The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-07
KITTY.


ton. She had no difficulty in teaching
her to ask for her dinner by rub against
the table leg, and to respond by wag
of the tail to almost any simple question.
Very soon the questions, "Do you love
me?" and "Are you good little Kitty"
were uniformly answered by an energetic
wave of her caudal appendage. Her
wants from the first she spontaneously
made known by pull at my wife's dress,
or by peculiar NEW which has won
derful likeness to human speech.
Among other things which my wife at
this time taught the feline lady was to
turn somersaults upon the floor. to play
at hide and go-seek, and to run in hur-
die race around large room. This last
used to come of in the library, the hurdles
being piles of books placed at irregular
intervals, and Kitty vaulting over them
in race around the apartment. At
first she was lured into this performance
by string drawn rapidly across the
book-piles, but soon my wife was able to
omit this Indictment and get Kitty into
the race by merely giving her the word
at starting. She enjoyed the perform
ance greatly, and used to ask for it after
supper.
Some ladies whom she had not seen for
all of year, called upon us one day dur
ing last summer, and she at once greeted
them with every sign Of recognition. The
hurdle-races have been for long time
discontinued, but on our visitors express
ing desire to again witness the per-
Torrance, we ranged the books around
the room and, my wife giving the word,
Kitty at once vaulted over them with all
her old agility. She had made two or
three circuits of the apartment when she
suddenly paused, as if new idea had
Just struck her. Her four kittens, now
about four months old, were in the room,
and they had paused in their play to
witness the performances; and now Kitty
called them 20 her and addressed them
in an energetic manner. At first they
did not seem to comprehend what she
wanted, but, taking her idea, my wife
produced string, and calling "Little
Kitties," proceeded to draw it across the
books in the old manner. Instantly the
kittens were after the string and Kitty was
after the kittens, going around the room
i'll fly ing leaps, and urging them forward
with cries OF encouragement. Once In
while one of the little fellows would
dodge the books, or fall out OF line, and
then his mother would pause in her
flight and, cutting her ears, force him
again into the race. Soon my wife with
drew the string, and then they went on
without it-five cats chasing one an
other, in hurdle-race around the room,
while We and our guests were shouting
with laughter. Often afterward the per-
Torrance was repeated, and always at its
close both the cat and the kittens would
come to us for some mark of approval.
As they grew older Kuty's progeny
took to climbing, and occasionally one of
them would push himself upon the upper
branch OF some tall tree, whence it dared
not come down, and where Kitty knew
SIG COul0 uOb NCAtuIO nCI OMA WClkub Ii
safety. On such occasions she would
rush into the house and appeal to my
wife, who would call our farmers boy
and send him up the tree to rescue the
wife could not be found and, after
searching for her in vain, Kitty went
herself to the barn, called the boy and
led him to the tree up which was the
venturesome kitten.
The little fellows thought it rare fun to
hide away in the nearby woods where
their mother could not find them. To
her cries for them at such times they
would pay no sort OF attention; but they
never heard my wife call, Little Kitties
come home, Little Kitties," but they
came trooping toward the house as fast
as their little legs could carry them. OBJ
serving this, Kitty never failed to ask her
aid In such circumstances. On one oc-
css;on all four of the kittens had disap-
peared, and the cat and her mistress had
for a considerable time searched for them
without success in the neighboring
bushes and underground, when sudden
ly Kitty sprang up tall pine to it's very
top, whence che could see all the sur
rounding woods. In few moments she
was down again, and then making to my
wife a peculiar gesture of the head by
which she indicates that she desires to
be followed, she led her to a consider
able distance in direction never before
taken by the kittens, and there, perched
upon the top rail of the farm fence, we're
the four runaways.-Edmund Kirhe, Ia
North American ReviesC.