The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-16

emit his llEaLN. IAlle MOnll awaken ALte
captain, ana the horse would stand on
the alert ready for the mount and 10
obey the captains slightest will, Indicated
by word or rein OF pressure Of the knees.
Had the captain not loved that horse ne
would have been less Of a man than
he is.
Within the week a German gentleman
stopped me on the street and gave me
an incident Of the evidencing of intclll-
gence by canary bird in Germany. The
master loved his canary as much az
BoythOrn loved his. Lying upon his bed
one evening smoking. he fell asleep. The
cigar dropped from his lips and set fire
to the bed clothing. The smoke partially
asphyxiated him. He was in great dan,
ger The bird awakened him. and so
saved his life. by pecking at his lips
AS to cats, some days ago my friend,
the Re. Thomas Cole.of Saugerties, N. Y.
and I sat together on the train. We had
been talking about-so far as this letter
is oncerned-indiffereH matters, when a
gentleman said to me:
4 have been reading a good deal about
you and your theories as to the immor-
tality of the lower animals. i wanted
to meet you"
When I had assured him that l was
glad to meet him, some conversation
followed, which concluded by his saying.
well, whether you are right or wrong,
your teachings can do no HARM
When he was gone Mr.. Cole said:
"Why is 1t that YOU are 50 fond Of dogs.
l live in perfect terror Of them"
That does not argue against the lovea-
bleness of dogs, / replied, ANY more than
the fact that an acquaintance Of mine lives
in perfect terror of women argues against
the loveableness of women, or the fact that
= certain maiden woman whom l know
lives in perfect terror of men argues
fb4a "a aV n nd
worthiness of men. As in their cases so
in yours, your not liking dogs may be the
result of an idiosyncrasy or an unpleasant
experience You must have been bitten
by a dog some time or another. or may
some ancestor was bitten, and you have
inherited your horror 1 was bitten once"
Were your" said Mr.. Cole, and changed
the subject by saying: Il am a great
lover of cats"
Are your" I said. Cats come under
the head of all animals in any love. !
have no special love for the cat. You can
not train them, for instance, to the extent
that you can dog"
Maybe not to the same extent" said
Mr.. Cole but YOU can train them. once
had a cat TO which I had taught a good
many tricks. l would tell him to go and
get into his basket-his bed was in the
basket-and he would do so. 1 would put
his milk in a pitcher with a mouth too
small for him TO get his head in and he
would dip his paw in the milk, pull the
paw out, and lick the milk off,
Your cat had little of the same power
of thought that the man had who invented
that machine" I said, pointing to one OF
those great excavators which take the
places of so many human shovellers. THE
! inventor had much of the same thing OF
which the cat had little. Go on; 1 am
| interested"
. Al
I tiful Angora. l call her Mother She Is
old but not too old to be guilty Of little
| frivOlity now and again. A fit of friVolfty
struck her about the time the blizzard
struck the country this winter. could not
keep her in the house / was afraid she
would freeze to death. / would wrap my
self up and go out after her. | would
find her under the porch surrounded by a
dozen lovers. They We're about her in a
ring. One of them would make an ad-
vance.
Mother would spit at him. They would
quarrel among themselves. This mother
would seem to enjoy quietly but deeply.
She evidently thought more of some OF
these lovers than of others. She was
quite human in her actions. She finally
selected one from the number that pressed
their suit for her paw. Before the blizzard
was over she was as quiet a member of
the household as before. But she did not
chose a husband until after many fights
among her lovers. l watched those fights
with great interest. They increased my re-
spect for the cat. When two bulls or two
dogs make UP their minds to fight they
pitch right into each other 1t is simply a
question of which Of the bulls is the
stronger or which has the advantage of
the lay of the land: or of which dog has
the more muscle, or the sharper teeth or
or of which bull or which dog has the most
power of endurance. 1t is not so with the
cats. They will watch each other for hours
looking for an opening, each of them wait
ing for a chance to take the other at a
disadvantage. When they come together
it is with Tremendous energy. How the
fur does fly! Before the whole matter was
settled and mother was duly married, for
the occasion, to the one of her choice. the
snow all about the rectory was covered
with cat fur. Antagonistic cats do not
come together at once, but after advances
and retreats and circumventions. Their
warfare is one OF intelligence, of deliber-
ation of calculation. 1t is not a warfare
of Impulse and passion simply. 1t is a
rational warfare
But the cat is so selfish" I said.
YES" was the reply; but it is the very
refinement of selhshness."
1t is only fair to Mr. Cole to say that
having no verbal memory, have reported
only the substance Of what he said. That
I have done faithfully. Our conversat ton
closed by my saying;
I'm the southwest, some years ago,
know an old cat Tom, whom I loved for
his scars, and in Chicago I had a great,
black fellow, Jim by name, of whom
thought a great deal; but I must confess
that what you have said has awakened a
psychological interest in me for the cat"
And Mr.. Cole replied: I'm send you one
of Mothers Kittens.
The Paris newspapers tell of peculiar