The Newtown bee., 1879-09-03
A QUEER BUSINESS.
The Feline Boarders of New York and
~ HOW they are served with their
Meais--Profits of the CAT Purvevor

81 row they are served with their
eais--frofits of the Cat Purveyor.
A Herald reporter while taking the
early morning air in the region Of the
deserted Battery noticed two eats, sit
ting Ike miniature caryatides, one on
each SIDE OF warehouse, eagerly peer
ing around the corner and occasionally
lnterchanging remark, which led him
to the belief that the cats had some
special object in SO sitting and so peerinp.
A walk through Bridge, Stone.
Water, Pearl, Front and other adjacent
warehouse streets, revealed more cats,
al! evidently with some fixed purpose.
Kittens were there. too, but they dis
played none of the leyity commonly at
tached to youth. Each wore the solemn
aspect of bummers. Sedately seated al
the front doors of their respective ware
houses. as if they were themselves the
proprietors, they looked up and down
the streets as if awaiting the arrival of
the postman. 81 : eszaa- 81.
The solid individuality of the cat
family, who looked after the welfare of
the great brick buildings intrusted to
their charge, occasionally was intruded
upon by a strange cat, of the tramp kind
in fact, whose coat showed signs of wear.
but who was of course frowned upon
and driven away by the more respecta-
bic members of the eat fraternity. who.
with misses and other feline expletives.
expelled him from the neighbour
hood. All down town was alive with
cats. Cats crawled from little square
holes in doors; cats came OUT from un-
der iron gratings; cats assembled from
neighboring housetops, where they had
been making night hideous with their
serenades; stray cats, who had neither
local habitation nor a name, but who
seemed intent on something, visited the
| ngA Ssgse ~.
cats. and every other variety of the feline
family was represented.
The cause was presently apparent.
A man in a blue checked shirt, with A
heavy basket on his arm laden with
small packages of meat, came around a
corner. AT once every cat cameTo the
attitude "attentionr' and presented
arms" and in many cases tails toot
From this basket the man, on meeting a
regular boarder, took a package of mea'
wrapped in brown paper and handed his
portion to each cat. Those who were
not regular boarders made spasmodic at
tempts in some cases TO assist the regu-
lar boarder in the consumption of his
food, but rs a rule Were unsuccessful.
The purveyor knows all his customers,
or rather his boarders. He knows that
the Maltese lives at No. 10 State street,
and if she inquiries for her breakfast at
No 40 he Furnishes her by refusing to
give her her rations. So. too, he knows
that the huge, tawny cat who looks after
the interest of a pork warehouse on
Bridge street has no business in Stone
street. He has studied his boarders,
''has them down fine" and no cat now
dares be on any other premises but his
own at breakfast hour. r-aaa. a-
In an interview with the man for
whose coming the cats so impatiently
wait, and whom they fondle, purr about,
and against whose legs they rub their
supertiuous fur, said:
"Well, have been in this business
several years. / manage to make about
$50 a week, the actual amount varying
at different seasons of the year. / take
out about one hundred and fifty pounds
r of meat in the morning for delivery
e among my cat family, and it's pretty
2 hard work, for to say nothing of the
Job of Juggling grub around, all the cats
t in the country know me and follow me.
{ and ] sometimes feel as though / was
! father of the whole cat tribe" o..
Reporter-Whom do you supply with
/ cats meat generally?
e Purveyor-There are lots of stores in
: this neighborhood whose occupants deal
q in pork, cheese, hams and other eatable
e matter of that description Now sll
5 these stores are mostly very old, and in
: tested with rats. Well, the people who
7 occtfpy the stores have to keep plenty of
/: cats to keep the rats down. These eats
: have to be fed. They amt a-going to
: cut ham to feed the cats, and cats don't
e like salt meat anyhow, and on Sundays
r there would be no one here to feed them.
e So, as / had read one time how men in
f London went round with carts and fed
the cats, j thought / would go into the
f business on smaller scale
Reporter-What do you charge per
day for the board of a cat? ---
Purveyor-Five cents, and it's too
cheap at that. ] buy my meat away w
town, and have to buy wrapping paper
, to keep the separate pieces in; and.
: what's more, / don't board my cats on
: clearinghouse hash. ,r- --..s.-r
Reporter-Yo on don't mean to say YOU
feed them on tenderioin steak?
/, Purveyor-Of course don't give 'em
choice cuts; but / don't feed 'em on
,, poor grub. / don't give 'em no cuttings
q from dead animals, as they say they do
, in London and other places where cat s
: meat men go round, but | give 'em good.
: fair decent food, varying it from day to
!, day. / always give 'em fish on Friday.
There is always plenty of fish in the
! market then, and it's cheaper to me than
: : meat on that day, and cats ike fish any
! how. A change of diet is good for cats
j as well as men. sa-E
, The cat IN the daytime Is rather agree-
, able and has its uses. At night, how
ever, the case is reverse. Among the
down town warehouses, howevs where
there are few residents. and the cats
more unpleasant peculiarities do moi
! make themselves so conspicuous as they
! do in uptown yards, they are very
; necessary. A downtown dealer in pro
! visions said: Wetkeep six cats here
They go on duty when we lock up, about
! six in the evening. III we didn't, the
! rats would play high carnival, and eai
! our stock so that ii would be utterly un
! salable. The worst thing is the cheese
. Rats gnaw right through the boxes
They seem to fancy it more than meat
But we have sometimes other goods il
stock which, if IL wasn't for the cats
would be speedily ruined. We used Il
feed them ourselves, but it was a yer,
! great trouble, as we had to send Il
! Washington market for meat, and wheI
the man came round and offered TO sup
ply them with food for five cents da,
apiece we accepted the offer gladly. i
: is cheaper to pay a couple of dollars
week than to have the place oveITm
with rats. 49, fs
The meat man said, in response to Al
inquiry whether he ever missed a ca
from the appointed place: '.Oh, yes
! / sometimes md them dead in front