The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-09-28

1
fire Of sarcastic remarks against PerC
grine, the whole evening, and ths
gentleman took his leave, very Wis
bly, subdued and shOrn of his impOr
tance. When Miss T. retired she wa
just trifle rufHed, it is true, bu
nevertheless perky and self-assertive
and to her hostess, she said, as sh
bade her 'igoOd night, +" "Plesse neve
ask me 10 meet that rufiianly fellow
again. This the physiOgnOmis
readily promised, being very wei
pleased with the results of the eve
ning's rencOntre.
"YOu don't mean to say, surely
that Miss T.'s attack on Peregrin
this evening typifies wren's natnra
conduct in the immediate presence o
a hawk %
"Oh, yes, but l do and it is pre-
cisely what I had anticipated" re
Joined the clever investigation
i'Small birds are only afraid of the
hawk when they are solitary, bu
when there are several Of them in
company, they fly at his very head
and try to pick his eyes out. Indeed,
half dozen small birds will iiereely
attack hawk, and often succeed IL
damaging him always in driving
him away from their vicinity. POOl
little Miss T. was full of this very
spIrjt of retributiOn this evening
She is terribly afraid Of Peregrine, ]
can see, and the CONSCIOUSNESS that
she is afraid enrages the little thing
exceedingly. They are two people
that will never draw together, that
must always antagOnize, ant yet
neither can give any reason, / know,
for their mutual antipathy. There are
many cases in society of sympathies
and antipathies, which remain SEEM
ingly unacconntable, simply because
the physiognOmical revelations which
would make them Ineligible are al
together ignored. But wish to try
the effect on Hiss Il. of another gen.
ueman. You have not met him yet.
but 1 will give You timely notice.
He is a new and very fine addition TO
my collection, L can assure you.
The promised notice having come
to hand, the present chrOnieler pro-
eeeded TO the physiOgnomist's and
preceded her into the private parlOr,
where her select gatherings were held
The only occupant of the room was q
large and well fed gentleman of mid
die age, who, on tip-toe, and with
neck we'll stretched, appeared 10 be
scanning the titles of some volumes
in the upper shelves Of the bookcase,
on which he was resting his soft,
white hands for support. He was
very near sighted, and peered at the
books so closely that he seemed to be
reading their titles by the sense of
smell. He turned his head quickly,
but without haste, in the direction of
the door on its being opened, and set
his large, round eyes calmly on the
intruder, without changing his posi-
ton in any respect. For full five sec
Onds he maintained this attitude, till
the hostess entered and went through
the ceremony Of an Introduction.
Then Mr.. Smith-for so he called
him took his hands, one after the
other, from the bookshelf, and came
forward with q soft step and a some
Whist siding gait, and said, "HOw do
you do sir? am happy to meet yOu,"
in a voice as soft as his step. He was
q pleasant, comfortable man to look
at. He had full, round face, with
side whiskers his hair was parted in
the middle, and brushed TO a point
over each temple; his eyes were large
and circular, and his nose somewhat
spread at the nostrils. His tones were
very soft, and his conversation was
pitched on q persuasive key but
while in the act OF speaking and list
ening his round eyes lost somewhat
Of their roundness, and he seemed to.
see best through their halfclOsed
lids.
Miss t. came rather late, and made
thesaequaintanee of Mr.. Smith with
out evincing, at first, any feeling of
one kind or another. With q slight
blush she heard him say, at gives
me JOY to meet you Miss T." and,
to the usual etiquette OF in
she saw him take her
slight fingers in his large, soft hand,
and quietly submitted to the familiar
iEy. 1t was soon discovered that
else, instead Of Mr.. Smith,
was troubling Miss T., who had
shrunk into a corner Of the sofa, while
Mr.. Smith had settled himself near
her in an easy chair.
"You know my strange feeling
with regard TO cat" she said, address,
ing the hostess; "and / am sure there
Is cat in the ROOM"
she was assured there was no cat in
the room, and, to satisfy her, all the
hooks and corners were explored, and
Of course no cat was found. Miss 7.
was one of that numerous class who
have q mysterious aRtipathy to the
cat tribe, and in her case the antipa-
thy was of so acute q character that
she could tell when q cat was in the
room, even though she did not see 1t.
This antipRthy was not lesssned, but
rather intensified by the fact that eats
had habit of leaplng into her lap,
and making themselves quite al home
while such familiarity on their part
made the poor little thing ready to
faint. 'iOf course" the physiogno-
mist had said cOnfidentially to the
writer, sit would be something un-
natural il q wren were not In mortal
terror Of cats"
"This Is curious DISLIKE you seem
to be afflicted with, my dear young
lady," ssid Mr.. Smith, on the present
occasion. al am sure the cat is n
very sffectionate creature" he added,
drawing his chair closer to Miss T.
with the object Of soothing her, while
she sank closer into her corner. Their
attitudes were a revelation.
The truth shone forth like a flash Of
light: Mr., Smith was the cause OF
the wren's trepidatiOn-Mr Smith
hfmSalf WAS the cat
"Isn't it cruel to cause Miss T. all
this pain ?'1
"Rather, but you must make -up
your mind to the infiietIon OF pain in
pursuits, was the physiOg-
nOmist's reply To the humane TenOn-
STRANGE. HBut viii light the gas,
and then she may feel better.n
But Ar. Smith objected to have the
gas lit. He had a cats own love of
darkness. He crept softly over to
where the hostess was lighting q ta-
per, and said, my dear madame, do
let US enjoy the twilight little
longer. / assure You have an mex
pressible liking for the darkness, and
your young friend has no objection
nave you, Miss T.?n
To our astOnishment the wren
chirped out timidly, "Oh, no :" SO