The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-12-09
THE CAT.
Johnny Tells All He Knows and
lmagInes About Her.

The cat is a very interesting ami
NAL. He is a small fur dog that
meows, and has whiskers and several
other things. He has four ~paws-two
fore paws and two behind opes-and
a tail. He has been known for many
years, two Of him having been said to
be on the Ark, where he must have
been tied up, or what would have be-
come of the rats? Cats don't get to
be cats until they are a year old,
when they stop being kittens, which
they are born as. 1t takes a kitten
several weeks to get his eyes open, If
he doesn't get drownded before that
time. and he scratches when he is
mad. NV father says camels used to
be cats, but got their backs up one
day and couldn't get them down
again, and so became camels. l never
heard q camel meow, but | suppose
thev can, because they can do most
anything, having seven stomachs and
gong many days without water.
The dictionary says the cat is a car
nivorous quadruped, but that does
not sound like a cat. The old Egyp-
tians used to be very fond of the cat,
treating him like a member of their
own family, and making mummies
out of him when he died. Some of
these mummies still live. They used
TO hang people for killing cats in
Egypt, because the cat was supposed
to be a sacred an NAL, being a sign Of
the moon. probably because they are
generally out all night. We have a
cat named Tom and he has six kit
tens. which he washes their face every
day just like me.
Cats never fall out of anything
without landing on their feet, which
is why their feet are so soft, and they
have to be killed nine times before
they die, and some times they don't
even then, They eat milk when
tame, but when wild they cry like a
baby until somebody comes to see
what is the matter. and then they eat
him, which is fatal, and teaches peo-
pie to mind their own business, and
not 20 seeing what other peoples
children are crying for.
A cats eye is a very queer thing,
looking like a slot machine all day
and an agate at night, seeing better
in the dark than in the light. like
witches. Therefore they are said to
be friends of witches, n some people
don't like them on that account, but
/ do.
The two best cats that ever lived
belonged to Dick Wilmington, Mayor
OF London, who went out West and
killed a lot of rats at d dollar a head,
and took the money home to his mas
ter to get to be Mayor with, and Puss
in Boots, who stole his masters
clothes and ate a giant, thereby max
ing his master owner of the farm and
husband of a rich girl, whose father
died and left it all to her.
NY cat can't do anything like this.
but he gets there just the same, and
is very gentle to my little brother,
who pulls his tail and doesn't have to
wish he hadn't.
Altogether l don't know what we
should do without cats, especially
those that like to have them lying
around just as we do.
Yours truly, JOHNNY.
-Ha7per's Young People.
An necdo of Marie Bashkiriseff.
l was recently told an anecdote
concerning that lamented and tai
ented but very erratic young painter,
Mile. Marie Bashkirtseff, which proves
conclusively how little sincerity there
is often to be found amongst some Of
the most fervent devotees of Impress
sionism. The young artist was al
ways in theory devoted to the ideas
and talents of Manet, so that when
the works of the founder OF the I'm
pr~essionist school were disposed of at
auction after his decease, the adoring
mother of Mile. Bashkirtseff fastened
to purchase several of the most char
acteristic Of his pictures, and had
them arranged as ii pleasant surprise
for her daughter in that young lady's
studio. But when Mile. Bashkirtseff
entered and beheld those wild and
vivid productions of Manet's eccentric
pencil she was at once indignant and
disguised.
1T is all very well to be an impress
sionist in theory" she cried, "but
those things are horrors! Have them
taken away at once and put them
where | shall never see them again"
Lucy IL. Hooper in Pha1adelphia
Telegraph.
An Attractive Drawing Room.
! was in a drawing room the other
day, in which no uniformity OF furni-
tt,ra or colorinp was a+temptad INIT