Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-07-30
A SHY AT THE CATS.

a SHY AT THE CATS.
We stated q long time ago lat there would
be trouble some moonlight night ameng the
cats that congregate on the long shed in the
rear of our dwelling. We gave notice that we
had wasted more wood on them than we were
able to spare-that We had used up all the
brlckbats that we could lay our hands on
that we had thrown away something less than
a ton OF coal-and had smashed a window on
the opposite block. All this proving of no
| avail, we said we had got double barreIed
gun, and percussion caps, and powder and
shot; and some morning, after q moonlight
| night, somebody's cat would Mt come home 20
breakfast, or, If II did it would be troubled
With the dumps. We gave fair notice of our
| grievances, and what we intended to do about
| them.
Well, the moon came up one Monday night,
| with her great round face, and went walking
up the sky with queenly step, throwing her
/ mantle Of brightness over the whole earth
| We love the calm Of a moonlight NIGHT in the
| still spring time, and the cats Of our part of
the town love it, too; from the sheds around
National Garden-from the kitchens and the
| stahles-creeping stealthily and softly along
! tie tops of fences, and along the sheds and
clambering up the boards that lean against
the outbuildings, they sit themselves down,
more or less OF tIem, IN their old trysting
places-right opposite our chamber window
1 II
| tion. If a cat wishes to take quiet walk in
the moonlight he chooses to 20 out for his
! pleasure or proft-it is no particular business
OF ours, and we hav'nt a word to say. Cats
have rights, and we have no disposition to
interfere with them. But they must keep
peace. They must get up no disOrderly meet
| ing, no unlawful assemblies. If they choose
| to hold a convention, they can do it for all of
! us-but they must go about it decently ani
| in order.
They must talk their matters over calmly;
there must be no rioting, no fighting They
must refrain from the use OF profane lam
| guage; they mustn't swear. There's Law
! against all this, and we warned them long ago
| that we would stand no such nonsense We
! said we would let drive among them with a
double -barreled gun, loaded with powder and
| duck shot, and we meant il But these cats
didn't believe we had any powder and shot.
They did 1t believe we had any gun, or knew
how to use it, if We had. And one great Mai
tese with eyes like two plates and tail like
a Bologna sausage) grinned and spluttered,
and spit in derision and defiance at our thrests
Very well" said we; Every we'll, Mr.
Tom Cat. very well, indeed. On your head
be 1t, Mr. Tom Cat. Try il on, Mr.. Thomas
Cat, and see how you III get the worst of il -
We said the moon came up OF Monday
night, with her great round face; and all the
| little stars hid themselves, as if ashamed Of
tlS-- lWluhle IN the eplenOOr OF ner Drlgnt-
ness We retired, after the baby had been
/ put to sleep in his crib, and the rumble Of the
carriages and carts had ceased in the streets.
and the scream Of the ten o'clock train had
1 died away in silence, with a quiet conscience,
| and the confidence that we should find that
/ repose to which one who has wronged no man
/ during the day is justly entitled. Ii may
have been eleven O'Clock, possibly midnight,
when were awakened from a pleasant slum-
ber by babel of unearthly sounds in the
rear Of our chamber. We knew what these
sounds meant-they had cost u fuel enough
TO have last a week
We raised the window, and there, as of old
right opposite US, on the north end Of that old
| shed, was an assemblage Of all the cats in
| that part Of the town We wont be precise
as to the number, but it is our honest belief
| that there was no less than three hundred of
them, and if one among them was silent We
| didn't succeed in discovering which it was.
| There was that same old Maltese, with his
| great saucer eyes and sausage tail, and over
! against him was a monstrous brindle, and of
az her right was an old spotted ratter; and on
! his left was one black as q wolf e mouth, all
! but his eyes, which glared with a sulphurous
and lurid brightness; and, dotted all around
| over space Of thirty feet square, were doI-
ems more, Of all sizes and colors-aud such
growing, and splitting, and shrieking, and
swearing, never before broke with hideous
discourse tho silence OF midnight.
We loaded our double barreled gun by can
delight; we put plenty Of powder and a
handful of shot into each barrel. We ad-
justed the caps carefully, ana stepped out of
the window upon the narrow roof upon which
it opens We were then just eighty feet from
the cat convention; end we addressed ourself
to the chsirman-the old Maltese-in a dis
tinct audible voice, and cried " scat"
He didn't recognise our right to the floor,
h,f III tb tba huo af ha
Scat :" cried We, more emphatically than
before, but were answered by an extra shrek
from the chairman and a fercer scream from
from the whole assembly. Seat once" we
cried again, as We brought our gun to a pre-
sent g Scat twice." and we aimed straight
at the chairman, covering dozen others in the
range 'Scat, three times i'' and we let drive
Bang went the left hand barrel, and bang
went the right hand barrel. Such seamper.
ing, such leaping of the outbuildings, over
the top of the wood shed, was never seen be-
fore. The echoes Of the firing had hardly
died away when the whole assemblage was
broken up and dispersed.
Thomas" said we the next morning 20 the
boy who does chores for us, "thers seems
to be a cat asleep out on tss shed; 90 up and
scare il away"
Thomas clambered upon the shed, and went
up where the cat lay, and lifting it up by the
tail, haloed back TO us:
oThe cat can't be walked up; it can't be
scared away-it's dead" -..-l
After examining /. awhile, somebody has
been a shootin' of it, by thunder :" said he,
as he tossed il down into the yard.
{" You don't say so! W said we.
that was the old Maltese, the chairman of
the convention, but he won't preside over an
other very soon. We don't know where he
boarded, or who claimed title of him. What
We do know IS, that il cost us a quarter 90
have him buried or thrown into the river, and
if any body owned him, all We ask is that he
should pay US back our quarter, and the diff
ference between his value and the powder and
shot We expended on him We throw in the
vexation Of being broken Of our rest, and the
wickedness Of using certain explosives which
are not to be found in any of the religious