The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Rambles of a Rat, by A. L. O. E.

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Title: The Rambles of a Rat

Author: A. L. O. E.

Release Date: August 30, 2009 [eBook #29863]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RAMBLES OF A RAT***

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Transcriber's note:

At the time this book was written, rats were classified as
_Mus rattus_ and _Mus norvegicus_. The genus _Rattus_ did
not become standardized until the 20th century. Notes on
the animals in Chapter VII are at the end of the e-text,
along with the Errata.

THE RAMBLES OF A RAT.

[Illustration: POORER THAN RATS.

"The old blind rat had a bit of stick in its mouth, and the pretty
black rat took the other end in his teeth." --Page 25.]

THE RAMBLES OF A RAT.

by

A. L. O. E.

[Illustration: A NEW KIND OF WATCHDOG.

"Whiskerandos looked surprised at the unexpected defiance; but my
feelings of amazement can scarcely be conceived when I recognised
the dumpy form, blunt head, and piebald skin, of my lost brother
Oddity." --Page 150.]

T. Nelson and Sons, London, Edinburgh, and New York.

THE RAMBLES OF A RAT

by

A. L. O. E.,

Author of "The Giant-killer," "Pride and his Prisoners,"
&c. &c.

[Decoration]

London:
T. Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row;
Edinburgh; and New York.
1864.

PREFACE

Let not my readers suppose that in writing THE RAMBLES OF A RAT I have
simply been blowing bubbles of fancy for their amusement, to divert them
during an idle hour. Like the hollow glass balls which children
delight in, my bubbles of fancy have something solid within them,--
facts are enclosed in my fiction. I have indeed made rats talk, feel,
and reflect, as those little creatures certainly never did; but the
cou