ts. Cats, as a
rule, prefer hearth-rugs; and traps, _unless quite new_, and
consequently sweet and free from the smell of rats, are useless. No!
There is nothing in Nature capable of saving the nation from rats, but
"Tinies."

"I do not know of any quadruped equal to a well-bred London terrier for
sagacity, courage fidelity, color, symmetry, general beauty, and
economy: in a word, he seems in every respect formed by nature for man's
companion and protector."

With a fine burst of eloquence, the author asks,

"Are rats a calamity to be deplored, or are they not? The voices of
religion and patriotism cry, with stentorian lungs, 'Yes!' the voice of
philanthropy cries, 'Down with them! down with every barrier, and
annihilate them!' the fainting stomachs of thousands of our starving
fellow-creatures at home and in the sister country, with the agonized
bowels of their withered offspring writhing beneath the ruthless fangs
of hunger, shriek forth, with horrid yells, for their extermination!!"

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