Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-09-14
Feline Strategy.

allow me TO say gtiias SnoA man IN
Western Oxford, Maine, was bet
ter known in bis day. HelRas an
honest, poor, hard-working man,
and his only failing-if failing if
could be acalled-was the telling
of big stories. 3 | am sure, how
eyernthat in one respect his mem
Dry bad become so W -rEea that
he rehgiously believed his wonder
full relations to be true, He was
the first man to put spade into
the soil Of the first and only farm
l ever owned, and thereafter he
did much work for me....~-gg
/ ssTalsing about cats, I said Uncle
Jim, s'puts me in mind Of .as cat l
once owned. Bet me tel YOU
about. her. She was "a Malice
one T got of Charles Baker--and
| what thatcah didnitsknoWi wasn't
worth KNOWN. Here's one thing
tshea didIF 3ElYba
dUTn the spfihg of o49 | moved
linto the little old house on the
crooked river. hdWeT put our pros
visio down in the cellar, and.
the first night we made our beds,
on tie floor; hpt we didn't sleep
No Sooner had it come dark than
we heard tearin' and q squakin'
Ein the cellar that was awful. L
| lit a candle and went down. Je-
arusalem! Talk about rats! l
never saw such a sight in all my.
born days Every inch Of the
cellar bottom was covered with
them. They run up onto me and
they run over me. I jumped,
|, back into the room and called the
cat. She came down and looked.
/ guess she sotu there about ten
minutes, lookin' oat. them rats, and
| was waitinI to see what she
would do, By and, by she shook
her head and turned about and
went up stairs. She didn't care
to. tackle 'em. g
That night | tell ye, there
wasn't much sleep. In the morn
in Icalledfor the cat, and Icouldn't
find her. Shed gone. I guess
the rats had frightened her, and,
Ito tell the plain truth ] didn't
much wonder. Night came again,
and tbe7old cat hadn't shown her
self. Says Betsy Ann to me, says
she, tJim, if that old cat don't
come back. we'll have to leave
this place. Therats II eatus up"
Says /, "Just you let the old cat
be-" i didn't believe she'd left us
or''good5 and all. fsaf
,v Just as Betsy Ann was putin
| the children to bed, we heard
scratChin and a waulln' at the
outside door. g / went and opened
it, and there stood our old Malice
on the doorstep and behind her
Whole army sof cats, all paraded
as regular as ye ever saw soldiers!
| let our old cat in, and the others
followed herr She went right ITO
the cellar door and scratched ;here.
Isbegan to understand. Old Mai
tee had been after help. l opened
the way to the cellar, and she
marched down, and the other cats
firamped after her. in regular Oh
der--and as they went past me |
counted .tViy-aic of EN-. , +
as Ge-whittaker!s if there wasn't q
row and rumpus in that ere cellar
that night, then I'm mistaken +!
The hext mornin' my old cat came
up and caught hold of my trow-:
sers' legs, and pulled me toward
the door. 4 went down and saw
the sight. Talk about your Bun
ker Hill and yer Boston massacres!
Mercy, I never saw such a sight
before or since. Betsy Ann and
me, with my boy Sammy. was all
day at hard work as we could be,
clearin' the dead rats out of that
ere cellar! Its a fact-every
word of it.
Old Malice sent her feline friends
back again arter2 breakfast, and
rats never bothered us in that ere
house any more, I can tell you.
IL The champion glutton of
Mobile, Ala, is for the time be-
ing on the sick list. The fol-
lowing application to the ply
sician,in chaTge' of the Mobile
GityIIospital speaks for itself:
r.Dr Barncs-This is the man
2wl,o ate AZ eggs for. breakfast
. and drank / gallon of lager beer;
for dinner, he ate 6 pounds of
beef, 2 loaTes5 of bread, and
dranks1~galIon of sbeer.a lie
now feels sick and wishes adj
mittance into the hospital.