The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-09-28
A BLIND CAT.

when he lost his sight He had no
faults, unless his habit OF fighting
every strange cat that came our way
be counted as one. But he was noble
fellow, and we weIc all very sorry
when he went blind.
At first he could not tell what had
happened to him. He couldn't move u
few feat..~without knocking himself
against q table or chair, and he
would sit and NEW till it grew painful
to listen to him. If he climbed up tho
garden wall, as he sometimes did, he
had to be helped down, for he was I'M
able to find a safe jumping-p place. If
his name were called out, he wandered
aimlessly to and fro in search of the
speaker. Indeed, he seemed so plain
ly unhappy that it began seriously to
be considered whether it would not be
mercy to kill him and end his mis-
cry.
All at once a change came over him.
He appeared to have felt that his sight
had gone forever, and that its other
senses would have to make up for it's
loss. When he started to go down
stairs, instead of paving the air help
lessly, as he had hitherto done, he
proceeded to the side, and, guided by
the touch of his whiskers on the rail-
ings, went down safely at full speed.
Then he studied all the different paths,
noted the position of doors, visited his
old haunts, and in a short while be-
came quite confident of his ability to
go about with nearly the same free
dom as before. In fact, we thought
his sight had been restored, but that
this was not the case was easily proved
when he ran full tilt against an obstacle
that had been placed in his way on
purpose to test this very point
What was curious was that he soon
resumed his fighting habits, and his
blindness seldom prevented him from
coming off victor. He even carried
war into the enemy's quarters, and
always returned home in safety. He
had been q capital mOuser, and, though
sightlesS, he proved himself almost as
keen a hunter as ever. The gnawing
of a rat was heard one night in cup
board where some newspapers lay.
Tom was to be left there to attack the
foe. While arranging the papers my
hand was suddenly fiercely clutched by
his teeth and claws. The poor fellow
had heard the rustling of the paper,
and had seized what he supposed was
a mouse. But he seemed to feel real
shame at the mistake he had made.
However, there was no blunder later
on that same night, for on opening the
cupboard next morning he was sitting
by the side of big dead rat.
No matter how far he strayed from
home, Tom always took the shortest
cut back. 1t was a mystery to me
how he managed it. One day there
was heavy fall of snow that COM
pletely covered all familiar objects,
filled up the pathways, and deadened
every sound and smell. Carrying Tom
to q considerable distance, and follow
ing serpentine track of many turns
to bewilder him, then put him down
on snow-heap, and watched his be-
havior.
He lost presence of mind for a min
ute or two, and commenced to NEW
somewhat pitifully. Finding, how
ever, that he would have to do the
best he could for himself he stopped
crying, paused for u few moments, and
then went in straight line over the
untrodden snow to the house. OF
course the door was opened to him at
once, and he was regalod with bowl
of milk.
It quickly became clear to me that,
in Toms case at least, blind cat leads
much the same life as q cat that can
see. His adventures were in no way
different from what they had been be.
fore, but his later career had grown
more interesting because it was
curious to watch the various methods
he adopted for getting out of diff.
ficulties. You will. l am sure, deal
gently with animals afflicted with
blindness. or any other ailment thai
makes them helpless.
have only TO add that Tom was a
real cat, though l have changed his
name, and that this is true account
of his history after he had lost his
sight Little Folks.