Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 263, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1917 — RAT UP HIS TROUSERS LEG [ARTICLE]

RAT UP HIS TROUSERS LEG

Ohio Groceryman Experiences ExcitIng Contest With Rodent Inclined to Be Too Familiar. One of those unfortunate things which it would have been Interesting to see, as long as it had to happen anyway, muses the Ohio State Journal, is reported by the Gallipolis Journal, which relates in its graphic and gripping way what recently happened to Mr. Carlton Stone, described by the Journal, which, of course, knows him well, as the handsome and debonnair grocer of Gallipolis. Mr. Stonq, it seems, under stress of great and repeated provocation, been led to say some rather sharp things concerning the general charjacter and the unpleasant habits of the huge nits tvhlch infest his emporium, 'and one of their number, a gaunt, gray, wiry fellow, at last was unanimously selected to essay reprisals. This our rodent did by lurking and prowling about, awaiting his opportunity, and, when in his best judgment it had come, by making a sudden sortie and surprising our unconscious grocer by darting with marvelous celerity up Mr. Stone’s elongated but shapely limb, to employ the Journal’s relined but clear language. The verve and dash of the wholly unexpected attack all but robbed our hero of his usual calm presence of mind for the moment, but as the assailingparty passed the knee sector, Mr. Stone, realizing that something must be done, and done quickly, recovered his customary poise, formulated his plan of attack and soon was engaged in counter-movements combining high kicking, frantic slapping and complete removal of trousers with a versatility, a vigor, a determination and a change of pace that beggar all description. Suffice it to say that the misguided rat in scarcely more than a trice was hors de combat, as we say in Ohio, while Mr. Stone was soon the center of an admiring throng, the observed of all observers and the cynosure of all eyes, panting and pantless, but victorious. “I have striven to do my part,” gasped he in his droll way, as our special representative reached the scene of the encounter, “to make the world same for democracy.”