Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-09-11
SOME REMARKABLE CATS.

BY Edmund kirxe, Author of "Among the
Pines" "Down in Tennessee Etc.
About year ago we had very af-
fectionate and intelligent cat, but one
day, TO our great regret, she sickened
and died, leaving us as a legacy three
kittens, two of which had only just
opened their eyes. These two were beau
tiful little fellows, and one of them was
the exact image of its mother, to whom
we were much attached. On this ac-
count we were extremely anxious TO
save its life, but we had little hope of
doing so, for the digestive organs of the
Young cat are weak and torpid, and its
stomach requires the ''massage treat
ment' to enable it to assimilate even its
mothers milk. That treatment can be
given it only by one of its kind, and,
therefore, we never hear Of a ten-day
old kitten surviving the loss of its mother
unless it Is adopted by some female cat
who performs for it mothers offices.
Our third kitten, being six months old,
was competent to do these duties, but he
was of the male gender, and it is no.
torious that the Thomas cat is very sure
to kill the young of his kind if he has the
opportunity.
Therefore, we expected no help from
"Spotty,'' the less SO, aside from his
sex, he would not have the patience to
give the little cats the requisite attention.
He was a restless, rolicking young fell
low, never still for two consecutive sec
onds, except when asleep, and never
afflicted with serious thought in all his
life. To be sure, the day his mother
fell ill he had sudden attack of gravity.
He stood by her with pitiful eyes,
watched her every movement with the
keenest concern, lavished upon her all
sorts of cat endearments, and in her last
paroxysm threw his arms about her aud
drew her closely to him, as il he hoped
to thereby keep the breath of life in her
body. And, too, when we bore bis
mother away 10 her last home in cor
ner of the garden, he followed with
ruefuI face; and, when 1 threw the last
earth upon her coffin, he stretched him
self upon her grave and cried and
moaned as If he realized that gentle
love, SO unselhsh and beautiful as to be
almost human, had gone out of his lite,
and was not to be his again forever. All
this we saw, but We thought the feeling
would soon pass away and SpottY by
another day be the same thoughtless,
frolicking young. fellow that he had been
since he first came into this world.
So we had little hope of saving the kit
tens, but we determined to make every
effort to keep alive st least the one that
so much resembled its mother. Return
ing then TO the house, my wife prepared
some food, and we went again to the
upper story, where, in large closet,
was the abode of the recently born kit
tens. Spotty followed closely at our
heels, but to this 1 did not object, be-
cause 1 thought could ward off q cstas-
trophe should his natural instinct get the
better of his usual kindly disposition.
He had never seen the kittens, nor, 1
suspect, any individual of the cat kind
except his mother, and when we entered
the closet and my wife took the kittens
upon her lap to feed them, he stared at
them with wide-eyed wonder. The little
fellows did not at first take kindly to