The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-03-13
THE EGG-SUCKER CURED.
"Doc," THE FAMILY CAT IN GRIEF.
Other Stories For and About Children =
Fried in the Cat-Not Obedience But
-Repartees-Floored His
Mother-KnottJ Problems.

"And here is Doc as sleek and hand
some as ever" said I, as l drew back from
the dinner-table at Cousin Georges farm
house. doc" was the family cat, beau
tiful notified gray fellow, the picture OF
feline grace and lazy ease, and great pet
When l spoke his name, the great furry
fellow leaped suddenly upon char near
me, and extended his large sleek head for
a caressing rub. l offered him choice
bit Of turkey, but he shifted at 1t conde-
scendingly, and declined 1t.
George observed the movement with
frown, and then said: 81 am sorry to say
that Doc is under sentence OF death. This
is his last day"
"What, Doc 10 be killed?' | exclaimed,
almost as much shocked as If he had been
a human being. "What is his ofense"
"Ovifrage," replied Docs master, with
a grim smile. 81 don't think that offense
is on the textbook, or that the word
is in any dictionary; but his crime is one
which has to be capitally punished-on
a farm. Doc has become confirmed and
hardened egg-sucker. He cracks the
shells and opens them very adroitly, and
has acquired such a fondness for them
that he will eat no other food If he can
steal an egg. 1 never knew farm cat to
be cured of the egg-habit. They all have
TO be killed. So tomorrow Doc goes into
the bag, and under the ice of the mill
pond"
As sat patting Docs head, happened
TO remember how a certain great-aunt IN
our family had cured a thievish boy of
sucking eggs in her barn.
"Do YOU remember, George, the trick
that our amiable old Aunt Rebecca played
off upon Nose Wilkins?" l said. "Mose,
you know had habit of slipping into
the barn and sucking every egg that he
could lay his hands on. At last the old
lady determined to cure Nose, blew an
egg, that is to say made small hole at
each end and blew out the contents, then
stuck a bit of the inner skin OF an egg over
one of the holes, so as to close 1t. Then
she filed the shell with castor-oil and dry,
powdered lobelia, and covered the other
hole The egg, thus doctOred, she re-
placed in a nest and removed all other
eggs from the nests
shortly after dusk that night Nose
stole in at back door, found and sucked
the medicated egg There was a very sick
urchin in the wilkins household that
night, but he did not make fuss about it
and recovered before morning. He never
troubled Aunt Rebecca's eggs afterward.
But castor-oil and lobelia would probably
fail with Doc he would not swallow
the stuff"
Il am not so sure about that" replied
cousin Emma 1T doesn't take him long
to eat an egg. George, let's try 1t.
Il should suggest reflling the egg with
its own white pentfully mixed with
cayenne pepper" George remarked.
Two or three eggs were brought in;
and, then and there, we prepared one on
the Aunt Rebecca plan, using nearly the
entire stock OF cayenne from the caster.
1t was deemed best to keep Doc fasting
over night, that he might bring sharp
appetite to aid the experiment.
Early in the morning before ] was up,
George carried the egg out to the stable,
and, having placed 1t in a nest in the side
OF the NOW of hay, concealed himself in
vacant horse-stall where he could watch
results. Emma, meantime, after waiting
a few minutes, had let out Doc, who soon
made his appearance in the stable.
He ran straight first to one nest and
then to another in search OF eggs. Dis
covering the one laid out for him, ne i'm
mediatey rolled it from the nest to the
floor with his paw, gave it sharp pat
which crushed the shell, and began greed
lily to take up and swallow the outflowing
contents.
He did not seem at first to mind the
cayenne at all, ." George said, in telling the
story. "and he had taken several laps with
his tongue before discovering that it was
not like former eggs.
Then suddenly he stopped and seemed
to smack once on it, his eyes starting wide
open as if frightened. Next moment he ut
tered loud yawl, and gave a long leap
from the nest. Then the fun began in
good earnest! He tore at his mouth with
both paws, and vowed and spit, and went
over the barn floor like a top.
after a minute or two of this, he sud-
denly ran up post to the top of the hay
NOW, and then / could hear his claws on
the beams as he leaped from one to an
other. The more the pepper burned him,
the higher ne seemed to want to climb
At length he got clean up into the cupoa
OF the stable among the cObwebs and old
barn-swallows' nests. l could hear him
alternately yowing, and making frantic
efforts TO claw his way out through the
top OF the cupOla.'
He was still there when George came in
to breakfast, and there he stayed all day;
] saw him sitting on a cross piece up there
late in the afternoon, but could not call
him down, aud it was not till near noon
the next day that he made his appearance
in the house, looking very 'seedy." He
seemed to be very glad of a bowl of milk,
and was never afterward known to touch
an egg.
Not Obedience, But Soap.