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Studies in the Art of Rat-catching
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- GenresHistory
60 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 18, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 18, 2020
"Oh, dear! oh, dear! What a muddle, what a hodge-podge I have made of this pen work!"
What an incredibly charming little book. Only 30% of the book is about rat catching, the rest is filled with these stories about the author's life. At one point, he goes off on a tangent about the 'sandpit man', a criminal from whom he adopted a dog and two children, and the last two chapters are dedicated entirely to the tale of a disaster relating to a yacht, it's quite heartbreaking actually, but young Jack survived the ordeal and apparently has a wonderful voice in the choir. The whole book is just so unexpectedly charming and written in such a sweet and wonderful tone. It's like your grandfather telling you stories of his past. What a genuine hidden treasure this was.
A couple of things I noted or learned:
-Put a dead rat in the bag with the rest of the ferrets, it amuses them.
-All honest man have a knife and a piece of string in their pockets always, even on Sundays.
-As is the master, so is the dog. (By the way, there's an entire tangent about training dogs, and about choosing the right ferrets, of course.)
-"I was once told by a bull terrier that a country man was a thief. I got the man locked up in prison for three months, and it just served him right!"
We always stereotype people, even without knowing, but from this book I have a whole new perspective on this rat catching profession. Real interesting. Tons of ideas to put in the noggin.
What an incredibly charming little book. Only 30% of the book is about rat catching, the rest is filled with these stories about the author's life. At one point, he goes off on a tangent about the 'sandpit man', a criminal from whom he adopted a dog and two children, and the last two chapters are dedicated entirely to the tale of a disaster relating to a yacht, it's quite heartbreaking actually, but young Jack survived the ordeal and apparently has a wonderful voice in the choir. The whole book is just so unexpectedly charming and written in such a sweet and wonderful tone. It's like your grandfather telling you stories of his past. What a genuine hidden treasure this was.
A couple of things I noted or learned:
-Put a dead rat in the bag with the rest of the ferrets, it amuses them.
-All honest man have a knife and a piece of string in their pockets always, even on Sundays.
-As is the master, so is the dog. (By the way, there's an entire tangent about training dogs, and about choosing the right ferrets, of course.)
-"I was once told by a bull terrier that a country man was a thief. I got the man locked up in prison for three months, and it just served him right!"
We always stereotype people, even without knowing, but from this book I have a whole new perspective on this rat catching profession. Real interesting. Tons of ideas to put in the noggin.
August 3, 2023
Charm may not be the first word evoked by a guidebook for catching rats, but Studies in the Art of Rat-catching by Henry Barkley is surprisingly charming.
While it’s true that the subject is primarily rat catching, and there are chapters about what is needed to do the job, it’s not a simple, no-frills guide.
For a start, the author pretends to be the character of Bill Joy, a warm-hearted old fella with a warm-hearted honesty and a weakness for pipe tobacco. He’s a tough man, believing that leather gloves are for wusses and that a proper rat-catcher should expect being bitten by a rat a few times. Yet he shows many examples of being a softie, especially when it comes to his dogs. Insult him all you want but don’t be mean about those mutts. While he says he’s not a ‘sentimental, fat pug on a string’ kind of person and wouldn’t have a dog in the house, but don’t believe that. ‘Bill’ says that he can talk to his dogs, and that one mutt had snitched on a ‘prigging policeman’, who was actually jailed several years for theft.
While this is not much of a book for rat lovers (or rabbit fans, 650 of them are killed in a weekend in this book), it is a book for dog lovers. The book exudes love for them, with ‘Bill’ having a chat with a little child about if dogs go to heaven, concludes that of course they will and imagining the many wagging tails he can’t wait to see when he gets there. Of the dogs he describes, I particularly took to Grindum, a big-faced, vicious looking bulldog with a habit of slow blinking and a temperament so gentle that the rats sometimes get the better of him.
The introduction of Grindum also allows Barkley to pursue what (might) be the book’s real purpose, to tell a sentimental story. A family turn up in an empty shack near the village; mother, father and two children. The man doesn’t work but he does drink and one day a crime is committed he is suspected of it. He bumps into the narrator and says that he is going to hand himself in to the police for a shorter sentence, that his children are cared for and that he just wants to sell his dog. The narrator receives the dog, Grindum, takes him home, only to find the two children have followed the dog to his house and that the older boy in particular won’t be parted from him. It’s revealed that they’ve seen their mum murdered and their dad ran away.. of course ‘Bill’ takes them in.
The anecdote is beautifully written though, and the pathos built up well. There’s a moment when he describes how the little girl had a face with “a sad, careworn old look which I pray I may never see on a child’s face again” as she silently comforts her brother, which is very affecting. He describes how the children have grown up and that some people say the boy, Jack, is a bit off, a bit cracked. His response, “If Jack is cracked, then I like cracked boys”. He’s also very generous about his wife in this section.
Jack is then included in the next anecdotes, where they have a good and bad day’s ratting and then a rabbitting holiday by the sea. This leads to a series of sentimental anecdotes about the lives of sailors, and a poor little ‘crippled’ boy with the ‘beauty of a girl’. The descriptions of the storms are very evocative and the danger and heroism of the fishermen conveyed well. - Though this does make the book a ‘hodge-podge’, as he says.
