Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-03-07
WHITE AND DousLs-1oEo.
The Peculiar Home Industry Carried Or
by n Vermont Lady

The Peculiar Home Industry Carried On
by Vermont Lady.
A traveller who was snowbound in the
remote mountain hamlet of Riptou re.
ports q new and peculiar home industry
In that village, writes a correspondent OF
the New York Son. There being no pub
lie house in Ripton, he was obliged to find
quarters at tbs pretty cottage home of
Mrs. Ripley, who opens her house to tran.
siant boarders. As the gentleman en-.
tered her sitting-room his attention was
attracted to eleven milk white, double
toed cats that were lazily toasting them
selves under and about the big, glowing
base burner
"Oh, those are some of my cats" ex-
planned Mrs. Ripley, who had noticed her
visitors look of astonishment. "Ain't
they beauties? But that mess is only pa
Of them. There are as many more in
other parts OF the house."
Then the lady went on to tell how II
came about that she weat into the bust.
ness OF raising milk-white, double-toed
cats.
''All double-toed ca Is are very valuable,
you know, and when a cat, besides being
double -toed, is also pure white, perfectly
spotless, why he is a good deal more
valuable than cat that is only double
toed. People want them for pets, you
see, and people in New York and Chi
cago and other big cities must have some-
thing curious about their pets-somethine
TO attract attention; and that is why
double-toed cats first became fashionable.
or course, / knew this myself. and then II
occurred to me that a milk white cat with
double toes would be a good deal more
highly priced than one that was Just
simply double-toed and moth ing else. The
milk white part of it Is my idea. and so
began to raise double-toed whites for the
market. But, oh my, the milk white ones
are dreadfuly hard to raise. They get
sick over the least little thing; some
times it is a cold, and they sneeze and
NOPE round the house, and then up and
die; and sometimes they just get sick
you can't tell what's the matter with
them-they lose their appetite and pine
away, and then they up and die just the
same. No, catnip don't seem to help them
bit; it's in their constitution, think;
they are delicate, you see.
There" continued Mrs. Ripley, as she
pointed to big, snowy white, superbly.
marked animal that she had got out from
beneath the stove and was stretching
itself, its many toes spreading in the act
and revealing sharp, white claws, "that's
the finest cat have and the haudsomest
tnat ever raised. am raising it for Chi
cago lady by her special order, and think
1t will suit her. Such cat as that is
worth from So to s., and considering the
care and risk of bringing up such a cat il
is not any too much, either. The ordinary
double-toed white cat is worth from 81 to
y or $3.50. am rather new In the bust.
ness yet, and it is too soon to say whether
1t will pay or not; but it Is a nice and
quiet business, and am very fond of pets
any way, so it doesn't matter so much. /
think l shall be able to sell all eau raise
to the dealers in pets in the cities, even if
they are not disposed of directly to GUS
TONER'S"
Mrs. Ripley's cats, although they are a
pure white from their long patricia an
smellers to the ends of their polite claws,
have not the pink eyes of Albinos; their
eyes are of the usual tawny hue, or in
some cases Of a dreamy, aqueous color
She has as many canaries as cats Her
rooms are hung with cages, bevies of
birds cluster On the perches of each cage,
and her sitting room rings with their
twittering, except when the cats are
mewing, then they are very silent.