Years ago—1993, I think—I read an excerpt in Harpers about Reg Mell0r, the king of ferret legging. Every once in a while, I’d think about hunting that piece down as I’d written down a quote from Mellor. Thanks to Mark, I know where the excerpt comes from. I offer here for your enjoyment a link to Donald Katz’s essay “The King of the Ferret Leggers.” You know you want to read it. Here’s the bit I copied down years ago:

“The ferrets must have a full mouth o’ teeth,” Reg Mellor said as he fiddled with his belt. “No filing of the teeth; no clipping. No dope for you or the ferrets. You must be sober, and the ferrets must be hungry — though any ferret’ll eat yer eyes out even if he isn’t hungry.” [Read more.]