While Studies in the Art of Rat-catching does contain advice and information, what tools to use, how to look after ferrets and how to train a dog - but it’s not a straight up rat-catching handbook. This is clear from the way the book contains more scenes of anecdote and sentiment than rat-catching. It’s also clear from the use of a character, ‘Bill Joy’ - how many of the events in the book are true?
What’s more, the book pretends to be a textbook for use in upper-class schools. The introduction talks about how he knows the children would rather be doing fun things like conjugating Latin verbs, but they need to learn the noble arts of rat-catching so they don’t fail and have a pointless career like politician. However, by the end of the book, it’s clear the rich kids won’t make it as rat-catchers, it’s “too much above their intellect”.
While it’s true that the subject is primarily rat catching, and there are chapters about what is needed to do the job, it’s not a simple, no-frills guide.
For a start, the author pretends to be the character of Bill Joy, a warm-hearted old fella with a warm-hearted honesty and a weakness for pipe tobacco. He’s a tough man, believing that leather gloves are for wusses and that a proper rat-catcher should expect being bitten by a rat a few times. Yet he shows many examples of being a softie, especially when it comes to his dogs. Insult him all you want but don’t be mean about those mutts. While he says he’s not a ‘sentimental, fat pug on a string’ kind of person and wouldn’t have a dog in the house, but don’t believe that. ‘Bill’ says that he can talk to his dogs, and that one mutt had snitched on a ‘prigging policeman’, who was actually jailed several years for theft.
While this is not much of a book for rat lovers (or rabbit fans, 650 of them are killed in a weekend in this book), it is a book for dog lovers. The book exudes love for them, with ‘Bill’ having a chat with a little child about if dogs go to heaven, concludes that of course they will and imagining the many wagging tails he can’t wait to see when he gets there. Of the dogs he describes, I particularly took to Grindum, a big-faced, vicious looking bulldog with a habit of slow blinking and a temperament so gentle that the rats sometimes get the better of him.
The introduction of Grindum also allows Barkley to pursue what (might) be the book’s real purpose, to tell a sentimental story. A family turn up in an empty shack near the village; mother, father and two children. The man doesn’t work but he does drink and one day a crime is committed he is suspected of it. He bumps into the narrator and says that he is going to hand himself in to the police for a shorter sentence, that his children are cared for and that he just wants to sell his dog. The narrator receives the dog, Grindum, takes him home, only to find the two children have followed the dog to his house and that the older boy in particular won’t be parted from him. It’s revealed that they’ve seen their mum murdered and their dad ran away.. of course ‘Bill’ takes them in.
The anecdote is beautifully written though, and the pathos built up well. There’s a moment when he describes how the little girl had a face with “a sad, careworn old look which I pray I may never see on a child’s face again” as she silently comforts her brother, which is very affecting. He describes how the children have grown up and that some people say the boy, Jack, is a bit off, a bit cracked. His response, “If Jack is cracked, then I like cracked boys”. He’s also very generous about his wife in this section.
Jack is then included in the next anecdotes, where they have a good and bad day’s ratting and then a rabbitting holiday by the sea. This leads to a series of sentimental anecdotes about the lives of sailors, and a poor little ‘crippled’ boy with the ‘beauty of a girl’. The descriptions of the storms are very evocative and the danger and heroism of the fishermen conveyed well. - Though this does make the book a ‘hodge-podge’, as he says.
While Studies in the Art of Rat-catching does contain advice and information, what tools to use, how to look after ferrets and how to train a dog - but it’s not a straight up rat-catching handbook. This is clear from the way the book contains more scenes of anecdote and sentiment than rat-catching. It’s also clear from the use of a character, ‘Bill Joy’ - how many of the events in the book are true?
What’s more, the book pretends to be a textbook for use in upper-class schools. The introduction talks about how he knows the children would rather be doing fun things like conjugating Latin verbs, but they need to learn the noble arts of rat-catching so they don’t fail and have a pointless career like politician. However, by the end of the book, it’s clear the rich kids won’t make it as rat-catchers, it’s “too much above their intellect”.
November 16, 2020
A book that was surprisingly great. It excelled at making me feel different emotions. His stories made me laugh, cry, and hold my breath in anticipation. Though warning for the faint of heart, he does explain how to kill rats and rabbits multiple times throughout the book. So if you don't want to know the best way to snap a bunny's neck, don't read.
September 4, 2022
This is a wonderful glimpse into the life of a 19th century English rat catcher. His surprisingly humane treatment of all non-rat life, waifs and strays (both human and animal) that work for him is instructive and quite beautiful. I very much enjoyed the detailed, though somewhat brutal, account of his life and work. Recommended for anyone interested in social history.
May 30, 2019
Do you want to learn how to prepare and use a sack o' ferrets to hunt and kill rats at 2 pence a head? Do you want to learn the proper temperament for selecting a new ratting dog? Do you want a look at a curious profession from a bygone time? Then boy howdy, this is the book for you!
June 17, 2018
Charming
Read
November 5, 2023Charming and fascinating.
More illuminating on the life of a rat catcher than rat catching itself. I don't think this is a flaw.
More illuminating on the life of a rat catcher than rat catching itself. I don't think this is a flaw.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews