Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1886-11-11

much as squeak. linen sinotHci
| would come along and be sarved In
| the same way. In less'n half an hour
she'd sometimes have four or five rab-
bits stretched out on a patch OF ground
not over three rods square. The fool
rabbits never seemed to drop onto the
cat till they wur nailed.
/ al member onct when she didn't
seem to git jist the right twist on the
neck bone of one. he gave bit of
squal1. In mint two or three buck
rabbits came a hoppin' out'n the brush,
| and thinkin' fight was goin' on be-
tween two of their kind they ined in.
This wur jist ducks fur my ole cat, and
| she laid 'em all out, one after another.
I've often thought that the cat must
of wondered what on airth had come
over the rabbits and other things all at
onct to let her git among 'em so easy,
cause, of course. she didn't know that,
rugged up as she wur, she wur jist a
fine a looking rabbit as ever skipped.
When she'd made a good KILN the
ole cat was as proud as ayoung Niger
with his fust pair O boots. She'd come
| to where 1 was bid, rub agin my legs,
wriggle her stump of tail, and purr as
loud as young painter.
''But couldn't the rabbits smell the
cat, Uncle Abe?''
..Smell her? No! no! Yer see, I
made her smell more like rabbit than
a rabbit did itself Theirs sort of
scent bag to rabbit, and by rubin
some of this scent stuff on the cat she
smelt more rabbity than half a dozen
| rabbits.
81 member now of funny thing
| that happened one time when l wur
out a huntin' rabbits and SIGH small
game with my ole cat. 1t wur jist back
of the corn patch of my neighbur Jack
man, who had an ole she cat that Wur
great ore to ketch and bring in fab-
bits. When she had kittens sled
some times ketch and bring in three or
four a day, some of 'em biggern her
! self. Wull, / wur out back of neigh
Dor Jackman's corn field, and my cat,
in her disguise, wur sittin' up in an
open patch of ground two or three rods
away, waitin' for a game of ronips
with the rabbits. All at onct ketched
sight of Jackman's cat a-slippin' aloag
the edge of q thicket. She wur makin"
! for what she thought wur a pore silly
rabbit. When she got close enough
she guy a spring and landed on the
back of the make-believe rabbit. Sich.
a surprised cat as that of ole Jackman'
1 never seed. My cat faced about with
a tremendous yowQ and guy Jackman'
cat rake over the eyes; then the air
was full of cat fur and yowls for half a
mint But it wur my cat as wur doin'
all the fightin'. The Jackman cat
broke to the edge of the thicket and
bounced onto the top of stump.
Thar, with back bumped and eyes
stickin' out'n her head, she made a
sorter stand while trying to git over
her establishments of mind. But when
she seed my cat maxim at her, with
eyeballs glarin' and her rabbit ears
stickin' straight up, she jist guv a spit
and sputter and broke for home like
the very devil was after her. Jack
mans cat wur never with a cent for cab-
bits after that. Jist show her rabbits
head and she'd go up the corner of the
house and sit thar under the caves and
yowl for an hour. Jaokman said he
wouldn't of had his cat so split for five
dollars. He said she soon got so de-
ranged in mind that she was ruinatcd
for all practical purposes, and wouldn'
face a mouse. Eventually be 5as
obleeged to git new cat.
"Onc't when was goin' home Prom
hunt jist loaded down With game
rabbits, squirrels, quails and the like
i a
how everlastin' superstitious niggers is
about rabbits, anyhow. They We alters
got a rabbits foot hangin' about thar
necks. or somewhars about 'em, to give
'em luck, and they think the rabbit
has got sense to outwit all the other
animals put together. Wall, l wur on
my way home jist little afore sum
down, and my cat wur~ trottin' along
two or three rods ahead of me. She'd
jist got out inter the main wagon road,
back of Squire Bakers place, an a.
was still in the brush maxim my way
out to the edge of the cleariu', when
along comes an ole niger with gun
on his shoulder and little yeller
dog at his heels. The dog seed the
rabbit in the road and made for it with
a yelp. The rabbit. or what appeared
to be SIGH. flew to s. small jack oak tree
near by, skinned up it, got out on one
of the fust limbs and sot thar with har
up and back bumped. AT sight of this
queer conduct of rabbit the little dog
wur all broke ups He dropped his tail
between his legs and went whinin'
back to his master. But yer jist ought
FER seen that old niger! He'd brought
his gun down oil N his shoulder at the
fust yelp of the dog, but when he seed
the rabbit go tearin' up the tree and
hump itself out on the limb he was
little the wust skeered niger in all
Tennessee. If he'd seen hog start
and go up a tree he couldn't a been
more taken back. His eyes stuck out
even with the bridge of his nose. and asaI
stood in the edge of the brush jiss
oppersite him, it seemeS to me that
could almost hear the kinks OF his !
wool as they began to straighten out.
Fore de Lord.' says he, Sfore de |
Lord, what kline O. fling is dat?' and
shakin' like man with the ager ne |
brought up his gun.o He was tryin' to |
fnl.n Snr,nn sort Of nir,n0,,rhnr, It'll, |