ANOTHER RAT TALE.
[To vim Elam or THE " SPEOrATOR."1
SIR, I have just read an interesting letter in the Spectator dated May 24th. It is headed "Tale of a Rat" and tells of the disappearance of two pieces of fur. May I be allowed to give my experience while seullerymaid in a large country house in StirlingshireP I had a lot of washing up to do and used a good many towels. One night I washed out about a dozen and hung them on the dressers and tables in the scullery to be ready for next day's use. When I went into the scullery in the morning not a towel was to be seen anywhere. I searched all over, and also asked all the servants if they had taken them— thinking perhaps a trick had been played en me; but no one had seen them. The same night I washed out a few more and hung them in the same places. Next morning they also had disappeared. I did not put any more round the table, and the disappearance of the towels remained a mystery till a good time afterwards. I had made a packaheet apron for scrubbing purposes, and after it was finished I washed it out and hung it up in the usual place (the table) to be ready in the morning. When I went for it next morning it had vanished like the towels. While sweeping out the scullery during the day I found a small piece of tape sticking out of a small hole, and on pulling it out found it was the band of my apron. So the mystery was solved. The towels must have gone the same way, but how they managed to pull the towels (they were large square linen ones) through such a small hole was never found out. One thing we did find out in board- wage time was that they were clever thieves; they thought nothing of running off with half a loaf. We got quite accus- tomed to them running about. One day a large one crossed the kitchen floor, climbed up on to the dresser and into the sink for a drink of water. Finding none there he climbed on to the edge of a basin of water standing in the sink. I pushed him in with a shovel, and the other two turned on the hot-water top, and so we finished him. We had many an exciting time in that house with the rats, but the scullery was the only place they stole anything from. They never
went upstairs.—I am, Sir, &c., Coos.
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