The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-01-02
FOR THE YOUNG PEOPLE.
WIN, shn-ne Do WIN Her,

pretended to be cat--I do not know
which. You will presently see why il
must be short.
Some time ago supposed friend sent
me, as present, what purported to be
a Chinese cat. Thereby hangs tale 7
Not at all. The cat hadn't sign OF 9
tail. 1t was said by way of apology and
explanation that all Chinese cats have
no tails. If this is fact in natural his.
tory, is is an absurd fact; for it is known
that all Ohinamen-even the smallest
have tails, which are called queues, and
sometimes pig.tails, but never cat-tails.
And it seemed improbable and heartless
that a Chinaman would deny tails to
his cats. However, I took the kitten
in, and named her "China "a name
she has never responded to, to this day.
And this shows the animals instinct
for when came to look in the diction-
ary, found that, in all probability, she
was Manx cat from the isle of Mana
small English island (hardly room
enough to turn round) where cats are
obliged to do without tails. 1t is con.
sidered a very nice kind of cat, if it is a
cat, of which have doubts. It is said
that Turner, the great painter
was probably as good Judge of cats as
ever lived--kept seven Manx cats always
in his house. Perhaps it was necessary
to have seven Manx cats to get the
equivalent of one real cat; in my ex-
perience it requires more.
As L said, 1 doubt if China is cat,
take her all together. She had, as a
kitten, no tail. Her grown tail now is
less than an inch long, and most OF that
is fur. 1t is exactly ike a rabbits tail /;
that is, kind of place for tail. When
China first began to realize her exist
ence, she evidently thought she was a
cat, and her first sportive effort was to
play with her tail. She looked around,
and there wasn't any tail there; the
other end of her was q rabbit. she
was mortified; but what could she do I?
She began, without any apology, to play
with her hind leg, to chase it round and
round as if it were tail; and ever after
that she has amused herself with her
hind leg.
And her hind legs are worth playing
with; for they are not like the hind
legs of cat, but are long and bent
under exactly like the legs of rabbit.
When China sits down, she sits down
like rabbit. So she is neither one
thing nor another; and 1 cannot make
out whether she is rabbit trying to be
q cat, or cat trying to be rabbit. She
succeeds, any way. China is rather
handsome. Her coat is the most beau
tiful combination of soft buff and er
mine-a most pleasing color-and she
is shapely little thing besides, with q
fine head and pretty face. Like some
other beauties, however, she is not as
good as she is beautiful. She has O
temper-can be very playful and affec.
tionate one minute, and scratch and bite
the next without provocation. From an
infant she seemed to have no conscience.
She was perfect whirlwind in the
house, when the whim took her to frolic
went over chairs and all sorts OF fur
niture like flying squirrel; succeeded
in about week in tearing off all the
gimp from the chairs and lounges.
climbed the azalia trees, shook off the
blossoms, and then broke the stems,
Punishment she minded not at all
Only to escape from it for the moment,
think she had not, as kitten, grain
OF moral sense, and yet she was "awful
cunning" and entertaining-more go
than spoiled child. We got a sedate
old cat to come and live with China.
She drove that big cat out CT the house
and off the premises in less than half a
day; and that, too, when she wasn't
more than seven inches long. She went
at the big cat with incredible fury, with
the blaze and momentum of O little fire.
bali.
Now that China has come to be of de-
cent size, some OF the vivacity and play
fulness has gone out of her, but she is
really untamed-goes for things on the
table, steals, and all that; and it is
more difficult than ever to tell whether
she is rabbit or cat. We have
another companion for her-a mild,
staid old grandmother of o cat, with o
very big tail, enough for two, if they
would share it. China treats her with
No respect, but, on the whole, they get
on well, quarreling only half the time,
aud consent to live in the same house.
China overlooks the intrusion.
But as to the nature of China, this is
what happened recently. China's mis-.
tress had undertaken to raise some rad
ishes in advance of the season, in box
ia her conservatory. 1t was slow pro-
cess, owing to O lack OF heat or lack of
disposition in the radishes to grow.
They came up, shot up, grew slender,
tall and pale. Occasionally the mistress
would pull up one to see why the bot.
toms didn't grow SO that we could eat
them; but she never discovered why.
The plants spindled up, all top and no
radish; end by.and-by they got tired
and laid down to rest. They might in
time come to something. In fact, they
began to look as if they were thickening
in the stem and going to grow in the
root. One morning they were gone.
Gone, after weeks of patient watch
ing, watering, and anxious expectation |
Nibbled off close to the ground. China
had eaten every one of them short.
Now, doesn't that show that China is
a rabbit Will a cat eat radish tops
This is one thing l want to know.
There came once to our house face
tious person; that is, a person who
makes Jokes likely to hurt your feelings;
and he looked at the cat, and said it
didn't matter if it had no tail, that l
could write one for it. I have done so.
But that makes no difference. What
I want to know from the children OF
ST. Nicholas is this: What can 1 do
with herr / can neither give her away
for cat nor sell her for rabbit. Do
you think it would coax tail out Of her
to pat her under blue glass p Charles
Dudley Warner, in ST. Nicholas.
The Depth Of Depravity.
A Western paper tells of a new and
dran dfI1llxr ~.