Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1869-07-21
Cats, Dogs. and Robins.

Cats, Dogs. and Robins.
have been sitting on the veranda lis
tening to my robins. | call them my
robins, because | have taken them under |
my special care. [ will not allow gun
to be fred on the premises. No cat is to
be permitted to hunt them, although l re-
cognize the " natural rights" of cats,
among which is the right to vary diet
of mice and rats with an occasional bird
or chicken. But l prefer to compound
for the birds by giving my cats an extra
Eallowancc of other food.
4 You will perceive tho need of an under
standing between me and my cats, when
tell you that 1 have five, with a constant
4 tendency to have more. First is the
y olack, Wft1nf WRft1nf@H ahy pane, famous mouser'
fand the mother Of two half Maltese boys,
4 and one gray, with white breast; all
virile and, like their productive mother,
good ratters. TO these add another,
which l brought up last year from Brook
| lyn as a kitten, and which was ignorantly
named the :" city lady" But calling one
+ lady does not make one so. Facts
I compelled change of title, and now he is
known as " the city cat" A splendid
7 fellow he is the pride of my heart a
very light gray, with darker stripes, ofa
\ spare habit, large, fat-sided, with dash
/ of wildncss and ferceness which give spirit
! to his demeanor 4 very hunter he is,
fearless of dogs and despotic among cats,
I whom he knocks over as if he were an
oriental king.
That all my eats are honest is SHOWN,
\ among other ways. by the fact that though
Il there are some two hundred little chickens
\ all around the barn, on daily count of
1 each hen aud her brood, none are missing
N except such as were known to have had
i right to die, sort of ticket-of-i Nor
\ have ever seen them hunting birds. 1t
is true that | have seen them watching
lntently near strawberries were birdst
we're hopping about But is it a sign tha
one steals when he Is seen looking wIstfully
in alta shop window? Is boy going to
4 steal the bananas because he looks at
tnem? | do not doubt that cats have
savory thoughts while watching these
birds. but [ have never seen them touch
one, nor does there seem to be any
, lack of birds, as there would be if they
( were hunted by five cats.
The education of cats, and the estab-
lishment of proper discipline, Is no small
- task But all this belongs TO Mr.. Turner,
I who is one of those men that control the
! whole animal kingdom by kindness, and
! under whose hand every beast becomes a
cosset and pet. But in every well regu-
y lated family there must be n rod some
!, where, either expressed or elegantly un-
1 iderstood, as the Latin grammar used to
\ say. Although his discipline IS in general
~ery raild..a.,a -lsIss.-t inaulsent. yet there
are certain things that will bring down on
s cat or dog the salutary switch.
: We have have just passed through one
e of these seasons of discipline. Be it
: known. that | have three black-and-tan
: terriers-pure not white hair about
z ! them. One is a dog. the others are not
f but they are all alike sharp, nimble,
, nervous and plucky. Only consider what
; amia5le times were likely to ensue between
three terriers aud FIVE cats! Great is the
t Rod Already the General Assembly of
: Cats and the General Assembly of Dogs
e have agreed to make common cause. L
!, do not think that either side quite believes
2 in the other. [ have noticed sudden
q rising of the back and splitting, when the
j dogs came suddenly on the cats from
: around the corner. | have seen cat
bolt from the shrubbery with three little
; terriers after her. Yet these are but the
: remains of old hostilities, when such con-
+. duct was esteemed duty. On the whole
: they get on together we'll considering how
; recently the union has been agreed upon,
7 and what Is the inherent nature of cats
and dogs.
; If one is fond of early rising, he may
: see Mr.. Turner going up the hull after
= salad with four or five cats trotting at his
; heels whenever he stops a moment. At a
n later period three little black tails may be
e seen whirling about the grass, each looking
5 like a letter S cut in two. But never
| have seen both eats and dogs in process
/; sion together after the master. Only
e when they come up to feed can they be
:, made mutually respectful.
d How humanizing is food What a
:, moral power has the table Dinner cures
b enmities, cools jealousies, reconci,es con-
l, ficts, allays prejudices, and even over
a masters conscience. Here are my cats
f; and dogs, late implacable enemies, now,
unless greatly tempted, moderate friends.
! Taken alone, neither of them believes
d much in the other. Cats regard dogs as
d rash and dangerous Dogs look upon cats
< as forever guilty of not being dogs Yet,
5 open the ffesh-pots, call these respective
1 and mutual heretics together, and for the
: sake Of DIT of meat they consent, in soft
:, ened growl to call each other brother and
IA sister!
n But what has all this to do with robins ?
/; l have been watching them from my
o yeranda, and they have been Watching
a me- What opinion they have formed OF
IT me cannot tell. But regard them with
h admiration increasing every year.
/, Sweet as is the note of his cousin, the
e wood thrush, must pronounce the common
e robin not only his superior, but on the
3 whole, the finest of all northern singers. |
:, cannot imagine how such praises, out of
proportion and extravagant, have been
-e heaped on the wood-thrush. The quality
s of its note is fine; but it lacks vigor,
Y continuity and variety. 1t is refined, sad
le and even sorrowiul. [ should say that the
to wood-robin had met a great sorrow in ear
E. ly life, and had never got over it. But
); the common robin is the very emblem of
n- Joyous and robust bird-manhood. 1t seeks
is no seclusion. 1t sings out of no leafy
I'd cell.
t, At morning and at night from some
S, open tree i; pours out continuous song,
IN full of tenderness, yet sprightly, ringing
', and iubilant. The range OF note is very
W considerable. 1t is not soft, breathing
y. song, like the sparrow's, (whose quality is
it second to no other bird's.) The robir