Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-19
Comic Cats.

There has laterly been great and i'm
| presslve uprising Of the cat in our illus
| trated periodical literature. Our Juvenile
magazines and newspapers especially
TEEN with wOOd-Cuts of cats in humorous
situations. We are shown an oppressed
cat undergoing a practical joke at the
hands OF some wicked boy, or a triumph
ant cat perpetrating some comic feat at
the expense Of a stupid dog OF child. The
unanimity with which our comic artists
have perceived the availability of the cat
as an element of comic art is certailv very
| remarkable, and it cannot be denied that
| their use Of the animal is usually very sue
| cessful
Undoubtedly, the fun of these comic cat
pictures lies in the incOngruity of assOCia-
ting anything like humOr with an animal
so utterly devoid of that quality. The cat
is Philistine to the tip Of its tail. Itnever
condescends to play, and in no circum-
stances loses its perfect dignity Ofmanner.
What is sometimes mistaken for playful
ness IN the cat is nothing more than re-
hearsal of the gymnastic feats which are
essential to its professional duties. The
kitten chases a string in order to develop
the agility and command ofmuscle which
are needful in chasing mice and birds,
and the mature cat, when she has caught
mouse, goes over the whole process of the
capture again and again as a mere matter
OF practice. The idea of anything so friv
olOus as play or amusement unquestiona-
bly, never enters into the cats head. This
babltual seriousness and strict attention
to business is the cause of the veneration
which the Egyptians showed TO the cat.
They regarded it as god merely because
IL never smiles and never jokes. So sol
emn an animal must be, they thought, su-
perhuman. Without doubt, had a stray
German visited Egypt the Egyptians
would have instantly deified him because
of his inability to comprehend joke.
When an artist represents a cat in hui
morous situation, the incongruity of the
thing amuses us. 1t is precisely the same
with germans. For long time the Ger
man has been fruitful subject of humor,
Tor the sole reason that he is personally
utterly devoid of humor. We are amused
when story-teller or comic artist rep
resents German in intimate association |
with something humorous, because of the |
enormous incOngruity of the idea. 1t has |
taken us somewhat longer to perceive
that in this respect the cat is available as
the German, and now that we have per
ceived it, there is danger that the present
N'NN NSeAA III BAbN " AAll4NNe-
antly large dimensions.
There are many interesting anecdotes il
lustrating the wonderful intelligence of
the cat, and among them we can incident |
ally find striking evidence of the cats COM
plete lack Of humor. There was a large
Maltese cat, the property of a prominent |
washerwoman of Chicago, who contrived |
a scheme of supplying his table with |
choice mice without personal exertion.
He made the acquaintance of an active |
and intelligent terrier, and employed the |
latter to catch mice for him, paying for
them in bones. The cat collected large |
stock Of bones, which he kept in the hol- |
low of tree, out of reach OF the dog, and
never produced until bargain was con-
snmmated. A large fiat stone served as a
counter, and on this the dog would deposit |
a mouse when offering it for sale. The
cat would examine the mouse closely and
would always affect to disparage it. The
dog would insist that it was a remarkably
fine spring mouse, and rejecting with dis
dain the cats first offer, would pick up the
mouse and pretend to carry it away. Then
the cat would call him back, and after a
long discussion and much sharp bargain