Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1875 — A Mouse-Catching Baby. [ARTICLE]

A Mouse-Catching Baby.

A singular phenomenon is just now creating a sensation a few miles south of this city in the shape of a mousecatching infant, surpassing in expertness the agility of the best canine or feline mouser in. the country? The report of this singular freak of nature reached me so well authenticated that I concluded to gratify my curiosity and pdssibly be sold, as I had often been. But, to my surprise, the facts turned out more remarkable than the report represented, ancSthe most astonishing natural wonder 1 ever witnessed. The little girl in question is a trifle over a year old, and can but just begin to run about the house and yard. The moment she wakes and gets out of her crib she goes to the old kitchen fireplace, which is infested with a species of small house-mice, and sits down by a hole in the corner, very much like a cat, with her eyes intently fixed on the burrow. She sometimes occupies this position for an hour without moving, till a mouse makes its appearance, when by a sudden start, apparently without any effort, she seizes her victim by the neck. As soon as her prize is captured she seems to be electrified with joy, and trembles from head to foot, uttering a kind of wildmurmur or growl resembling the half-snarl of a wild-cat. On arriving at the house and making known the object of my visit the mother expressed a willingness to give me an exhibition of the strange peculiarity of the baby providing I would promise not to make their names public, as she seemed to dread the notoriety already given to the affair. I of course made tlie required promise, and had the privilege of witnessing with my own eyes a performance so wonderful and novel that I can never forget the impression it made. The babe was asleep wheat I arrived, and on awaking she started at once on her strange mission. She is a beautiful little blond, of delicate features and bright, blue eyes, and her hair lies all over her head in exquisitely-formed golden curls, about the circle of a dime. There is nothing unusual about tlie countenance of the child, or different from that of any pretty-featured baby, except when stalking her game. Then her eyes become glistening and fixed, sparkling like gems, and her face and hands turn pale as wax, while she appears to hear or notice nothing going on around her, but keeps heir eyes steadily centered on the burrow whence she expects her game to sally forth. The mother, an older sister of the child and mj'selfsat in a semicircle around her, silent as if in a spiritual seance waiting for the signal of departed spirits. Had no mouse made its appearance the sight was one never to be forgotten—the death-pale face of that motionless child, and the riveted, sparkling eyes concentrated tor thirty minutes on that mousehole in the brick hearth. During that half hour we neither moved nor spoke above a whisper, when suddenly, like the springing of a trap, the little thing’s hand went down on the hearth, followed by the fine squeak of the mouse and that strange, low growl, and the singular tremor of the body of the child! As usual, she held the mouse by the neck in her right hand, while it squirmed desperately to get away. She then pressed it up against her bosom, and felt of it gently and softly with her other hand; then she would dexterously change hands, carefully keeping her grip on the neck to avoid its bite, though her mother fold me she had been frequently bitten; and while sensitive to pain and crying at the least ordinary hurt she never was seen to wince or show the least pain from the bite of a mouse. I examined her fingers and found them scarred in many places where she had been bitten. I tried to realize how the feat had been accomplished, but it was done so suddenly there was no time to analyze it. Yet I was assured by the family, who had taken frequent observation, that the mouse when once out of its hole seems to become charmed or magnetized and has no power, of at least shows no disposition to escape till caught, when it is too late. If anyone approaches the child to take the mouse away from her she will utter a shrill scream and then try to conceal her prize by putting it into her mouth. I have heard of snake and bird charming children, but I guess this is the first mouse-catching baby yet developed. I wonder how Darwin would explain this abnormal instinct by the laws of evolution and natural selection.— Erie (Pa.) Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer. 1