Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-12-11
PROTECTED BY TABRY.
One Instance in Which Virtue Triumphed
Even in Feline Nature.

In the mountain districts of Peunsyl-
vania two wrens had built their nest
under the caves OF an old farmhouse.
They lived together harmoniouslv and
caught the early worm, and in the
course of time had family. Among
the attaches of the farmers household
was white cat, and, when the wrens
became SO tame that they used to hop
around the piazza in search of crum bs
that were daily thrown to them, the cat,
in a murderous spirit would lie in wait
for them, and several times came within
an ace of catching the old birds When
the old farmer noticed this he kicked
the cat whenever she was de tected in her
murderous work. 1t didn't take the cat
very long to learn thatit wasn't healthy
to fool with those birds and that thev
were as much part of the family as
she was Toward the middle of the
summer, when the baby wrens in their
nest under the caves were big enough
to place themselves i'll peril by clam
bering around the nest. one of them
one dav fell out, and in spite of it's
frantic fiutterings came to the ground,
and, being too weak to run and unable
to fly, lay helpless in the grass. The
cat saw the accident and, following the
first instincts of her kind, ran rapidly
to seize the bird. Before she got to t,
however. she seemed to remembe that
this was part of the family which she
was taught by the farmers foot not to
touch, and so when she got near the lit
tie helpless thing she touched itdaintily
once Or twice with paw in which the
viting it to play, and then lay down and
watched it. Ayellow garden snake had
seen the bird come down, and came
wriggling through the grass toward it.
Its head-like eyes were cleaning. its
forked tongue protruded, and when it
got within two feet of tho bird it curled
itself and got ready for spring Now
the cat was old, and when she knew
that she must not eat the bird and that
the bird was too young to play with she
had dropped off into dose. She was
awakened by some thing fluttering
against her face. The little bird,
alarmed at the approach of the snake,
had fled for succor to the cat. The first
thing that attracted the attention of
the cat when she opened her eyes was
the appraised head of the snake. She
realized the situation instantly, and. ris-
ing to her feet, she spat and struck ct the
reptile with her paw. This was an enc
my the snake didn't appreciate, but still
it was hungry and was bound to have
the bird, so it darted forward and at
tempted to seize it under the very shell
ter of the cats head. Like a flash the
cat seized the snake just back of the
head and with one bite killed it. This
happened along in the afternoon, and
after supper the farmer came out to feed
the cat He stood on the piazza and
called it, and heard the cat reply; he
called again, and again heard the cat.
He went down to investigate, and there
found the cat crouching in the grass
sheltering the bird, and ten feet away
was the dead snake. This made it clear
that the cat had carried the bird away
from the snake. The old wrens were
lowering around in the air in very
anxious state of mind. The farmer re-
stored their baby to it's nest-N.Y Y. Sun.