table by me; and I was surprised

to find that it did not run away, but suffered me to advance quite close, and

then only retreated a little into the hole, saying in the same voice as before,

'Will you write my history?' You may be sure that I was much surprised

to be so addressed by such an animal; but, ashamed of discovering any

appearance of astonishment, lest the mouse should suppose it had

frightened me, I answered with the utmost composure, that I would write it

willingly if it would dictate to me. 'Oh, that I will do,' replied the mouse,

'if you will not hurt me.'--'Not for the world,' returned I; 'come, therefore,

and sit upon my table, that I may hear more distinctly what you have to

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

relate.' It instantly accepted my invitation, and with all the nimbleness of

its species, ran up the side of my chair, and jumped upon my table; when,

getting into a box of wafers, it began as follows.

But, before I proceed to relate my new little companion's history, I

must beg leave to assure my readers that, in earnest, I never heard a mouse

speak in all my life; and only wrote the following narrative as being far

more entertaining, and not less instructive, than my own life would have

been: and as it met with the high approbation of those for whom it was

written, I have sent it to Mr. Marshall, for him to publish it, if he pleases,

for the equal amusement of his little customers.

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

PART I.

Like all other newborn animals, whether of the human, or any other

species, I can not pretend to remember what passed during my infant days.

The first circumstance I can recollect was my mother's addressing me and

my three brothers, who all lay in the same nest, in the following words:-'I

have, my children, with the greatest difficulty, and at the utmost 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, without infinite danger, be able to

procure sustenance to support my own existence, much less can I find

sufficient for you all; and, indeed, with pleasure I behold it as no longer

necessary, since you are of age now to provide and shift for yourselves;

and I doubt not but your agility will enable you to procure a very

comfortable livelihood. Only let me give you this one caution--never

(whatever the temptation may be) appear often in the same place; if you

do, however you may flatter yourselves to the contrary, you will certainly

at last be destroyed.' So saying, she stroked us all with her fore paw as a

token of her affection, and then hurried away, to conceal from us the

emotions of her sorrow, at thus sending us into the wide world.

She was no sooner gone, than the thought of being our own directors

so charmed our little hearts, that we presently forgot our grief at parting

from our kind parent; and, impatient to use our liberty, we all set forward

in search of some food, or rather some adventure, as our mother had left us

victuals more than sufficient to supply the wants of that day. With a great

deal of difficulty, we clambered up a high wall on the inside of a wainscot,

till we reached the story above that we were born in, where we found it

much easier to run round within the skirting-board, than to ascend any

higher.

While we were there, our noses were delightfully regaled with the

scent of the most delicate food that we had ever smelt; we were anxious to

procure a taste of it likewise, and after running round and round the room

a great many times, we at last discovered a little crack, through which we

made our entrance. My brother Longtail led the way; I followed;

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

Softdown came next; but Brighteyes would not be prevailed upon to

venture. The apartment which we entered was spacious and elegant; at

least, differed so greatly from anything we had seen, that we imagined it

the finest place upon earth. It was covered all over with a carpet of

various colours, that not only concealed some bird-seeds which we came

to devour, but also for some time prevented our being discovered; as we

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 her mamma,

shrieked out as if violently hurt. Her mamma begged to know the cause

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 her mother,

'is that any reason for your behaving so ridiculously? If there were

twenty mice, what harm could they possibly do? You may easily hurt and

destroy then,; but, poor little things! they cannot, if they would, hurt you.'

'What, could they not bite me?' inquired the child. 'They may, indeed, be

able to do that; but you may be very sure that they have no such

inclination,' rejoined the mother. 'A mouse is one of the most timorous

things in the world; every noise alarms it: and though it chiefly lives by

plunder, it appears as if punished by its fears for the mischiefs which it

commits among our property. It is therefore highly ridiculous to pretend

to be alarmed at the sight of a creature that would run from the sound of

your voice, and wishes never to come near you, lest, as you are far more

able, you should also be disposed to hurt it.' 'But I am sure, madam,'

replied the little girl, whose name I afterwards 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 her box, a mouse jumped out and ran up her

frock sleeve--she felt it quite up on her arm.' 'And what became of it

then?' inquired the mother. 'It jumped down again,' replied Nancy, 'and

got into a little hole in the window-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 convincing proof of what I say, that you have no cause to be afraid

of them, and that it is very silly to be so? It is certainly foolish to be

afraid of any thing, unless it threatens us with immediate danger; but to

pretend to be so at a mouse, and such like inoffensive things, is a degree of

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

weakness 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 after you, I would

have you fear them so much as to get out of the way; but if they 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 most absurd, 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 was she punished for her

folly, by several very disagreeable accidents she by those means brought

upon herself.

'One day when she was drinking tea in a large company, on the door

being opened, a small Italian greyhound walked into the drawing-room.

