The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-03-14
Postal Cats.

P0Stal Cats.
Those who are intimately acquainted
with the domestic cat must sometimes
wonder why no effort has been made to
develop his intellectual powers. There
is no doubt that the cat possesses a strong
and subtle intellect, and the capacity to
use it for the benefit Of mankind. And
yet this able beast is currently believed
to waste his vast abilities in the frivolous
pleasures Of the chase, or in more ques.
tionabe forms OF dissipation. No ami.
NAL has been more thoroughly misunder-
stood by the careless and prejudiced OBJ
servers who constitute the majority of
mankind. Because the cat is beast of
refined tastes, accustomed to wear neat
and elegant fur, and proierring to sleep
on cushions rather than door. mats, he
has been constantly classed among useless
and brainless dandies. His fondness for
mice has been pointed out as proof that
low propensities may accompany luxuri
GUS habits, and his musical genius and
romantic tendencies, which are so fire..
quently displayed on the back fence, have
actually been cited as evidences Of his
depraved and riotous courses. His ac.
cusers, with wonderful inconsistency,
praise the terrier, who is quite as much
addicted to rats and mice as is the cat
and they profess to be charmed with the
robin, whose voice and method are vastly
inferior to those Of a cultivated tenor or
soprano cat. The worst that can be truly
said Of the cat is that he is the Alcibiades
of animals, and we're half the pains taken
with his education that were lavished
upon the brilliant Greek. he would prob.
ably prove his superiority to the ablest
Newfoundland or mastff Pericles.
The fortunate few who have broken
through the disdainiul cloak of cynicism,
in which the unappreciatcd cat has
wrapped himself, and who have learned
that however heartess he may seem,
there is always an angel in him as well
as in the late Lord Byron, will be pleased
to learn that certain Belgians have formed
a society for the mental and moral i'm
provcment Of cats. Their first effort has
been to train the cat to do the work now
done by carrier pigeons. 1t has long been
known that the cat cannot be intention.
ally mislaid. The most astute and ac.
complished scientific person would have
his ideas Of locality totally confused by
being tied up in meal bag carried
twenty miles from home, and let out with
a loud request to "scat in a strange
neighborhood in the middle of the night.
This experiment has, however, been re.
peatedly tried upon cats of only average
abilities, and the ;nvariable result has
been that the departed animal has reap
peared at his native kitchen door the
next morning, and calmly ignored the
whole affair. This wonderful skill in
travelling through unfamiliar regions
without guide.book or compass has
suggested the possibility Of using cats as
special messengers. Recently the Belgi.
an Society for the Elevation Of the Do.
mestic Cat invited thirty cats residing in
the city of Liego to take social meal.
bag trot into the country. The animals
were liberated at two O'Clock in the af-
ternoon at long distance from Liege
and promptly proceeded to "scat." AT
GAS the same afternoon, one Of them
reached his home, and beyond hinting
though in much more delicate way than
that employed by Mr.. Wegg that sau.
Ger Of milk would be peculiarly "meller-
ing to the organ" he did not mako the
slightest allusion to his long and trouble.
some journey. His feline companions ar.
rived at Liege somewhat later, but it is
understood that within twenty. -four hours
every one had reached his home.
This result has greatly encouraged the
society, and it is proposed to establish at
an early day regular system of cat
communication between Liege aud the
neighboring villages. Messages are to be
fastened in watcr.proof bags around the
necks of the animrls, and it is believed
that, unless the criminal class of dogs un.
dertakes to waylay and rob the mail.
cats, the messages will be delivered with
rapidity and safety. AT first it is proba-
bic that the new method of letter. carry.
ing will be patronized chiefly by domes-
tic servants, since the kitchen is at pres
ent the usual habitat of the cat. Cooks
and policemen will not, however, be long
permitted to monopolize the services o:
so swift and discreet messenger, and be.
fore very long the lover will commit his
daily vows to the safe keeping Of his
mistress Tabby, and the Plymouth peo.
pie will attach to every stray cat that
may come within their reach letters in
volvng the most tremendous secrets,
which they will implorc the chance re-
ceiver to aid them in keeping inviolate.
N Y. Times.