Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-02-08
NiIlikens' Grief.

anu nAeu up IN time Tor the welcome
showers which filled it with an abund-
ance OF nice pure water. And the next
morning Mr.. Millikens delivered his
family touching lecture on the bles-
sings of water, and in his beautiful and
vivid imagery, he quite surpassed the
Davidson fountain. And then when he
stopped the car at Maple street night
before last and walked rapidly to his
happy home, how do you suppose he
felt when his staring children met him
at the gate and yelled in excited chorus !:
"Oh pa, pa, pa, Mrs. Muggridgers'
cat went and fell down our cistern and
drowned I"
Mr.. Millikens always did hate that
cat of the Muggridgers'. A great
brindled monster, with only one eye
and the hair scalded off its tail, it had
killed more little chickens in the MILL
kens' coops than there are rats in Iowa,
and many a time and oft, she had
found her way into the Millikens' cellar
and filled her bloated form with cream
and sirloin steaks. And Mr.. Millikens
could not remember the number of
times he had sprained his arm and
nearly threw his shoulder out of joint
IN hurting bricks at that cat, which
would sit on the back fence, singing
serenades and winking placidly at him
with Its lone eye, and wondering what
all the racket was about. That cat had
been the chairman of the anti-midnight
district central committee for three
years, and had attended more caucuses
and called more conventions in Mill
kens' back yard than it had hairs on its
back. 1t had made the summer nights
burden to Millikens all its life, and
now 1t had drowned itself in his cistern
1t was piece of demoniacal spite
work. You couldn't make Millikens
believe otherwise there was terrible,
tiendish intelligence in that cat, and its
desire to torment Millikens had been
greater than its love of life. Ever
since Millikens had scalded the hair off
Its tail he had been expecting some
thing like this.
1t it had been decent kind of a cat,
he said, MS he pulled off his coat, tucked
his trousers in his boots and began the
painful labor of emptying the cistern
with bucket, he might have stood it to
get the cat out, and go on using the
water: but that one-eyed, rat-tailed,
hldeous, serenade screecher, faugh! The
disgusting thing, he would never use the
cistern again; he would fill it up as soon
as he got the water out, and would dig
another one. Dog gone the cat, he said.
He tolled manfully on, and the water
grew lower with terrible slowness. He
felt the bucket strike the hody of the
floating cat several times, but he hadn't
hauled it up yet. He kept on Juggling
Mt the bucket rope till his arms ached.
And his back. And his legs. And his
head.
No, he snappishly told Mrs. Millikens
IN answer to her tenth summons, that he
wasn't coming to supper till he had
emptied this cistern. He didn't care if
it was spelling. What? Well, let the
flies eat everything up. he didn't care
he could eat the flies, he reckoned (sar.
castically), couldn't he? Hey Well,
he didn't care if it did take him n week,
he was going to keep at it till it was
emptied. Dog gone the cat, he wished
1T was Muggridger himself that was in
the cisten.. Blast a cat, anyhow.
How he did haul water, and splash his
clothes and sweat and swear, aud how
the neighbours wives hung over the front
fence and talked glibly to Mrs. Mill
kens about the catastrophe, and how he
wished they were all in with the cat
And Mrs. Muggrider came and hung
over the fence and wept, and told won
derful stories of that cats sagacity ant
it's affection for children. "Affections
for my Chickens" Millikens muttered
And the women talked and jabbered, ant
pitled Mrs. Muggrider more than if il
had been one of the children that hat
been drowned Millikens toiled on, hi
face very hot at being made the focus O
so many eyes. Dog gone the dog gonnet
cat to thunder, he said, with considera
bile asperity. How he did hate cats, h
said.
The oistern was getting pretty Low
now. The sun had gone down behint
the western hills, in glory of peaceful
splendor, and the rudy tints of the dy
ing day touched the clouds and sky will
serene, solemn beauty, almost to-
ethereal to hang over world tainted
with the blight of sin and one-eyed cats
The noisy prattlers at the front fenc
felt the hallowed influence of the hour
and Silence laid her fingers on their lips
Only Milliken's stertorous breathing an,
the plash, plash of the bucket broke tn
oppressive silence. Thank heaven, Mill
kens sighed, it is nearly empty.
Miau- ow-ow- cow" ...
A weird, unearthly shrek that curdle
the blood in the bravest heart, and mad
Milllkens drop bucket, rope and every
thing down into the cistern. He stoo
up and glared in speechless amazemen
at Muggridger's cat, perched on the bac
fence, which winked pleasantly at hir
with its lone eye, and went on calm
the names of the delegates. Their
wasn't damp hair on it. When Mill
kens could speak, he called his childre
and savagelv demanded what they NEAR
by telling him that lie about the cat.
Well, pa, they said, "we though
1t fell down the cistern. anyhow; but "
couldn't see very well Just where it di
go, and maybe it only run around til
box E m ~
There was weeping and wailing
Millikens' house that night, but Ion
after, the sobbing children had found
place they could lie on without howlin,
the voice of Muggridger's cat was di
tinctly heard closing the debate, whic
had been unusually long and stormy,
an eloquent argument against the at
mission OF violin strings free of dut
Mlllikens heard every word of it, and
pounded his pillow and topped over to
new position.
Dog gone that cat p he said.-Bu
Hngton HaaOkeye.
Alphabet of Short Rules.