Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-07-19
BRIGHT WIT OF ANIMALS.
SOME OF THEM SHOW AN INTEL
LIGENCE ALMOST HUMAN.

LiGENCE HENIOSI 1OmHiNs
A Correspondent Relates Three Good Anec-
'PoIly'' That Was Full of Fun-The Cat
Isn't Such a Loafer as Some Think.
An expert artisan came here from New
York to do some fine inside work on Scran-
ton mans new house. 1t was going to take
him three or four weeks to do the job, and
while he and the owner of the premises were
standing near the side entrance, just before
the work was begun, the owner said: "As
you are to be in my employ for some time,
would like to know what name to call you"
"Oh, call me Matt" the mechanic replied,
and into the house he went to begin his job.
A few days afterward he heard some one
yelling "Mattl" and he skipped up stairs to
see what was wanted of him, supposing that
the man he was working for had called to
him. No one was there, and he returned to
his work on the first floor, but in little
while he was again interrupted by voice
that yelled: Hello, Matt! say, Matt
Hello there, Mattl" and once more he trotted
up stairs. He soon found from another work
man, who had just come in, that the owner
went down stairs little mystified AS he
had told his name to no one but the owner
of the house, hearing it called out in that
way struck him as rather queer and, i'm 1
agning that some fresh person had got hold
of his name and was trying to make a fool of
him, he sauntered out and took turn around
the yard to see if he could discover the joker
AND THEY WERE FRIENDS THEREAFTER.
When he got to the side of the house where
he had told his name to the man he was doing
the job for, Hello, NATL" rang out again.
followed by "Ah, there, Mattr' and the mys
terry was solved Just over the fence, a few
feet from the next house, parrots cage hung
from the lowest limb of a chestnut tree, and
the parrot in the cage was the creature that
had been yelling at the workman. "Polly,
you're rascal. I'll get even with you some
time" the mechanic told the garrulous Bird
and the parrot, seeming to know that it had
leased the man, chuckled Justify for a couple
of minutes.
One afternoon, when the family that owned
the parrot were away from home, a shower
came up suddenly The workman heard the
bird scream, and he went and stood in the
doorway and told it to stop its noise "Take
Polly in; Polly get all wetf' it yelled when it
began to rain hard, and the man told it that
he was going toilet it get good and wet to pay
it for fooling him. "Oh, take Polly in,' the
bird begged, and, when the shower was thick
est the mechanic climbed over the fence, I'M
hooked the cage, and gave the parrot shelter
until its owner came home through the rain.
They were good friends after that, and the
parrot missed the workman when he didn't
come around any more.
Capt. George B. Thompson, of Adams az
IL
separable companions. They are about the
same age and they have been brought up in
the barn together. When the kitten was a
fortnight old, a Cog killed its mother, and it
had to be fed with spoon to keep it alive
At one time it locked as if it was on its last
legs, but in few weeks it began to pick up,
and after that it grew like weed After
the old cat was killed, one of the captains
hers, that had come off with brood of chick
ems few days BEFORE protected the mother
less kitten along with her downy little ones
One of the chickens took great notion to the
playful kitten, and the latter formed a sim
liar attachment for the chicken, and as they
grew UP the affection became stronger and
stronger Both were males, and many time
the cat has pitched in and helped the rooster
lick some other rooster, using his claws till
the feathers flew, and the intruder was glad
to Scafnper away.
Whenever the cat got into trouble with
another, the rooster helped him out by spur
ring the quarrel picker and making it flee
from the yard. Since the cat and the rooster
became full grown their attachment has been
as strong as ever. Once Mrs. Thompson heard
the rooster choking behind her, and, looking
around, she saw the cat rubbing the ROSTERS
throat with his paws, as if he knew what the
trouble was, and wanted to do all he could to
remove it,
PUss AS ''oLD PRoBs."
Farmer Ambrose Nelli, OF jefferson town
ship, has a wise old mother cat who pays
good deal of attention to the state of the
weather. On an unseasonably hot day puss
gave birth to four fine kittens under big
currant bush in the garden, and so long as
the weather remained warm and pleasant, as
it did for nearly week, she had solid COM
fort with her little ones under the currant
bush. A black thundercloud came up in the
west one afternoon and the old cat cfept from
underneath the bush, looked up at the sky,
dashed her tail, mewed family, and crawled
back. In less than a minute she took one Of
her kittens by the nape of its neck and lugged
it toward the house, making no stop till she
had put it down on some old clothes in the
garnet, when she hurried back and did the
same with another of her young ones. When
puss was on her way to the garnet with the
third kitten there was low rumble of dis
tant thunder that made her hurry faster than
before. Big rain drops began to patter on
the leaves when the old cat cantered toward
the bush after the fourth kitten, but she made
haste and got it into the house before much
rain had fallen. As soon as the shower was
over and the sun came out, the old cat went
to her nest in the garden and found puddle
of water in it. At intervals of ten or fifteen
minutes she trotted out again and looked the
place over Puss did this seven or eight
times. The puddle soaked into the ground,
the sun dried the leaves and surface, and by
supper time the nest was dry again. When
puss saw that it was nice and dry she lugged
her kittens back to her favorite nest, watch
ing them almost constantly until there were
signs of rain in the sky, when she again car
ried them to the garnet. 1t rained for two
days that time, and puss kept her kittens I'M
der cover until after the storm had passed
and things cad got dried off outside once
W