Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1878-02-02
Muggridger's Cat. ana the
Trouble Ii Brought to
Mr.. Millikens.

II was too bad. just af'er these NICE ram,
had flied the ci-tcrn up 80 timely. 100. IL la'
been perfectly empty. and VIZ. MiiiiSe"o ""'
M, got i, & .eancd and fixed mp IN time i"r me
welcome showers which hiIed WI" a"
abundance of nice. pure water anu ,"e
,..y, n,oruing Mr. Miihkens delivered h's
family a touching lecture ON The tirss"s> vi
wa,er. and in his beautiful ard vivid imagery
he quite surpassed the Davidson FOUNTAIN
And then when he stopped the ear al Maple
street. rl.lt before last, aud waiSed raPid'y
10 h. happy hme. bow do you suppose he
l,.i, " hen hs .raIing children met INN al Tue
gate and ,el.d il excited chorus
..Oh. MA. ia. Ia, Mrs. Mnsgridpers cat
,,.,, aud fell down our ci.rern and drwned!
Mr. MIliher,s always did hate that cat oi
Nuypridrer.' A great brindled munster.
with only one eye and the mar scalded oil /
hi. TAIL. II had killed more chickens in The ,
NilIikers ccups than there are rats IN Iowa, /
and many = ,iu,. di,i o.. she had found her /
Why no the liil.k-u- cr'i,r ahd hi,,d her /
hlo,,ed fora! w;iL cream aud sli.oln steaks !
And Mr.. MiIlikeEs could aot remember The /
number of times he had spraned his arm ami
nearly threw hi. sliOuld, out I'll } nat III inri
ing bricks at that cat. which would SIT on the
hack fence singing psaln,sand winking placid
lv a, him with its lone eye, and wondering
wba, ali the racket was about That cat had
been the CHARM an Of the Anti Midnight Dis
I ric, Central committee for three years, ami
! had attended more caucuses, and called more
conventions in MiIlikens' back yard than IT
| had hairs on lis back. Ii Lad made the sum
mer nights burden to Miikcns all It's life.
| and now il had GROW ned itself in hi cisiern.
| Ii was a piece at demoniacal spite work
| Yen couid'i make Millikens believe Otherwise;
| there was terrible, fendish intelligence III
! that cat and its desire 10 torment AlIllikens
! had been greater than its love ol lite E'"r
\ since Niilikens had scaltied the hair oil ~
| tail he had been expecting something like
| this
| Ii il had been decent kind Of a cat. he
said, as he pulled on his coat, tucked his
| trousers in his boots and began the painful la.
Dor Of emptying the cisirrn " I'LL bucket, liz
| might have stood II Ia get the cat tih aud =
on using the water, but that one-eyed, RAJ
| tailed, hdeous singer scree"her, fangh /!
The disgusting thing lie would never use
the cistern again. he would ill II up as soon
As he got the water out, and would dry al
other one Dog gone the eat. hr sand IT,
tciIed painfully on and the water grew low
with terrible slowness. He felt the bucket
strike the body of the floating Cat several
times, but he hadnt hanri II up yea H.
kept on Juggling at the bucket rope nj h'-
arms ached. And his back. And his legs.
And his head.
No. lie snappishly told Mrs. Mllkens, in
answer to her tenth summons, that lie wash
coming to supper tlil he had amPtied this
cis,ern. He didn', care II 1t was spoii,ng
WHAT Well, let the flies eat every thing u,
lie didn't care; he could eat the fli">. lie reg
oned, scarca>ticaiy, couldn't het Hey'
Well, he didn't care if il did take him a
week. he was going tn keep at it Till IL was
emptird. Dog gone the cat, he wished it wa,
Muggridger Llmscif that was IN tue cistern.
Blast a cat. any how.
How ! e did haul water and splash ms
clothes an sweat and swear, and how the
}. neighbor wives hung over the front fence
j, and talked glioly TO Mrs. Millikens about the
catastrophe, and how he wished they were
all in with the cat. And Mrs. Muggrdsei
u came and hung over the fence and wepi and
y told wonderful stories of that cats sagaciiy
= and lis affection for children "Atfeciion io
u my chickens!,' M,IIikens muitered. And rh'
n women talkei and j,bbered and piiied Mrs
u Muygridger more than il il had been one o
ii the children that had been drowned. Mill
u kens toiled on, his face very hot at beln;
d made the focus of so many eyes. Dog>gon'
q the dog goned cat to thunder, he said, VIII
considerable asperisy. How he did hate cat,
he said.
TIE cstern was getting pretty low now
10 The sun had gone down behind the western
e hills in glory of peaceful sPlendor, and III
ruddy tin,s Of the dying day touched tn
II, clouds and sky with a serene solemn beaul
4 Il
L. ed with the blight Of sin and eeyed cats
re The noisy prattIers at the front fence felt tn
r. haowed influence Of the hour and Silehc
1t laid her fingers To her lips. Only MiiiiSen
Is. sten,orious breathing, aud the plash OF ill.,
IL bucket broke the oppressive silence. Than
heaven. Mllikens sighed, it is nearly empty.
ne 'Miau-ow ow-oOw!
by A weird mccarthy shrek that curdletl III
XII blood in the bravest heart, and male Mill
kens drop bucket, rope and every thing dow
nj into the cistern. He srotd up and glazed
w. speechIess Amusement at Muggridger's ca
pearched on the back fence, which winke
n2 pleasantly at him with its lone eye, and wei
liy on calling the names of the delegates. Thel
CHI wasn't damp hair on it. When MiIlike,
could speak, he called his children and sa
"a aeely demanded what ,isy meant by telir
Ter him that he about The cat.
III We'll, pa. they sa,d, I'VE thought it f.
an down the Cistern anyhow; but We couldr
be see very well.jds where it did go, and may
iof it only run around the box"
There was weeping and whaling in M
nd likenss honse that night, but long after Il
'er sobbing children had found place they con
ce lie on without bowling, the voice Of Ma
OF gridger cat was distinctly heard closing 4
es- debate, which had been unusually long al
stormy, in an eloquent argument against Z
act admission Of v,o,in strings free Of du
ii MiIlikens heard every word Of it, and
re- pounded his pillow and Topped over to ne
- position.
hat "Dog.gone that caI he Substituting
,int r,I