Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-04-13
The Country Cat-Show.
BY ROSE HAWTHORNE LATHRoP.

"
PURB Rl-sPHITCHi-PUR are the
sounds which ill my ears as L recall the
memorable day which l am about to tel
you Of.
The cows objected. so much milk wa.
required in order to feast innumerablt
pussies on short notice. You shoulC
have seen the flock of cid maiden ladies
who brought willow" saucers to hold
the milk; and as for the dry goods shops
the very word ribbon" drove theiI
owners into a rage. One of them asked
a meek, fair-haired young lady of seven
if she thought the village of Bing was
going to hold ribbon enough to make a
kite-tail for the san and have enough
left for the string to fly him with.
"But my pussy's neck is not as big
round as the worlds" said the meek
little lady, bursting into tears; for she
wanted fresh cherry collar for her
Timothy to show himself off in at the
Town Hall.
"Then he aint fit for a show; and, be-
sides, we've been out of ribbon these
two days" said Mr.. Cotton, and he turn
ed his back upon her.
The Show was certainly very big, g,even
if none of the cats were as large as the
sun, and there were in due form prizes
for tho thinnest cats and for the pretti-
est and the ugliest, and the tallest and
the smallest, and the fattest and softest,
blackest and whitest. If you stood at
the corner of Farmer Marks pasture,
where the high road turned into the viii
lage, half mile from the Town Hall,
the wind brought such q purring and
yowling and screeching on its back to
you tnat you would be sure the Hall was
one huge pussy, instead of hundreds of
little pussies.
1t was on bright and frosty Winters
day that the event took place, and all
the little boys and girls who came to the
Show were SO rosy that it made you feel
warm to look at them; but the rosiest
and merriest of all was little Sim Din
mont, who had been the cause of this
hustle and mewing by an accident of
which l shall tell you.
Sims grandmother had invited him
up to the country homestead from the
city, to show him what Winter really
looks like. When Sim came down to
breakfast the irst morning, he saw such
big, soft thing On the hearth-rug that
he thought it must be two or three
traveling-bags, with his mothers fur
cape thrown over them; but he had no
sooner taken his seat upon them and
begun warming his fingers before the
fire than whisk! Something hit him
with big tail, and two yellows eyes
glared round at him, and two tall ears,
like umbrellas, stood straight up in the
air.
Have mercy on me-" cried Sim Din
mont. ats catp
"Why, it's Murdoc, of course" said
Grandmother. nodding her muslin cap
at Sim. Hes fifteen years old, if he's
day, and presume that no one will de-
ny that he's tnat."
"Well, he's a bumptiOus piece of
nightinessp remarked Sim, sitting
down to breakfast, with his head nearly
twisted off, so as not to lose sight of
MurdOc for one instant. "If he'd been
at the National Cat-show l saw in the
city, he'd have hissed out every cat in
the building. Prize one thousand dol
lars, too"
"Who ever heard of city cats?" said
Grandmother, turning up her nose, as
if the steam from the hot water urn
there are two hundred and fifty abomi-
nable cats, if there's one; and presume
no one would deny that there's that"
"Ohl Gran'p said Sim, Familiarity,
"Let'sI
"Simp
"What?"
"Don't ever say anything that cannot
be understood without question.
have no idea to what you refer to when
you say Let's Help yourself to the
mullins"
"Why, 1 meant let's have National
Cat-show at Bing."
"Nonsensep cried Grandmother. But
she thought of nothing else for the next
week.
So here was the Cat-show this fine
morning; and here was bright, rosy Sim
and Master Murdoc, having washed his
face many and many time oftener than
he usually did of morning, sat on
table beside his young friend, as proud
ly as two big eyes and four legs and
large body and trailing tail could.
Grandmother" asked Sim Of the old
lady, as he had asked all through the
week of preparation for tho Show, do
you think there's another cat as fine as
Murdoc in Bing?"
mot the first hair of onep Grand
mother weuld make answer, taking of
her spectacles, to look impressively at
Sim, and then putting them on again, to
leok approvingly at Murdec.
There were no cages in the Show; but
there were some leading-strings, except
for the kittens, who were in tarlatan
bags. Some pussies came into the long
hall sitting upon their mistresses' shoul-
ders and some sat in baskets, with
wreaths of flowers round them; and
some trot ted in front Of their owners
with tiny baskets of sugar-plums hang
ing at their mouths, as presents for nice,