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Show RAT 8HOW8 ITS 8AQACITY. Rare Intelligence Displayed by Pet of Famous' Writer. That delightful writer on natural history, tho late Mr. Frank Mucklond, used to bo particularly fond of watching watch-ing tho vnrlottB ways In which his pots would thlovo. Ho told a good talo about n rat that ho had which not In-J In-J frequently terrified his visitors at I breakfast. Mr. Buckland had made a . house for his pot rodent by tho ldo of tho mantelpiece, and this waa approached ap-proached by a kind of ladder, which tho rat had to ascend when ho had Frank Buckland's Rat. been foraging on tho tlopr. Mr. Rnt i waa very fond of certain' sorts of fish nnd waa auro to venture forth pros-pectlngly pros-pectlngly If tho savor were strong. Ono day Mr. IJuckland turned his liack In order to give his pet a chanco of seizing tho coveted morsel, which ho was not long In doing. Hastening up tho ladder with his piscatorial prize, ho had It fixed by tho mlddlo of tho back, and found that this prevented him drawing tho fish through the narrow nar-row portal of his den. This, however, did not disconcert tho rat at all. Ho laid down his enpturo on tho llttlo platform boforo his door, went In himself, him-self, turned around, poked out his head, caught tho fish by the noso and pulled him In with ensy triumph and shortly dined sumptuously. Wha Is more, Mr. Itat never again tried to house his provender sldoways. Gigantic Wedding Feast. A monster banquet has just been given by a wealthy landowner at Qulmperle, In Normandy, to celebrato the simultaneous wedding of his four children, two sons and two daughters. No fewer than 1,600 guests sat down to the feast, which took place in the open air. The bill of faro includod flvo cattlo and sixteen lambs. So lavish was the scale of ordering that, though tho 1,600 guests are reported to have had magnificent appetites, there was moro than enough for all. Nor waa their thlrat neglected, for the guests emptied ten large barrels of wlno and fifteen of cider, besides disposing dis-posing of much else of a liquid character. |