The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-02-27
HIS FLYING CAT.


I
bat when they emigrate to America,
they are no better than the average of
M working classes. Some meddling
adiot brought a lot of sparrows to the
states some ten or fifteen years ago,e x-
Eectingthey wouldkill all the worms on
the fruit trees. They hadn't been in the
country six months when they took the
ground that they were as good as the
best of our swell birds and that they
considered that killing worms was a
degrading kind of labor fit only for
blackbirds and crows. So they took
to living on wheat and strawberries,
and cherries. and they multiplied so
fast that they are the worst curse that
the farmer and the fruit grower ever
had
"Prof. Van Wagner and / were dis
cussing the sparrow question one day,
andIwascomplainingof the in~eficiency
of the American cat Our cats are about
as wide-awake and as monarchial cats
as you can produce, but they can't
catch q single sparrow. I've known
ambitious cats who set out to catch
lsparrows, and who wasted away to
mere skeletons, ard died of weakness
through watching for sparrows from
dawn to darkness, and never once get
ting within ten feet of one. AS a gem
leraf rule 1 don't have much sympathy
for cats, but the insulting language
that sparrows use when they see a cat
1aying for them, and the a~ggravating
way in which they viii fly just over the
cats head, or maybe hit the cat over the
tail with their wings, is more than any
cot can be expected to bear.
"'The trouble is said Van WAGNER,
that the cat isn't a flying animal and
the sparrow is. The ~sparrow's native
element is the air, and you can't expect
caS can't hy.'
THAT'S true said I, but it don't
helpus out of ourdificulty. Cat'sweren't
made with wings, and neither you norI
q invent n new model of cat that will
be able to fly, and to catch sparrows on
the wing
"'Don't be too sure of that said the
professor. Science has improved
everything that it has put its hand to,
and I see no reason why science
shouldn't improve cats. A flying cat
would supply a great public want, for
she would kill off the sparrows as easily
as she kills off the mice. I've half a
mind to try the experiment of inventing
a flying cat
"tAll right said I. When you get
your flying cat finished just notify me.
and I'll come and see her fly. Then, if
you are going in for improving animals,
perhaps you will invent a cat that can
sing like a nightingale. The present
style of singing among cats is disgrace
full. They haven't any more idea of
music than a Chinaman.'
We'll, the professor buckled down to
business, and from his daily interviews
with his private cat, and the consequent
scratches that diversified his good old
scientific countenance, I judged that he
was doing his best to make. a cat that
would fly. Before the six weeks were
up he sent me a note inviting me to
come round to his house at two o'clock
the next afternoon to see the first sue
cessful flying cat that had ever been IN
vented. I needn't say that L went. I
had assisted at the birth of dozens of
Van Wagener's inventions, and I had
generally found that the presence of a
man with experience in the treatment
of accidents was a handy thing so far
as the professor was concerned.
"'You know, colonel said he, my
method as an inventor. 1 ask myself
what is needed in some particular pur-
pose, and then I proceed to supply that
need Most people think that AN in
'ventor has ideas come to him all Of G
sudden, in a supernatural sort of way;
but that is all nonsense. ~Inventing is a
business, like any other, and n intel
ligent man can learn 1t. Now, when /
saw that the reason why cats don't
catch sparrows is that they can't fly
after the bird, I saw what was wanted
was a flying cat, and / proceeded to in
vent one. Here I have a small balloon.
This I fix to that cat of mine, and when
it is inflated it will just support the
weight of the cat in the air. Then you
see this pair of paddle-wheels. They
ere to be fixed n On each side of the
cat, and T to be driven by a small cleo
trical engine. The balloon floats the cat
and the paddle-wheels propel her. In
order to steer the cat 1 fix a fiat piece of
tin to the extremity of her tail. When
she sees a sparrow her instinct will
make her swish her tail from one side
to the other, and her attention being
fastened on catching the bird, she will
u-nconsciously work her tail in such o
way as to steer her directly towards it.
1T wasn't an easy job to rig up Van
Wagener's cat. She kicked and sworc
her level best, and got in several good
scratches on the professors hands.
However. he stuck to his task, and after
awhile the cat was ready, and we adj
journed to the backyard. There was a
whole gang of sparrows in the middle
of the yard, forming a sort of ringround
two that were fighting, and from the
way in which every sparrow was talk
ing at the top of his voice it was clear
that some heavy betting on the fight
was in progress. When they saw Van
Wagner and his cat. they naturally
few up to the caves of the house, where
the fighting was resumed. Van Wagon
A.. 4no1r he Arvsn0- 90 - -