She happened 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, without

considering what she was about, overturned the water-urn, the hot iron of

which rolling out, set fire to her clothes, which instantly blazed up, being

only muslin, and burnt her arms, face, and neck, most dreadfully: she

was so much hurt as to be obliged to be put immediately to bed; nor did

she recover enough to go abroad for many months. Now, though every

one was sorry for her sufferings, who could possibly help blaming her for

her ridiculous behaviour, as it was entirely owing to her own folly that she

was so hurt? When she was talked to upon the subject, she pleaded for her

excuse, that she was so frightened she did not know what she did, nor

whither she was going; but as she thought that the dog was coming to her

she could not help jumping up, to get out of his way. Now what

ridiculous arguing was this! Why could not she help it? And if the dog

had really been going to her, what harm would it have done? Could she

suppose that the lady whose house she was at, would have suffered 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 would more injure her,

than those he had before passed by? But the real case was, she did not

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

think at all; if she had given herself time for that, she could not have acted

so ridiculously. Another time, when she was walking, from the same

want of reflection, she very nearly drowned herself. She was passing

over a bridge, the outside rails of which were in some places broken down:

while she was there, some cows, which a man was driving, met her:

immediately, without minding whither she went, she shrieked out, and at

the same time jumped on one side just where the rail happened to be

broken, and down she fell into the river; nor was it without the greatest

difficulty that she was taken out time enough to save her life. However,

she caught a violent cold and fever, and was again, 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 the two former, yet might have

been attended with fatal consequences. She was sitting in a window,

when a wasp happened to fly toward her; she hastily drew back her head,

and broke the pane of glass behind her, some of which stuck in her neck.

It bled prodigiously; but a surgeon happily being present, made some

application to it, which prevented its being followed by any other ill

effects than only a few days weakness, occasioned by the loss of blood.

Many other misfortunes of the like kind she frequently experienced; but

these which I have now related may serve to convince you how extremely

absurd it is for people to give way to and indulge themselves in such

groundless apprehensions, and, by being afraid when there is no danger,

subject themselves to real misfortunes and 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 little silly mouse, which never was known to hurt

anybody?'

Here the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of some

gentlemen and ladies; and we having enjoyed a very fine repast under one

of the chairs during the time that the mother and daughter had held the

above discourse, on the chairs being removed for some of the visitors to sit

upon, 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 had passed, and

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

assured him he had no reason to apprehend any danger from venturing

himself with us. Accordingly he promised, if such was the case, that the

next time we went and found it safe, if we would return back and call him,

he would certainly accompany us. 'In the mean time, do pray, Nimble,'

said he, addressing himself to me, 'come with me to some other place, for I

long to taste some more delicate food than our mother has provided for us:

besides, as perhaps it may be a long while before we shall be strong

enough to bring anything away with us, we had better leave that, in case

we should ever be prevented from going abroad to seek for fresh supplies.'

'Very true,' replied I; 'what you say is quite 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 without difficulty, for very frequently the bits

of mortar which we stepped upon gave way beneath our feet, and tumbled

us down together with them lower than when we first set off. However,

as we were very light, we were not much hurt by our falls; only indeed

poor Brighteyes, by endeavouring to save himself, caught by his nails on a

rafter, and tore one of them from off his right fore-foot, which was very

sore and inconvenient. At length we surmounted all difficulties, and,

invited by a strong scent of plum-cake, entered a closet, where we found a

fine large one, quite whole and entire. We immediately set about making

our way into it, which we easily effected, as it was most deliciously nice,

and not at all hard to our teeth.

Brighteyes, who had not before partaken of the bird-seed, was

overjoyed at the sight. He almost forgot the pain of his foot, and soon

buried himself withinside the cake; whilst I, who had pretty well satisfied

my hunger before, only ate a few of the crumbs, and then went to take a

survey of the adjoining apartment. I crept softly under the door of the

closet into a room, as large as that which I had before been in, though not

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 a cradle, with a

cleanly-looking woman sitting by it, rocking it with her foot, whilst at the

same time she was combing the head of a little boy about four years old.

In the middle of the room stood a table, covered with a great deal of litter;

and in one corner was the little girl whom I had before seen with her

THE LIFE AND PERAMBULATIONS OF A MOUSE (1783-1784)

mamma, crying and sobbing as if her heart would break. As I made not

the least noise at my entrance, no one observed me for some time; so

creeping under one of the beds, I heard the following discourse:--

'It does not signify, miss,' said the woman, who I found was the

children's nurse, 'I never will put up with such behaviour: you know that

I always do everything for you when you speak prettily; but to be ordered

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 you ask me as

you ought to do.' Nancy made no reply, but only continued crying.

'Aye! you may cry and sob as much as you please,' said the nurse; 'I do not

care for that: I shall not dress you for crying and roaring, but for being

good and speaking with civility.' Just as she said these words, the door

opened, and in came the lady whom I before saw, and whose name I

afterwards found was Artless. As soon as she entered, the nurse

addressed her, saying, 'Pray, madam, is it by your desire that Miss Nancy

behaves so rudely, and bids me dress her directly, and change the buckles

in her shoes, or else she will slap my face? Indeed she did give me a slap

upon my hand; so I told her, that I would not dress her at all; for really,

madam, I thought you would not wish me to do it, whilst she behaved so;

and I took the liberty of 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 house either, if she behaves in that manner: if she does not speak

civilly when she wants to be assisted, let her go without help, and see what

will become of her then. I am quite ashamed of you, Nancy! I could

not have thought you would behave so; but since you have, I promise that

you shall not be dressed today, or have any assistance given you, unless

you speak 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, found the child

awake, and I saw her take out a fine little girl, about five months old: she

then continued her discourse, saying, 'Look here, Nancy, look at this little

baby, see how unable it is to help itself; were we to neglect attending to it,

what do yon think would become of it? Suppose I were now to put your

sister upon the floor, and there leave her, tell me what do you think she

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THELIFEANDPERAMBULATIONSOFAMOUSE(1783-1784)1THELIFEANDPERAMBULATIONSOFAMOUSE(1783-1784)byDorothyKilnerTHELIFEANDPERAMBULATIONSOFAMOUSE(1783-1784)2INTRODUCTIONDuringaremarkablyseverewinter,whenaprodigiousfallofsnowconfinedeverybodytotheirhabitations,whowerehappyenoughtohaveonetoshelterthemfromtheincl...

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