Chipper Patterson, age 10$ of Asheville., . C., for the question:

Does a rat wear away his front teeth?

Mr. Rat belongs to the rodent family, a name which means gnawing. Rats, mice, beavers, squirrels and even porcupines are also rodents. These animals must gnaw, gnaw, gnaw to stay alive. For their front teeth are constantly growing, day by day getting longer arid longer. A rodent must gnaw to keep his teeth filed down to a reasonable size. If he did not gnaw, those terrible teeth would grow right through his jaw.

Keep this in mind if you have a pet mouse or perhaps a white rat. Give him plenty of tough food to gnaw and, just to make sure, put a log of wood in his cage on which he can file those constantly growing front teeth.