Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1882-01-27

does occur, the, parties are promptly
punished.
John Henry was fond of going to
see Margaret Jane, and Margaret
Jane was fond of being seen by
John Henry. John Henry was a
student at the Normal School, and
had gradually graduated into the
mysteries of all the knowledge with
which the spacious halls of that
institution is SO densely packt d
. and his mind had become so ex-
banded. and his mental faculties so
timber, that it required only tie
most ordinary exertion on his part
TO observe :. rmons in stones, books
in the running brooks, and greet
pages of solid matter in Natural
History in cats, and especially in
cats paws.
John Henry came home last
vacation, and while at home went to
see Margaret Jane, and at the same
time acquaint her with the fact that
! he wss a portable Normal School
and held majority of the stock in
that institution, and by the time the
next term closed he would be able
to pocket the whole concern, and
bring it home and divide it around
among his friends. During this
visit to Margaret Jane, he took oc-
casion in all his conversation to
dilate deliberately upon all the
why's" and the wherefores, J" and
the reasons Of things both terrestrial
and celestial, and he extracted ser
j sermon from every text that CHANGED
in his way. He lifted the cat from
the rug into his lap, and improved
the occasion of lmparting to Mar
garet Jane from this subject an in
teresting lesson in Natural History.
! He first converted pussys back
into a sparkling electric battery by
thrusting the hair in unnatural d.
rections, and he rendered his illus
tration successful and very sur
prising to Margaret Jane, in spite of
the many audible objections made
by the cat. But any person who
had ever received that thorough dis
cipline observed at Normal Schools,
would see at 4 glance that John
Henry was justified in disregarding
the comfort OF the cat, as the inter
ests of science were far superior TO
the claims of nature in requiring the
hair on cats back to be disposed
in any certain direction
| After John Henry had extracted
al the wisdom and electricity pos
sible out Of the vertebral regions Of
the cat, he began an exploration OF
its ears and eyes, and discussed We
hemently on the philosophical effect
of the formation of lenses, and the
adaptation of dilation, and such
other erudite disquisitions, till the
eyes of Margaret Jane dilated more
with wonder. than ever John Henry
was willing to believe a cats could
III the dark, with all the faculty Of
the Normal School at her back to
encourage her.
At this demonstration of Margaret
Jne's incrednlous surprise, John
Henry had only got half way
around the cat, from whence he
meandered down to its paws, and
lifting them gently he placed one Of
its fore paws upon either cheek at the
the same time constraining pussy in
a vertical position resting upon her
posterior pedestals, he began discour-
sing pathetically upon the latent
powers that slumbered in the soft
and silken texture of their feet.
Just at the moment when he APP
preached the most obtuse point in
in his concentration, and Margaret
Jane had dropped her needle and sat
leaning forward with the end of the
thread between her teeth, all alb
sJrhed with wonder, while John
Henry was working his toes vigor
ously on the floor and. thrusting
pussys paws up aud down his
cheeks, and turning his philosophical
ideas in the most advantageous posi-
ton, 50 as to enable Margaret Jane to
grasp them another scene in natural
history occurred that had never
found its way into any Normal
School that John Henry had ever at
tended
A neighboring cat, enjoying an
idle pastime on the picket fence
near the door of the house in which
John Henry and Margaret Jane were
sitting, was surprised by a ferocious
dog, who, apparently intent on pro-
curing subject for natural history
purposes, made a most vindictive
onslaught upon the idle cat, and
forwith gave it abundance of em-
ployment for the next few minutes.
And the dog became SO engrossed in
the study Of natural history, that he
rushed furiously into the house close
at the heels of the electrified cat,
and as he rushed madly and yelp-
ing into the door, the cat that John