Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-09-16
THE GOVERNMENT CATS.
Three Hundred of These Animals En-
gagged in Protecting Records.

gagged in Protecting Records.
Three hundred and odd cats are
maintained by the United States Gov
ernment, the cost of their support be-
ing carried us Il regular item on the
accounts of the PoSt-Otice Depart
ment. They are distributed among
about fifty post-ottices, and their duty
is to keep rats and mice from eating
postal matter and mail sacks. Their
work is of the utmost importance
wherever large quantities of mail are
coll"ctcd-as, for example, at the New
York k.poSt-Ofiice, where from 1000 to
5000 bags of such material are COM
moaly slowed away in the basement
Formerly great damage was often
done by miSChicvous rodents, which
chrWcd holes i'll the sacks and thought
nothing of boring clear through bags
of letters in Il night Troubles of this
sort no longer occur, now that the of
neal puSSirS keep watch. Each city
postmaster is allowed from SIS to $40
Il year for the keep of his feline staff.
SCniing his estimate for "cat meat" to
Washington at the beginning of each
Qiartcr. Care is taken not to feed the
animals too ''high,' in order that their
appetite for live game may be keen.
1t is laid down as a rule that no meat
shall be given when there is mouse
OF Il rat to be caught.
Cats are kept in all the Government
buildings at Washington. In that of
the State, War and Navy Departments
they are employed not only to protect
the priceless papers stored there, but
to guard against fire. Twice the War
Department has been set atirc by rats
gnaWing matches-on one of these oc-
,.ISinnS in of bn -
War in the middle of the night A
year ago the Treasury had nine cats,
but they made themselves obnoxious,
and all We're given away but two.
These are as wild as possible getting
living by foraging for themselves.
Mice are notoriouSly fond of chewing
up money, but they have no chance to
get ut Uncle Sans paper cash. which
is kept in rooms with iron walls that
defy their teeth. Rats occupied the
Pension Ohicc i'll great numbers while
it was in process of building, taking up
their residence in the walls and floors
as fast as they were put up. Two
years ago four cats We're introduced
there to guard the records of the old
soldiers and they have driven most of
the vermin away. The best rat-killcr
of the quartette not long ago, being
frightened at something, fell from the
second gallery, fifty feet, to the tiled
floor and was killed. The White House
has two cats, one a black and white
female, kept in the kitchen, and the
other Il black Tom, kept in the stable
Mrs. Harrison had four handsome
Maltese cats, but they disappeared.
But the Capitol is the greatest place
in Washington for cats. The huge
buildings swarms with them and at
night they scampcr about in troops.
Nobody knows how many of them
there are, but the watchmen reckon
them by scores. They are all vagrants
and wild us hawks. In summer they
are scattered about the neighborhood
to some extent, but in winter they
gather within the building. At about
10 O'Clock every night they begin Il
mad racing through the empty corri
doris which are made to rcSound with
their cries. The acoustic effects pro-
duccd are astonishing. Let Il single
grmalkin lift up his voice in Statuary
Hall. famous for its echoes, and the
silence of the night is broken by Il
yell rs loud as locomotive whistle
\ favorite place for cat-concertS is the
whispering gallery down below, known
as the crypt" where the fccblest
sound is magnitied into Il roar.