Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-11-02
THE SONG or A SOUL.
4 LEGEND Or THE STRING nSsTRU
 mENT FOUNDED ON ERRoa.

Ills sFassion For Miss Pussy Earfntne and
 the Tragedy That Resulted Therefronl..
 Under ths Musieian's Touch.
 It is known to only T few people that the devil once had a daughter-that was many years ago. The Lord be praised, she lived only . short time She was cut off i'll her youth. She eame to this world in the guise of a graceful kitten, and l, MT Thomas Kateut. was destined to have my fate interminglsd with hers.
 While strolling along the banks of a pleasant little stream first met Miss Pussy Garmine. and we'll was she named. When gazed into her eyes, they seemed to glow with fire, and when drew my eyes away they were go dazzled that all around and about me seemed for moment to be red, and the soft gray fur with which she was GOV cred seemed to be tipped with scarlet.
 Despite the fact that my entire heart went out to her in adogation at first sight. I could not but be conscious of | strange and unusual feeling which I conld not loealize. It seemed to draw and strain until it fairly aehed, but ] could not place it It WAS not my heart, nor yet my liver, and it seemed to be far from my head This meeting was but the first of many. Night after night we met, bus in the midst of transports of joy and ecstasies of bliss which these meetings brought to me always con tinued to experience the indeseribable feeling, vague, unappreachable. yet al. ways there when in her ffeseaee.
 One night felt that cou1d no longer contain my feelings, so, Oil the banks of tho river, OH the very spot where first NC met. l told her of my love And. oh, tho effeetl Fire seemed to flash from her eyes and mouth and each undivided Lair on her body was afiame All the devil in her seemed to be let loose. Before my as s'0nishment gave me chance to net she leaped upon me and began to scratch and tear and gnaw and bite. And in the midst of all the horror and pain Of 1t came that same indeseribable feeling Ill the undisepy. cred place.
 was perfectly powerless to resist her mnrderous attacks, and my efforts on my part would have been useless, for I felt that my hour had come. With- out pausing, she continued to scratch and tear at me until finally, feeling that was in the act of taking my last breath, I opened my eyes to cast a last look upon this sad bnt beautiful world. Just then Miss Pussy seemed fo have exhausted her vitality, for she fell back dying even as my last fiut- tering breath issued from my lips. And then my soul left it's earthly dwelling place. and, lowering above, looked down on the scene of the late tragedy.
 Horrible dictu'' My own body lay there lacerated aud torn, but the body of the devils daughter had vanished into space
 Eager as l was to soar away to a bet ter land, l could not tear myself from the spot, but fingered around my poor body i'll the hope that some kind nor tai would find 1t and give it decent bur. ial. But alas for all my hopesi At early dawn strange looking man, tall and lean, with long hair and bony, slender fingers, came wandering toward our late trysting place. Suddenly he saw my body, and trembling took posses sion of him, which he soon controlled, and lifting me gently by the tail, car Yied me for some distance until we kl, which seemed to be his own. My soul followed through space, eager t5 see what was to become of my body. This awful man, who, it seemed. was tine commander in chief of an army ofgan- ized for the advancement of music, took ap s murderous looking knife and de- iiperately cut my poor body iAto bits. He cut i'll deep until he reached my very vitals, and as the knife touched these my soul gave long, quivering but satisfied sigh, for he had touched the spot which had always responded to Miss Pussy's presence, and which, while l had lived, had always eluded my de. lection. He took up my yitals and cut them into narrow strips and strung
 
 my body and soul were really separated. so sensitive was my soul to any touch to these parts that each time q breeze swept across them my soul could not resist a cry.
 These cries seemed to please the mn sieian so much that he nearly went wild with excess of feeling. He manipu- lated the strings-which were my yitals -.in all sorts of ways, and finally drew them taut over a peculiar piece of glazed wood and over this drew rod in meas. ured time. My soul moaned and sighed at each touch, hut the musician seemed to know how to medulate and moderate my cries and at the same time tomingle with my tones others of such sweetness aud pathos that the combined effect was heavenly and grard.
 And thus 1t is that my soul has never found final resting place. for mingled with my sad tones are ever those sweet and glorious ones, harmonieusly inter-