The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-16


bic nearest the summit of an imposing
peak not far from Del Norte. One night
this old Maltese cat was traversing the
ridge pole of the stable when she was
brought to a sudden standstill by the
breeze blowing from the northeast.
| "Wee-ow-ow!" exclaimed the old NAL
| tese-feline; and her eyes glittered strange
| ", her tail began TO expand, and her ven
cradle fur rose on her back.
why, gran'ma," inquired one of the
younger cats, demure maiden tabby of
uncertain age, why, gran ma, what ais
you:''
''Wee-ow-owy" replied the old Maltese
! cat again. "Wee-ow-owi / smell catnipr
Now the other cats had heard about cat
nip, but had never seen any The tales
which the Maltese cat had told about her
experiences with the favorite weed before
she left her kittenhood home in Maine had
been handed around among the other cats
of Colorado as quaint legends All the
other cats had heard tell of the subtle
glories of catnip, but none had ever beheld
or even whitfield the grateful herb
"Where;" asked twenty young cats in
chorus.
ooh! don't know" replied the old Nal
tese cat, ''but can smell it, and m going
to follow up the trail until find it."
With these portentous words the old
Maltese cat whisked her tail, gave wild
"Wee-ow," and started on run for Den
yer, 800 miles away.
"Wee-ow-owW cried the other cats-and
the kittens too-and off they started for
Denver. giving the old Maltese a hot race
over hill and valley, peak and plain, mead
and void.
The word passed around, and the cry
went up here and there like wiIdfire, Cat
nipl catnipI catnip! We're going to get
some catnip" The tidings reached Alamo
sa, and ran along the whole of the mountain
range of Colorado. The excitement was
intense-cats hurried from every house,
cabin, barn, stable. shed and mine, and
Joined the vast procession. Every city,
town, hamlet and camp was instantly de-
serted by its cat population. Such yowl-
ing had never before been heard, such a
seething army of cats had never been seen.
The miner in his lonely hut, hearing the
awful rush, sprang from his cot and cried:
"The snow slide! the snow slidel Run for
your livesW But it was only the cats on
the gallop 10 Denver Oh, it was a pro-
digious spectacle, and the old Maltese cat
led the vani
Judge Toll was dreaming pleasant
dreams that night, when he was awak-
ened therefrom by a din which threw him
into a cold sweat. He crawled out of his
bed, slipped anxiously into his trousers,
seized his faithful shotgun and stole softly
to the window. The strange noise seemed
to come from the front yard-yes, from the
rows of catnip bushes.
Then the judge peered out of the win
dow, and what do you think he saw
Myriads of cats-billows of catsi Cats of
every size, weight, color, sex, condition
and description. Black cats, white cats,
Table cats, Maltese cats, tortoise shell
CATS brindle cats, spotted cats, striped
cats, brown cats, yellow cats, mauve cats,
gamboge cats, long cats, short cats, tall
cats, fat cats, lean cats, stump tailed cats,
one cared cats, wall eyed cats, three legged
cats, mamma cats, papa cats and kittens
oh, yes, kittens of every kind and without
number! And there they were in Judge
Tolls front yard, among and on the rows
of catnip bushes-purring, sprawling, yowl-
ing like so many demons.
"Pur-r-r," said the old. wayback Maltese
cat, all the way from Del Norte-"purr-r-rl
oh! isn't this lovely? It's the first catnip
I've had in going on twenty-five years
purr-r-rl thank heaven that have lived
to see this grateful fruit introduced into
the Rocky mountain regiOnW
And then all the other cats-there must
have been a million of them-purred in
chorus so loud that it sounded like an
awful, lingering peal of thunder. But this
was not all. Oh, mol By the bright moon
light Judge Toll could see myriads and
myriads of other cats surging down from
the mountain ranges and through he val !
leys and over the plains-from George !
town, Salida, Idaho, Golden, Boulder, !
Crested Butte, lineup, San Juan, Pueblo, |
Buena Vista, COnejos, Duran |
go, Manitou, Leadville, Ouray, HuerfanO, |
Monument, Rosita Saguache /
and Trinidad-the foothills were alive with |
cats, the mountain peaks swarmed with /
cats, and cats, cats, cats swept along like |
a swirling torrent toward one focal point, |
Judge Tolls catnip bed
And, lol the cats were coming from other
too-from the arid plains of .
Kansas and from Deer Trail, from Monot-
1ny Water Tank and from the dreary CON
zines of Nebraska. The breeze blowing
rom the north brought the noise Of vast
armies of cats on their way from Laramie
and Cheyenne!
The cats already in the judges front
-ard-how they purred and writhed and
Towled, and how the sparks of electricity
hot from their furry backs as they rubbed
up against the rows of cat
lipi 1t was in fact carnival-a cat sat
Irnaliai
The Judge said to himself, Il will shoot
n among all these trespassers and drive
hem away. What right have they todev-
state my beauteous exoticsy"
But then came the second better thought
Would it not be cruel to deprive these
FEATURES Of the long denied pleasure they
we're now enjoying in the catnip beds None
f them, save the old Maltese, had ever be-
ore seen or tasted the precious herb; they
,new of it only from the legendary lore
With which the old way-bec& Maltese cat
lad RECALLED them, their fathers, their
1others, their grandmotbers, their grand.
athers, and so on ad inhnitum.
And the more Judge Toll thought il
yer the more he became satisfied that he
ught, in all humanity, to let the cats stay
nd enjoy the catnlp. SO at last be went
Jack to his bed and renewed his slumber
S best he could.
When ne got up next morning and looked
ITO his front yard not cat was TO be seen,
or yet vescige OF the catnip either. The
urf was widely rent and torn UP, and
very leaf, twig, sprig and root OF catnip
ad disappeared. It was conjectured that
be cats took it all away with them They
lust have had a terrible battle over the
emnsnts Of the feast, for here and there
. the despoiled turf Lag eyes and ears and
its of tails and tufts OF fur-sile1t but
loquent evidences Of the last tragic scene
Z AL -TupeDe FisL