1.The mouse is a very friendly little fellow.He likes to visit us，and as long as we let him stay with us and share our food，he is as much at home in our house as we are.
2.But when he disturbs us at night by scampering about，or gnawing holes in the wood-work of our rooms，and when we find the things in our cupboards all nibbledhim.and spoiled，we do not feel very friendly to3.If we can catch one，we shall find him well worth looking at.He has a coat of fine fur，which he always keeps beautifully clean.He has long whiskers like those of the cat，and sharp claws，so that he can climb up awall or anything that is a little rough.
4.His bright eyes can see in the dark，and his large round ears can hear the sound.His nose is pointed，and his under jawmuch shorter than his upper one.
The two front teeth in each jaw are very sharp，and shaped like the edge of a chiselhe gnaws with.
5.These gnawing teeth are always growing longer，and if he did not gnaw something hard every day，so as to wear them down，they would soon become so long that he could not use them.
6.Mice make their homes in the hol low parts of our walls and floors，where they can move about from one part of the house toanother without being seen.They are very shy and easily frightened，and when one comes into a room where people are，the least movement makes him scamperback to his hole.
The common gray mousecan be easily tamed，but the one usually kept as a pet is a mouse which has white fur and pink eyes.A lady who had a tame white mouse in a cage also caught and tamed a common gray mouse.
7.The gray mouse was very angry when he saw the lady pet the white mouse.One day the gray mouse somehow managed to get into the cage，and when the lady came back to the room she found the white mouse dead.
8.Some kinds of mice live in the fields and woods，and never enter our houses.The tiny harvest-mouse weaves a neat round nest of grass，which he fixes among the stalks of corn some distance above the ground.
9.He climbs the smooth stems like a monkey，and he holds on to them by his tail as well as by his claws.When coming down from his nest，he twists his tail round a stalk of corn and slides down.
10.The dormouse，or wood-mouse，also lives in the fields.Unlike other mice，his tail is covered with fur.He builds his nest in a hollow tree，and lives upon nuts andfruits.When cold weather comes，he rolls himself up in a ball，and sleeps till spring.
11.Once a dormouse was caught and kept in a cage，where he became quite tame，and was a great pet with the children.One day he escaped from his cage，and the children hunted all over the house for him，but could not find him.
12.In the evening，when they sat down to tea，a large cake was placed on the table.When it was cut，they noticed a hole leading to the centre of it，and there they found their little pet snugly curled up and fast asleep.
