Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-04-13
AN INTELLIGENT CAT.
How Tabby Relieved the House OF
an Oversupply of Electric Fluid.

TOW aOOv nchCNco VIC ''S
an OversuppIy of Electric Fluid.
New York Tines.
Undoubtedly, the following incident.
illustrating the extraordinary intelli-
gence of a cat, will be disbelieved by
few bold spirits, but there is no
reason to doubt that it is as true as
fully three-fourths of the animal stor-
les with which the public is already
familiar. Mr.. Martin, of Twenty-ninth
street, recently had the electric light
put into his house, and for a time it
afforded him great satisfaction, al
though he has never felt that he fully
understood it, and was never quite
certain than it was perfectly safe
thing to have in the house. During
the late cold weather Mr.. Martin went
to bed at his usual hour, and was SUBJ
jected to the usual questions in regard to
the locking up of the house, with which
all married men are familiar. To these,
however, Mrs. Martin added a new
question. She said, "Mr. Martin, did
you think to turn the electricity on
before you came to bed ?" and Mr.. Mar
tin replied that he didn't know as he
had" "Then," said Mrs. Martin, ar
ranging her pillow, !"that electricity
will be sure to freeze and burst, and
we will have it all over the house be-
fore morning" In vain did Mr.. Mar
tin remark that the men who put the
electricity in the house never told him
that it would freeze, and that he didn't
believe there was any danger. His wife
in1exibly maintained that he should
have let the electricity run off just as
he had let the water run into the bath
room, and that if he was not perfectly
selfish and brutal he would get up at
once and attend to the matter. Now,
Mr.. Martin was well-meaning but an
obstinate man, and he totally refused
to get ap, and went to sleep, remark
ing that the electricity might burst
and blow the house up for all he cared.
1t happened that in the course of the
night the thermometer descended far
below zero, and, as Mrs Martin had
predicted, the electic wire burst and
the electricity began to leak. The leak
was in the bathroom, and when morn
ing came, and Mr.. Martin awoke, he
smelt such strong smell of electricity
that he at once knew that something
was wrong. His nose guided him to
the bathroom door, under which a
small stream of electricity was flowing
but, compromising that the room
must be filled with the escaping fluid,
he wisely forbore to open it. He went
downstairs into the buffers pantry,
where he found that the electricity
had ruined the ceiling, and he was
about to go down to the cellar, when,
as he opened the door, the family cat
sprang to meet him. Knowing the
sagacity of cats and their intimate con-
nection with electricity, he resolved to
watch the animal and see. what she
would do.
The cat smelled the escaping cleo
tricity and took in the situation at
once. She examined the whole house,
and then, with expressive gestures,
asked to be let out of the back door.
Mr.. Martin let her out. To his un-
speakable establishment she instantly
climbed up an iron waste-pipe that ran
from the roof to the ground, passing
close by the bathroom window. When
she reached the window-sill she placed
her tail close against the metallic
''catch" intended for the window blind,
and placed her fore feet against the
waste-pipe. Instantly a stream of
electricity flowed over her backsfrom
the bathroom to the waste-pipe, and
so to the ground. For few moments
the cat was enveloped in a shower of
sparks, but-to be exact-in precisely
two minutes and thirty-four seconds
by Mr.. Martins watch the ingenious
animal emptied the bathroom of cleo
tricity so that her master could safely
enter and stop the leak temporarily
with white lead. 1t is needless to say
that Mr.. Martin is proud of his cat,
and that he regards her as the most
sagacious animal of her species that
has ever yet appeared.