The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-15
znp coUEAeE OF 4NN4nE1 LEE,
Not an Inch of Ground She Yields, Though Her Heart Flutters Like n Timid Wo-

| ldLHOuSs put lllG Cat WIlO ud5u edleI
 the parrot is worthy of more fame; or
 rather it is the parrot that deserves the
 fame, for it is the parrot-Annabel Lee
 is her name-that furnishes amusement
 to New York household.
 The slyness, the trickery, the decep-
 tion and the cajolery of a cat are sup
 posed to surpass those of all animals
 which come into our daily life, but
 when pitted against her friend Anna
 bcl Lee the cat of this household is a
 blundering stupid, foolish beast; for
 Annabel Lee, beautiful though she be,
 is an arrant little coward, yet so wise
 and so clever at deception that with the
 cat she passes for a plumed Joan of
 Arc with very lions heart. Never
 did a knight make a braver showing
 than Annabel Lee, never did one seem
 more eager for the fray, and yet, as the juggler frankly tells you when he is
 fooIing the eyes out of you, ''it is all de- ception."
 If there is one thing in the world that
 disgusts Annabel Lee it is to see the preparations begin for the tourney. The master of ceremonies, you may be
 sure, is a male member of the family.
 When he rolls a low broad-seated arm
 chair to the center of the room there is
 a sudden and deep fall of the spirits of
 Annabel Lee She sullls and grumbles
 and protests against the proceeding. Next Annabel Lees perch is moved
 close up to the chain and of a sudden
 she conceives a violent dislike for her
 sometime favored resting-place. She ! will oot 1f f Vryin At
 at it. But note the change that comes
 over her when she sees that it is use- less to protest! The cat having been | brought into the room by the aforesaid
 master of ceremonies. Annabel Lee l trips gayly over to her perch, climbs merrily up the rounds, and then, stand ing there, pluming herself and glorying
 in her beauty, makes pleasant remarks to everybody in the room Not the slightest attention does she pay to the cat. To a person whom ordinarily she
 will not condescend to notice she will
 now talk in the most amiable and wheeling way She will flirt coyly and coquettishly with some one whom she usually receives with cold haughti- ness. But the cat-she is not of enough moment to be thought about or to be looked at. If she is in the room eer- tainly Annabel Lee is not aware of her presence, and if there is any reason to feel alarm certainly Annabel Lee does not know why.
 There is a strange fascination for the cat in watching the gay Annabel as she displays her beauty and gives vent to her gay spirits. Slowly the distant cousin to the tiger approaches the chair. She is beautiful too, now with a strange light in her eye, her graceful paws falling lightly and her tail nov ing gently, almost iInperceptibly. She | is so near the chair that with bound | she could leap into it and stand face to face with Annabel Lee, Annabel Lee of | the green coat and the red-tipped | plumes But Annabel knows great | deal. She knows that it is easier to | hold a fort than to take it. She knows l that the moral effect of determination | plainly shown is enormous, andSso she | trips from her perch to the chair, steps | jauntily around on the cushion. gives al merry and careless laugh, or crows not jeeringly or defiantly-the time has not come for that yet-but confidently and easily. And never does she condescend to look at the cat who stands there, foolish thing, wondering, no doubt, at such perfect composure, and admirlng such knightly disdain and such mag nificent confidence.
 Having come so near to the chair without being attacked, and having feasted her eyes on such a lovely sight, the cat must come nearer. With an- other step she is close against the chair, her head level with Annabel. She lifts paw and holds it in the air motionless, supple, graceful, but so hungry-looking! And Annabel Lee, does she scold or chatter or object? She starts to come over to the edge, slowly, deliberately calmly She low CTS her head, stretching out her green neck and then she walks more rapidly. But does she strike with her beak or her claw? When she is at the very edge, if the cat springs back, Annabel does strike out, viciously and fiercely and she looks very much disappointed { that the spiritless cat retreated so in- gloriously. But if, fascinated by the : sight of so much gorgeousness or if re- solved that the time has come for su- 1 oreme test, the cat holds her ground 1 md awaits the coming of her splendid adversary, does Annabel Lee leap upon Ter and claw her or tear her? At the ast minute, when she sees that she has l rome too far, that the cat will meet the t law or beak. Annabel Lee gives her f wings a great flap, a terrible flap, in - he very face of the faint-hearted cat, yho springs back in alright, gazing with wonderment at so much courage md such prowess. And Annabel Lee? Q There was a cat in the room an instant ,efore, but now there is none in the for Annabel Lee calmly b urveys everything but the cat, makes n ove with soft and begulling words to Ter mistress, or examines button on he cushion.
 She tires of the chair. There is noth- d ng more to interest her there. Climb h 1g back to her perch, she breaks into c n animated conversation. She calls D ask where Fanny is She whistles, ot cat-call, but a jovial, jolly whis- e and sings high notes and low, $ winging on her perch, or playing with n
 string, or unscrewing a metal tip 5 ,om support, she, ,amuses herself in a is core of ways, forgetting the cares of 1T 4, fe el el But it is when Annabel Lee looks lS .,,,,, pd finds ripht undar her pair | Sl