The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1880-03-12
A Tale of a Cat.

One morning in spring, poor little
kitten came crying about the door of 8
farm house. She was young, very small
and very wild, and altogether in a sad
plight.
was little girl then, and extremely
fond of kittens, and as the plaintive
'sme -eww "me-ew!' reached my ears, ]
flew to the door and opened it with q
bang, which caused poor little kitty tc
take to her heels in manner which is
possible only to cat. followed as fast
as my two feet would carry me, but she
was nowhere to be seen. In vain called
kitty, kitty, kitty in my most coaxing
tones. Even when at last espied her
covering behind some old boxes, she
would not be induced to come forth, but
quickly scampered away and disappeared
through hole in the floor. It seemed
the mother had been killed by some bad
boys, and the little kitten was supposed
to have shared her fate, and SO she was
nearly starved to death, being too young
to know where to go for supplies.
Having begged a saucer of milk of the
cook, / placed it near where Miss Kitty
had vanished, and soon had the salts
faction of seeing furry head and two
wild eyes appear at the hole where was
watching for her.
Having learned wisdom from expert
ence, I at once withdrew to distant part
of the barn, and she soon came out, and
with many starts and tremors many
scamper1ngs back to her retreat, she
finally approached the milk, Tapped it
greedily up, and licked her chops in a
way which said plainly, ''I never tasted
anything SO good in my life." After a
time, and with much patience, sue
ceeded in tanning her, and she would fol-
low me all about the house, sit on my
shoulder and make graceful pretences at
catching my thread when I sewed, and
her winning ways, as well as her forlorn
and motherless coudition, endeared her
to the whole household. She was of the
real tortoise shell colors, and beautifully
marked; the yellow and the black so min
gled as to make golden brown, where
over her head and down on either side, it
looked like the soft waves of lady s
hair. The fur of neck and breast was a
creamy white, even to her feet, which, all
but one, were shod in brown slippers,
the missing one seeming to have been
just dropped.
With her dainty neatness, the quiet
ease and grace of all her movements, and
her unobtrusive modesty and dignity,
ONE might sometimes have fancied her
some lovely lady doomed to dwell in such
prison, whose beauty and grace could
yet in no wise be hid.
But she had strange fancies, this fine
lady, and chose strange companions, for
while she spent a greater part of the day
with me, she invariably returned to the
barn at night, seeming to prefer it to the
more luxurious lodgings l provided for
her in the house.
I soon found that in her solitary and
orphaned condition she had taken the
hens and chickens as playmates, and this
to such an extent that it was curious to
watch them.
In the long summer days she would
follow the hens about in their wanderings
through the fields in search of GRUB"
and true to her instincts would while
away the time catching meadow mice, or
failing in her search. she would crouch
in the grasss near the hens, and play
fully spring into their midst This in.
variably caused hutter among her fea-
thered friends, and generally drew
forth grave 'scraw! craw! crawl of re-
monstrance from some venerable hen,
but they had become too much accus-
toned to her kittenish freaks to be much
disturbed by them, and quickly resum-
ed their wonted tranquility.
At night kitty took up her rest in a
deserted manger in the barn, above
which the hens had their roost, and
so I suppose, she consoled herself for
the lack of more congenial companion
ship. How far they understood each
other, it would be impossible to say,
but she evidently felt them to be step
nearer to her than human beings. Well
time went on until one day (woe is me!
I dread the recital), while kitty was
frolicking in the yard, a big black dog
came snuffing around the corner of the
wall; he saw our kitty where she was
crouching in terror by the dosr step.
One pounce, and he seized her-one
snap of his cruel jaws and she lay dead
at my feet. All her gay, free wander
ings over, her little life extinguished.
No words could describe my feelings.
Life so bright and innocent, and death
sudden and cruel, brought face to face.
It was long before I could tell the
dreadful story, and all night my sleep
was disturbed by horrible dreams.
AS soon. as was dressed next morn
ing, I strobe down stairs, longing and
yet dreading to see my pet. There she
lap in the soft, green grass where she
had fallen, with no outward marks of
violence upon her person.
Strange to say as I looked from the
window, / saw crowd of mourners Was
there before me. The hens had gather
ed around her in solemn conglave, and
seemed lost in wonder that she should be
SO silent and regardless of them How
long they had been there could not
tell. They consulted together in low
and solemn tones, and now and then one
would walk forward in their peculiarly
stately, teetering, mincing fashion, and
peer over at her, then rejoin the circle
No congregation "taking the last view
of the corpse" of friend and neighbor,
could have been more decorous or more
respectful to the solemnities of the oc-
casion.
How her case appeared to these grave
and reverend seigniors' whether tesvV.
reasoned upon the matter. or no, lcan-
not say, but Z had no doubt they fe3
was called away to breakfast, and .hon
I returned they had dispersed K;ttv
was buried at the end of the anday ;
path, and rvhe-A as often as - 81. eh.s ~
place. L ind two OF tna old ba a ,s.., ssr1
ing and croakinN the dIs 1sa,.,,a oaool,
: - ! ! : ! : :
g. 6 over her un-