Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-22
BROADWAY'S PET CATS
Animals in the Shops Which Are
Polite to the Customers.
Very Useful About Drug StOres-Po.
liteness TO the Buyers OF Bfg
Bills-Circle in the
Sawdust.
New York SUM


mo shop is complete nowadays without a
cat" said Broadway policeman. my beat
along the upper part Of Broadway takes me
right through the shopping district, and
when l go home at night have to walk
down Sixth avenue, so that l have a pretty
fair opportunity to watch the cats. The first
case that ever came to my notice was about
two years ago, when l went into furnish
ing goods store on Broadway to buy u collar.
Well, sir, | went in and asked the man for
some collars, and he dumped a lot ON the
showcase. A big Maltese cat which had
been lying on the door-mat trotted back to
where l stood, jumped on the counter and
then on the show case, and walked deliber-
ately to where the collars lay. She was q
beautiful cat. with big eyes and a soft,
gray coat. Size sat down quietly, looked in
my face, and watchcd me while l selected
the collars, Every few minutes she would
put out her paw and gently touch whatever
collar seemed to have in my hand. Finally,
when / had chosen one, and it had been
wrapped up for me, she gave the bun
die gentle pat with her paw, then bounced
back on the floor again, and went back to
her place on the door-mat. The shop-keeper
told me that every customer who came in re-
ceived the same treatment from the cat, and
when man was buying big bill Of goods
the Maltese followed him around from
one case to another, and always accom-
panied him to the door when he left, which
was a bit of politeness that the cat never
showed to a small buyer.
Every drug store on Broadway has its pet
cat, and they are all of them fine, weli-fed
and good-natured animals. There is one
that lies in the front window among a lot of
sponges in the winter time. When first saw
that cat l thought it was stuffed. passed it
three or four times every afternoon for a
week, but never thought it was alive. Itlay
in one position with its head curled down on
its paws, and never changed its position dur
ing the afternoon. l stood watching it once
for long time through the window, and the
clerk in the store, just to show me it was
alive, poked it up. The cat got up lazily,
stretched itself, rubbed its nose against the
clerks hand, and then went to sleep again
They say they are very useful about drug
stores, as they keep the mice away from the
herbs and sweet things. There is big black
cat in a drug store corner Of Thirtieth street.
which knows as much as any dog I ever saw.
1t is a beauty, too. According to my mind 1t
is the handsomest cat in New York. It is as
black as the ace of spades and as shiny as
cDOuy ~ - yOuuS Sdl, Out Ii HdS hlItdQJ
learned to recognize the regular customers of
the place. 1t has a comfortable corner in the
doorway, where it sleeps in the daytime, and
at night it lounges around the soda fountain.
There is not mouse in the place. The cat
will move about on the shelves among deli
cate bottles and fine glassware, but it has
never broken a thing II you 60 into the
shop more than once it will recognize you,
nd of hot oil xo
meet you. The customers have got in the
habit Of stopping and rubbing its head when
they go in the shop, and the result is it trots
out naturally to meet its friends. That cat
is regular master of ceremonies
"On the corner above there is big yellow
cat which is growing big and lazy. 1t is a
great favorite with lady customers, and
when they come in to give an order and sit
down in chair the cat always comes along,
jumps up in their laps, and purrs affection
ately. There is hardly a shop along Broad
way that has not pet cat, and every one of
the shopkeepers can tell you fine stories about
what his cat can do. l know for fact that
there are some very clever cats in these
shops They are better than dogs, because
they keep the rats and mice away, and , not
interfere with the customers. No danger Of
their gett ing mad, and it costs little or moth
ing to keep them. I know q cat in a
butcher shop on Sixth avenue, near Thirty
third street. which has laid out for itself place
near the front door. The butcher sprinkles
his floor with sawdust three times day, and
every time he does it the cat hops up on the
window-sill and watches the operation
closely When it is finished and the floor is
thoroughly covered, the cat hops down and
selects spot directly in the middle Of the
wide doorway and begins slowly to clear a
spot there. 1t begins by moving its paw
around in small circle, and finally brushes
the sawdust away until a clear space is left
This spot is about two feet in diameter and
always perfectly round. The carpenter
couldn't make a more accurate circle. 1t is
invariably in the middle Of the doorway,
and when the cat has every bit of sawdust
of this particular spot it lies down with its
nose toward the sidewalk. and dozes II
man or woman comes in and kicks the saw
dust into the charmed circle, the cat care
fully brushes it out again.