The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-01-04
evening state gotrisat.
qQuad" on Cats.
FELINE "REMINISCENCES.

REMARKABLE FELINE "REMINISCENCES.
The following striking incidents abou
cats are recorded by "Quad, in the Detroi
Free Press
l remember the first cat which eve
owned. He wasn't any of your commol
stock, but regular teaser, with teeth Xix
a cross-cut saw, and the owner of hin
gave him away on account of his habit 0
killing sheep. hadn't any sheep to kill
and as children wore buckskin in thos,
days, I didn't apprehend any danger.
called the feline Socrates, and he learned
to respond to the cognomen with grea
ardor. He had his strong points
and he had his failngs. Once, OF
a Fourth Of July, at the request OIL
the Mayor, who wanted the day to pas:
off with Elan, put Socrates in pen
with thirteen dogs. The result was Just
as l had expected. Thirteen farmers
wagons went out of town that afternoon
with a dog under the hind axletree. /
might prevaricate little, and say that
Socrates escaped unhurt, but shall speak
the truth. He came out Of that pen with
out any ears, his tail off, one eye out, lame
In both hind legs, and the lonesomest look
in his face you ever saw. He avoided
me entirely, seeming to think that had
piled on the dogs little too thick, and he
soon after went to the woods and commit
ted suicide by hanging himself with strip
of slippery elm bark.
I was catless for year after this, until
one day the bell rang, the door opened and
boy asked me to take look at huge
yellow feline he had in bag. lie had
heard that | wanted an uncommon kind of
cat, and thought would like the sample.
The cat was poured out on the floor, al d
commenced laughing. He was cross
eyed, with mouth that was intended for
cat three times his size, giving him the
oldest look in the world. you kin bet
he knows his mind said the lad, and SO /
bought 'Sisyphus.' I went to bed that
night, leaving one of my unfinished epis-
ties on the table, and did not observe any
thing strange about the cat at that time.
About midnight we were all awakened II
aterrible laughing, regular peals of it, and
voice roared: ooh hs hoo a-ha r. |
l tell you, sir, in the greatest sim
certify that when l got out of
bed, the cat set upon end, hold |
ing his sides, and was reading and laugh
ing over my episte | confess I was a |
little surprised, as he was the first thing
that ever saw anything in them to laugh |
at, but l could not help but renewed
affection for Sisyphus, a sort of recogni-
ton of his talents and keen perception.
But, he had his failing-he would suck
persons breath. He never tried the game
on me. for some reason or other, but saw
him fooling around Small Pleas cradle one
day, and determined to fix him. l got
blacksmith's bellows, fixed the end through
the kitchen wall, close to the rug where
Sisyphus generally slept, and then waited
for him to retire. Then he got set
tied, gave a little motion to the
bellows, and the cat took hold of
the end, just as l hoped, probably sup
posing he had got big thing on some in
FAINT suppose you will doubt my char
acter for veracity but solemnly tell you,
that then and there occurred such strug-
gle as you never saw. Iput on the blow
and the cat tried to inhale all that came
l worked the bellows up till the joints
cracked, and the cat bored burrows all
over the floor with his claws in his en-
deavor to hold the thing. At length, with
a yell of despair, he let go, jumped
through the window, and was found cut
in two beside the axe the next morning,
and sad proof of the superiority of ma
chinery over cat capacity.
Do you suppose that l stopped here
No, sir. 1t did not dampen my ardor f r
cats, but rendered me a little more part
ocular. 1t was two years before could
find another feline, but at length hit on
one that was travelling with circus. He
was beautiful straw color, with spots Of
violet ringed around him, and the owner
me that the animal could talk as !
plain as any child, though he never did it {
except he was heartily pleased, or in case
Of imminent danger. The owner called
him Pythagoras but I changed it to Arch
medes, because I had an idea that
might want to move him with
ever some day. Well, I had the
animal four months and had never observ-
I'd anything like talking in his voice, when
re day the agent of stump-pulling
machine came along and wanted to sell me
ais patent. Archimedes seemed to take
great interest in the conversation, and
couldn't stand still or sit down for a
moment. To convince me what his ma
'HibS Couiu w, tuo aSolt SeG III 10 u stump, |
,itched the "backhold" to my horse barn,
md put his team on. "Now, look out to
zee her come !" says he, and the horses
hadn't gone three times around before my
lorse barn was pulled square over. "Oh
Ia hs ! here's richness |" shouted a
'oice as the crash occurred, and that
miserable cat actually laid right
iown and gasped till he afterward
taggered in trying to reach the
louise. After dismissing the agent, who 4
lad made mistake and hitched the wrong =
nd of the chain to the barn, | went in
nd went to bed. In the night, Just as | W
vas dreaming about running for office, that d
at happened to remember how the barn y
anne over, and he went off again, yelling 10
O-o-ohl hel ha it's enough to kill p
sller I and then l heard him lay down W
nd hold his sides. Not being personally P
cquainted with me, you may take me for
THAT am not but | must say that when I
got up in the morning Archmedes had "
aughed himself all away but his tail, and
hat was still shaking
The ReTal World says: "One of the -
ruelest things done to dumb beasts is put te
mo- hard frOzar ;ro,, l;t, Vi