From a recent issue of The Strand, dated 1897: news of a mouse that ran into a bit of trouble in a teapot:
Mr. Chas. H. Heskins, of 94, Blenheim Road, Reading, was good enough to send in this extremely curious and interesting photo. The kettle, it seems, was a disused one, and stood for a long time on a shelf with the lid partly off, much as we see in the photo.
One night the mouse got in, possibly in the hope of finding some stray crusts. Why the little animal should take it into his head to leave the inhospitable kettle by the spout is not known, but he did, with the result portrayed in the photo. His head got through all right, and two pathetic little paws; but "the force of Nature could no farther go," and poor mousie stuck fast.
Next morning someone took the kettle in hand, and "assisted" the mouse's hindquarters with a stick of wood, with the result that he emerged slowly and stiffly, and was finally allowed to hobble painfully away. Truly, a narrow escape in more senses than one!
The editors of The Strand's "Curiosities" section would like to inform you: "We shall be glad to receive Contributions to this section, and to pay for such as are accepted."
