THE CHURCH MOUSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 526, 1 December 1928, Page 31

THE CHURCH MOUSE

Grey, the little mouse, was born in a big, dark church. You may have heard the proverb, “As poor’ as a church mouse,” anu it is quite tru» that the life of a church .mouse is not a very cheerful one. Grey’s parents had taken refuge there when they were driven away, !• a huge cat. from the comfortable house, full of good food, in which they used to live. , Grey was a nice little mous6, with liis sleek soft head, his bright eyes, sharp white teeth, and a funny tail which he always held well up when he walked or ran about. They could not find much food in the dark old church, and sometime* Grey had nothing to eat —neither meal, nor gain, nor cheese—only the hard wood of the church carvings to satisfy his hunger. Of course, he only came out at night During the day there were so many j people that he dared not venture out i of his hole; but at night all was quiet. | It was generally quite dark and often j cold; he was always afraid that their j enemy, Lhe cat. might have followed j them and found its way into th* church, and his little heart beat very quickly. • At last lie resolved to go away and j leave his parents, so that he might i iind a better home. He knew tlier> , was a little hole in the great door. ' one night he crept tiirough it, and braveiy started off. How dark it was! No stars! Xo moon! He wondered if lie would be able to find his way out of the churchyard. Suddenly he saw two green eyes gleaming on the top of a wall! Two bright eyes! It was the cat! How frightened lie was! Poor little thing! How quickly he scuttled away and took refuge in a hole he found in a neighbouring tree. There he waited for the daylight, to continue his journey. At last the day came, but Grey was fast asleep, tired out with all he had gone through, and there ho lay, curled up in a tight little ball, until the warm rays of the sun woke him. Then he opened his bright eyes, uncurled himself, carefully cleaned his whiskers and went on. It was very early and the dew still lay on the grass. Ther« was no one about but the little birds. Grey seemed to be the only traveller on the road. At last he came to a house wher*lie smelt something very nice. ll* entered cautiously through a grating, which led into the cellar. There was a lovely smell in the house, which was a bakery, and, following the smell Grey made his way upstairs to the attic. It was full of sacks of white flour, and very warm and quiet there. Grey made up his mind at once to stay. No ono disturbed him, and in a week he grew sleek and fat. But he did not forget liis parents in the midst of all this plenty. H* was a brave little mouse, and on--line night he started back to the great church to fetch thorn, j How glad they were to see him again; they had mourned him as lost i or dead—perhaps eaten, by their dread j enemy. Together they made their way to j the baker’s shop. It took them a. ; whole day to get there, because there i were so many dangers on the road, J cats, dogs and people, and they were j often obliged to take refuge, tremh- • ling, in a hole or under a stone till i the danger was past. , At last they arrived, and. needless j to say, they were very delighted with | everything, and very grateful to their little son. There in the baker’s attic ! they lived happily together for many j a long year. j Grey was thankful, too, to have found such a good home for his pur--1 ents in their old age, where there was j no cat to frighten them with gleaming , eyes and twitching whiskers, no dog to come scratching and sniffing at the ! door of their comfortable hole under i the sacks.