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قراءة كتاب Studies in the Art of Rat-catching
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Transcriber's Note:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including some inconsistencies of hyphenation.
STUDIES IN THE ART OF RAT-CATCHING.
By H. C. BARKLEY,
AUTHOR OF
"MY BOYHOOD," "BETWEEN THE DANUBE AND THE BLACK SEA," ETC.
POPULAR EDITION.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1896.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
My publisher writes to say that he, and he thinks others too, would like to know how I ever came to write such a book as this! It came about in this way. Some two years ago, I was about to leave England for a considerable time, and a few days before starting, I went to stay in a country house, full of lads and lassies, to say good-bye. One evening, while sitting over the study fire, the subject of rat-catching came up and, as the aged are somewhat wont to do, I babbled on about past days and various rat-catching experiences, till one of the boys exclaimed, "I say, what sport it would be if they would only teach rat-catching at school! Wouldn't I just work hard then, that's all!"
The stories came to an end at bed-time, and I was then pressed by my hearers to write from foreign lands some more of my old reminiscences, and I readily gave a promise to do so. In this way most of the following stories were written; and in writing them, I endeavoured to carry out the idea that they were exercises to be used in schools.
I don't anticipate that head-masters will very generally adopt the book in their schools; but I hope it may, in some few instances, give boys a taste for a wholesome country pastime.
The characters and incidents are rough, very rough, pen and ink sketches of real people and scenes, and the dogs are all dear friends of past days.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | Page |
| The Ferret Family—Crossed with the Polecat—Choosing Ferrets—Hutches—Feeding Ferrets—"Bar the Tail"—Handling Ferrets | 8 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Bag versus Box—Ferrets Fighting—The Ratting Spade—Ratting Tools—Hints to Schoolmasters—Learning Dog-Language—With a Scold in the Voice—Dogs' Kennel—Treating Dogs Kindly—Dogs in their Proper Place | 23 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| Aristocratic versus Plutocratic—Come-by-Chance—Chance's Friend—Nondescript Tinker—Grindum—How I got Grindum—Grindum's Friends—Jack and his Sister—"Jack Took Me"—End of an Ugly Story—Grindum's First Rat—Pepper and Wasp | 42 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| A Day's Ratting—An Autumn Walk—"Steady, Dogs, Steady"—A Ferret Disabled—Rats up a Pollard—A Rat-catcher's Picnic—Rats in a Drain—A Weary Walk Home—"Kennel, Dogs, Kennel" | 67 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| A Poor Day's Ratting—A Rat in a Queer Place—Rats in my Lady's Chamber—Rats in a House—Slaughter in a Cellar—Dead Rats in a House | 85 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| A November Day—A Laid-up Ferret—A Tramp Home in the Wet—A Snug Evening—Things Students should Know—Muzzling Ferrets—Sucking Blood—A Strange Use for a Dog's Tail | 96 |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Rabbit Catching—Tools for Rabbit Catching—An Easy Day's Rabbiting—Ferreting a Bank—A Deep Dig in the Sand—A Day with the Purse Nets—Necessity of Silence—Ferrets without Muzzles—How to Kill Rabbits | 113 |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Trip to the Seaside—Surveying the Hunting Ground—A View from the Cliffs—A Sea View—The Rector's Daughter—Doctoring the Burrows—Running out Nets—"Hie in, Good Dogs" | 130 |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| The Beginning of a Storm—A Ship in Distress—The Village Harbour—A Fisherman's Home—Little Jack, the Cripple—Waiting for the Boats—A Rough Old Fish-Wife—The Return of the Fishermen | 147 |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| The Rector's Story—A Ship in Danger Running Straight on the Rocks—To the Rescue—Watching the Boat—Breaking up of the Ship—Beyond the Storms of Life—Life in the Little One—Nature's Gifts—What a Hodge-Podge | 165 |
[Pg viii]
[Pg 1]
INTRODUCTION.
ADDRESSED TO ALL SCHOOLBOYS.
Ever since I was a boy, and ah! long, long before that, I fancy, the one great anxiety of parents of the upper and middle classes blessed with large families has been, "What are we to do with our boys?" and the cry goes on increasing, being intensified by the depreciation in the value of land, and by our distant colonies getting a little overstocked with young gentlemen, who have been banished to them by thousands, to struggle and strive, sink or swim, as fate wills it. At home, all professions are full and everything has been tried; and, go where you will, even the children of the noble may be found wrestling with