Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-02
TWO CATS,

"You dearest, sweetest little duck, SO
1t was! Manny's pcssus pet"
1t sounded much like ''manny's pessus
pet" but the voice was 50 young, so
fresh, so ccoing, that Joe Parker could
not believe his ears.
There was something magnetic
about it, to use the slang of the day; at
least it attracted Joe to the row of rasp-
berries that flung their green arms all
abroad on the old picket-fence between
his garden and the next neighbor's, and
lrresistibly bent his head to peep through
those respectable palings and see what
he could see.
And this is what he saw: Such a
lovely girl Her hair was red, to be
sure, but it was that bronze red that
looks brown in the depth of its rippes
and gold on their crests. Just now. in
the blazing sunshine, it was all rich
deep red, with gilt threads among it;
but then she had such eyes,-large,
clear, red hazel eyes, as beautiful as q
robins or squirrels fringcd with dark
lashes, and ovcrbrowed with delicate
dark arches, little lifted with look
of surprise that was the result of shane
and outline.
regret TO say that her fair soft brow
and cheeks were slightly freckled; but
in such a fresh red AID white the smallest
spot will show, and nobody is perfectly
beautiful, not even Mary Ann May, com
monty called NANNY May For in
stance, her mouth was large; but then it
was so full, so red, and parted over such
firm white teeth, that it seemed lust to
match the saucy littl3 nose above and
the round dimpled chin below it. Her
waist was large too, Just as large as the
waist of any sculptured goddess wrought
by Fhidias or Praxiteles, for Nanny had
never heen pinched in mind or body. or
given over to that awful tyrant "They, y
who puts our girls to the torture Of rack
and boot from infancy, that they may be
and do as They do and are.
But she had tall, strong. shapely fig
ure, and its movements were all instinct
with the untrammeled grace of nature.
As she stood in her mothers garden,
with both hands clasping her pet to her
bosom, basket of dandelion greens and
an old case-knife at her feet, she was
perfect picture; and she had not an idea
of it.
Joc's theories fed as he gazed. The
voice had not misled him, it was not
mothers voice; the darling on whom
Nanny lavished her sweet words, her
tender embrace, even her kisses, was-a
cat.
But such cat Peter was as great
beauty as his mistress. His coat Of deep
blue gray was striped and dashed with
shining black; a ring Of black encircled
his massive neck; his tail was ringed
also with sable, and five wide black
stripes ran from between his ears down
to the very tip of the tail, merging as
they went into one broad band; then
there was a snow white spot upon his
breast, and his powerful paws were black
as jet.
"Alanny's dumb silly about that there
cat, was her fathers chronic prowl;
but, since Nanny was al! the child left
TO him, and in his secret heart its living
idol, he only growled He would not
have uttered q derogatory word about
Peter for anything; he even remembered
to get bit of meat for him whenever
he went to the village, and had once
been known to turn back half a mile
for that very purpose.
: AS for mother May she spoiled the cat
Just as she had spoiled Mary Ann. She
was dear, kindly, tender-hearted old
woman. with an utter inab lity to rule
or order or mold anybody or ANYTHING.
She took life as she found It, and neither
fretted at nor tried to amend it-a sort
of moral feather bed, soft to exaspera-
zion, but, after all. restflI to the eager.
hard-worked, exa a.perated ana wlry peo-
pie Of her race.
"A proper nice woman" Semanthy
Carrier said ''always an eternally good
natered. No faculty in her. but one
that ries you considerable when you
want to have thing gee; but when you're
sick or sorry, sort Of comfortin' like a
ponltice
Peter knew his power and his position.
Petted from his early kittenhood, he
soon learned, like the young of the human
species, that he could tyrannize over his
PETERS. and then the warmest, softest
seat was given up to him, the door
opened at his first appeal, the giblets of
the rarely used fowls were saved for
him, his tastes gratifed, and his notions
respected. One is sometimes tempted to
half accept the masculine theory that
women like tyrants. when one sees how
they manufacture them for themselves.
Now Joseph Parker had Just come TO
Meriden to live. A certain Mr.. Webb,
who had a mandatory in Vermont, had
moved to Meriden to geo more water
power. and as Joe Parker was his fore
man in the paper-mil. he had moved
too, hired a house little way out OF the
village, next 10 Mr.. Mays homestead.
and brought with him his mother-and
his mothers cat. Hence this story, and
whatever tears may besprinkle il.
Mrs. Parker's cat was rot at all like