Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-11-06
- Spook."

"Spook."
One morning in June when we open
ed the street door he walked in, calml,
entered the parlor, and jumping on the
sofa, curled himself into little round
soft bunch, and began to purr. We all
stood and looked at him with astonish.
ment. He had evidently taken pos.
session with the intention of staying.
He was very handsome cat, with beau
tiful black stripes on his gray fur. We
patted his head and stroked his glossy
coat, and he rubbed Il nose affection
ately against our fingers.
Suddenly he looked up with piteous
little NEW, as much as TO say, "Irl
hungry; please give me some break
fast We ca ried him to the back bal
cony, and gave him q plate of meat
and saucer of fresh milk, which lie
devoured eagerly
Hes onI ~ tramp cat" said the big
boy Of the family. soon as he gets
enough to eat hell run away" But he
never did run away. He staid, and
every member of the family became his
devoted slave. We named him Spook,
because he was like an apparition. He
belonged to nobody. and, so far as we
knew, came from nowhere
He soon discovered a rat-hole in the
back yard, and spent long sunny morn
lngs patiently watching the hole, but
he never caught rat. Ali through the
spring tho rats had marched out OF
that hole-armies of them. They had
scampered in troops all over the back
yard, and had even entered the kitchen
on grand thieving expeditions They
had skillfully avoided our traps and
passed the most tempting bait with a
disdainful sniff. But Spook was too
much for them.
We were very grateful to Spook for
relieving us of the company of the rats,
and the whole family, even the cook,
thought nothing was too good for him.
Singular enough, he refused to eat his
meals in the kitchen. He would not
touch even his morning saucer of milk
until the family had break tasted. We
put him in the kitchen at night, but
the moment the door was opened in the
morning he scampered up stairs and
paid visit to each bedroom, purring
all the while and begging to be caressed.
Spook was lord of the house.
When he had ruled for several weeks
we were presented with a tiny kitten,
which we named Specter, as fitting
companion for a spook, and which, as
it was very small, soon came to be
known as Speck. Spook growled over
it at first, but soon began to patronize
it in a lordly fashion, only he would
never allow it to take even sup of
milk in the dining-room with the
family.
One fatal morning, when Speck had
been member of the household for
some time, our big boy carried it up
stairs and put it on the bed where
Spook was sleeping. His lordship arose
with an ominous growl, and indignantly
left the room. That afternoon we saw
him on the fence endeavoring to entice
poor Speck to accompany him on a
promenade. The little kitten at length
climbed up, and fattered, no doubt, by
an invitation to see the great world,
disappeared among the grapevines and
trees of neighhoring back yards. Wd
thought it very friendly of Spook, and
expected to see the pair come scamper-
ing home at dinner time. But Spook
returned alone. We made diligent
search and inquiry for poor little
Speck. but we never heard from him
again. Like the baker who had hunt
ed the shark, it had softly and sud
denly vanished away"
But Spook was not always so heart
less. We often noticed him playing
among the grapevines with e aceful
little black and white pussy, whose
homo was in a house near by. One
warm evening he came scampering from
jhe va d crying as loud as he could.
We thought he was hungry and took
him to the kitchen, where his supper
Of fish and milk was already prepared.
10 our astonishment he refused to eat,
but insisted, in persistent cat fashion,
that the kitchen door should be opened.
We opened to see what would happen.
opook dashed out into the darkness,
but returned in a moment, followed,
10 our great astonishment, by the black
and white pussy. He was very shy at
irst, but Spook coaxed it with the
most friendly sounds until at last i'd
same in and began to eat.
hch ehCN hat uuislieu tutF pUrret
md looked up into our faces as il
thanking us, and then both scampered
o the yard, and went to sleep on he'd
OF old carpet which we had placed there
for Spook's comfort when it was too
hot to shut him in the kitchen. We
found on inquiry that the family with
whom the black and white pussy lived
We're away in the country, and poor
little pussy was for the time homeless,
and we wondered much over Spook's
sagacity in bringing it to us to be fed.
Oh, the modification we were put
to on his account! One evening we all
went to concert, and on returning no
Spook was to be found, but frantic
miaouings from the next back yard
plainly indicated his whereabouts.
Now that yard was trap. There was
no grapevine trellis to scale, and n cat
once there had to stay. Spook had
jumped down there once before in pur-
suit OF fleeing rat, but that was in
the day tine, and the lady next door
had kindly allowed us to go through
her basement after our cher she'd net.
But now it was midn ght, and our
nelghbors were asleep and we were too
soft-hearted to leave Spook miaouing
there till morn ng, for the night was
piercingly cold. At length step-lad-
der was brought, and W tn much clat-
ter We let down O water-pail in the