2198 Chicken and Mice

It seems like in some ways we're becoming a more compassionate world. Like I believe in catch-and-release for fish. Problem is I don't actually like to fish. So I just go to the supermarket and buy some salmon. Then take it back the next day.  

Anyhow, I think we're more compassionate because my sister and brother-in-law and I were recently reading a little story written by my great aunt. It was about something she and some other kids did on the farm back in the early 1900s.

They had stumbled upon a field mice nest and took out the little babies, who at that point were still hairless, and put them in their pockets. Later they decided to see if the mice could swim so they put them in the horse trough. According to the story each one lasted about three laps before "giving up the ghost."

They discarded drowned mice on the ground while they tried new ones. Later, while tidying up the area, knowing that their father took a dim view of them putting foreign objects in the horse trough, they found that the mice corpses had been gobbled up by the chickens in the yard. 

I guess kids had to do something before they invented video games like Grand Theft Auto. Grand Mice Baby Drowning.

I also guess those chickens were free range chickens. Desiring "free range" chickens is an indication our modern times may be a touch more compassionate to other species. 

Disappointingly, I bought some eggs from free range chickens not long ago and found they were really expensive. You'd figure they'd be cheaper. What with the farmer not having to pay for expensive feed. The chickens just peck for free bugs and seeds and such. 

And the occasional baby mouse...

America, ya gotta love it.