The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-11-28

OF Colorado 40 quaint legends. All the
other cats had heard tell Of the subtle
Rlories Of catnip, but mono had ever beheld
or sven vhiMed the grateful herb.
Wneter asked twenty young cats in
"Ohl ! don't know replied the oldMal.
csc cat. s.but I can smell Il, and I'm Soina
to follow mp the trail untii / find it, =
With these portentous words the old
Maltese cat whisked her tail, gave . Wild
"Wee-ow' and started ON run for Denver,
"Wee-ow-owy' cried the other oats, and
the Kittens too, and OF they started for
Denver, giving the old Maltese hot race
over hill and valley, peak and plain. mead
The word was passed around, and the cry
went up here and there like wildfre; Cat
some catnipr' The tidings reached Ala
mosa, and ran along tho whole Of the
mountain range of Colorado. The excite
ment was intense-cats hurried from every
house, cabin, barn, stable, shed and mine
and Joined the procession. Every city,
serted by its cat population; such a yowing
had never before been heard, such seeth-
ing army Of cats had never been seen. The
miner in his lonely hut, hearing the awful
rush, sprang from his cot and cried: "rhe
snow-slide! the snow-slide! Rum for your
lives!' But it was only the cats on the gall
lop to Denver! Oh! it was q prodigious
spectacle. and the old Maltese cat led the
van!
Judge Toll was dreaming pleasant dreams
that night, when he was awakened there
from by q din which threw him into cold
sweat. He crawled out of his bed, slipped
anxiously into his trousers, seized his faith
fn1c CHI ovnA az - ma
Tho strange noise seemed to come from the
front yard-yes, from the row of catnip
bushes,
Then the Judge pee.ed out Of the window,
and what do you think he SAW
Myriads of cats-billows of cats! Cats Of
every size, weight, color, sex, condition and
description-black cats, white cats. tabbie
cats, Maltese cats, tortoise-ahell cats. brin-
die cats, spotted cats, striped cats, brown
cats, yellow cats, mauve cats, gambORe cats,
long cats. short cats, tall cats, fat cats,
lean cats stump-tailed cats, one-eared cats,
wall-eyed cats, three legged cats. mamma
oats, papa cats, and kittens-oh. yes, kit.
And there they were in Judge Tolls front
yard, among and on the rows OF catnip
bushes-purring. sprawlina. .yowling, like
60 many demons.
"Pur-r-r,'' said the old, way-back Maltese
cat all The way from Pei f Nor
I've had in going on twenty-five years
pur-r-r! thank heaven that have lived
to see this grateful fruit introduced into
the Rocky mountain reRion!'
And then all the other cats, there must
have been million Of them. purred in
awful, lingering peal Of thunder. But this
was not all Oh. no! By the bright moon
light Judge Toll could see myriads and
myriads Of other cats surRing down from
the mountain ranges, and through the val
legs and over the plains-from George
town, salida. Idaho, Golden, Boulder,
Crested Butte, Tin Cup. San Juan, Pueblo.
Cucharas, Buena Vista, Conejos, Durango.
Manitou, Leadville, Ouray, Huerfano.
Kokomo, Monument, Rosita, Saguache and
Trinidad-the foothills were alive with
cats, the mountain peaks swarmed with
cats, and cats, cats. cats swept along like q
swirling torrent toward one focal point,
And 10! the cats were coming from other
directions, too,-from the arid plains OF
Kansas and from Deer Trail, from Monot-
ony Water Tank and from the Dreary con-
fines of Nebrasks,-the breeze blowing
from the north brought the noise of vast
and Cheyenne!
The cats already in the judges front
yard,-how they purred and writhed and
yowled, and how the sparks of electricity
shot from their furry backs Ms they rubbed
affectionately up against the rows of cat
nip! It was, in fact, carnival-a cat
saturnalia!
The Judge said to himself, II will shoot
in among all these trespassers. aud drive
them away. What right have they to de-
vastate my beauteous exotics?"
But then came the better second thought.
Would it not be cruel to deprive these crea-
lures of the long denied pleasure they were
now enjoying in the catnip bed? None of
them, save the old Maltese, had ever before
seen or tasted the precious herb,-they
knew of it only from the legendary lore
with which the old way-back Maltese cat
had RECALLED them, their fathers. their
mothers, their grandmothers, their grand
fathers and 90 on nd intinitum.
And the more Judge Toll thought it over,
the more he became satisfied that he ought
to let the cats stay and enjoy the catnip.
So at last he went back to his bed and re-
newed his slumber as best he could. a
When he got up next morning and looked
into his front yard, not a cat was to be
seen, nor yet a vestige of the catnip either.
The turf was widely rent and torn up and
every leaf. twig, sprig and root OF catnip
had disappeared. It was conjectured that
the cats took it all away with them. They
must have had terrible battle over the
remnants of the feast, for here and there
on tho despoiled turf lay eyes and ears,
and bits of tails and tufts Of hair-silent
but eloquent evidences of the last tragic
scene of all.-Eugene Field in Pittsburg