The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-25
SMOKE.
Did You Know
OF Him!
A DEAD CAT NOW,
But He Was Lively and
Popular in His Day.
Smoke is dead.

For Smoke was the cat in Green's
lrug store.
There may be other cats there, but
Smoke was The Cat
And everybody liked Smoke.
For Smoke was an affectionate sort of
fellow and used to rub up against the
customers in way of welcome.
Sometimes Smoke would get in the
way and under peoples feet or mono
police the only vacant stool at the soda
water fountain.
And then people would not love
Smoke, But now he has passed to the
happy hunting ground of the penus
1ells' MS past sins are forgiven and
forgotten and everybody is sorry.
smoke was of what might be termed
uncertain breeding. He was lacking of
an established pedigree Blue blood
may have coursed through his veins
But II so. no one knew it.
ne had characteristics of the Angora
1amlly OF the Maltese family. and Of
other breeds of cats One thing was
certain. He was black-black as the
proyerbial ace of spades.
Whatever Smokes breeding, he was
an intelligent animal Some cats are
said to be intelligent when they really
are Tools IN this case, however. it was
olirerent. He really did know a. thing
or two-several things in fact.
smoke foated into the drug store
early one morning, shortly after the
ehange in management. Big officer
Ramsdell was walking his beat as usual
tsIyi9usiy thinking of some of his
prother officers, whom Bill saws have.
the snaps of the force, when something
black lodged between his legs and
dlved through the open door into tbe
drug store.
The officer at first thought it was a
great big black rat, such as he has seen
on some of his ffshless fishing trips. But
uIdef the glare of the are light the new
conner was clearly a cat, a black cat.
Inc night force in the store and the
newspaper men on the morning papers
VINO generally rendezvous at Green's
after the last form" has gone down
accorded Smoke a cordial welcome And
tnere ne made his home until his I'M
elilely ana yet rather necessary end one
morning last week.
Smokehad evidently seen enonqb of
me world to satisfy his royal catship
pef9Ge first darkening the drug store
dooN He was never away from the
store any length of time. He kept even
q closer eye on business than the pro-
prlelor His chief diversion assumed
the form of occasional trips lp into The
would invariably get intoJa little mis-
understanding with The Spy cat At
such times everybody in the building.
=, from the printers on the roof to the
stereotypers in the cellar knew that
Green S cat was upon the premises-an
unwelcome and yet persistent visitor.
Smoke would sleep most of the day-
time eurled up on a box Of molasses
kisses or an old chair. But al night as
soon as the lights We're lit, ne would
show himself, and soon assert his right
to the entire outfit. He was usually
most active about 4 O'clock in the
morning. Then he would chase him
self around the show cases, over conn-
tiers and between bottles, playing
straight tag, cross tag, squat tag, and
every other old sort of tag, with him
self. Soon after his appearance at the
store every rat and mouse disappeared,
and Smoke had TO play tag with him
self to get exercise.
But the great American game of tag
was by no means Smokes only accom-
plishment. Neither was it mis- onlymeth-
cd Of amusing himself and the public
He could climb up on a stool in much
the same manner as man would climb
ladder He would get up, round by
round, and then crawl over on the seat
of the stool, and there remain No
amount Of persuasion could induce him
to get down until the Spirit moved him
or somebody moved the stool.
Smoke also took delight in sliding
down the side of show case, Once
upon the top of any of the high glass
show cases, Smoke would carefully put
his front paws over the edge and let
them slide just as far down as possible
Then when it was a case Of quit or
tumble he would give spring and land
on the floor, none the worse for the lit
tie contortion act.
a. " nj al 10 tf foIl
time accurately, but he always knew
just about the time THAI mis- daily liba-
ton Of whipped cream was due. In
these days of college ices and hot chloe
olates, whipped cream is an absolute
necessity upon any up-to-date soda
water fountain. That's why Green
keeps whipped cream at his fountain.
Each day there is a new supply of the
meringue, and whatever was left went
to Smoke. The cat knew perfectly
well when preparations for the trans
formation process from the old to the
new Were to take place, and was al
ways on hand.
The proudest moment in Smokes life
was when he was photographed. His
coat was black and sleek those days
and his owner 8 thought his picture
would make an elegant trade mark.
But somehow the camera did not do
Smoke justice-the effect was not suf-
ficently strilxing-so any old black cat
perched on q board fence, with its
black hump up higher than its head is
his (Green's) mark.
month or so ago it was discovered
that Smoke had become possessed of
an awful disease. Surrounded by drugs
and patent medicines Of every descrip-
ton, any one would have supposed that
ii would have been an easy matter to
drive away the disease and bring
Smoke back to health. It may have
been a case of too may cooks, for every
clerk in the store tried his hand at
mixing up remedy. Each in turn
concluded that he was not an adept
at catology, and at last Smoke was left
to the faith cure and TO his fate.
Smoke gradually grew worse, neither
the cold snap nor the warm spell
seemed to improve his condition Grad
ually he failed, and although he was
able to be about, his coat told only too
plainly his condition and of his suffer-
fngs.
So it was decided that Smoke should
be put out OF his misery. The task
was assigned to one of the night clerks
and last Thursday morning the deed
was done The bottle of chloroform
was taken down from the shelf, and it
was applied to Smokes nose. A few
minutes later Smoke was dead cat.
And he was accorded a burial that was
fitting the dignity Of his position.
Every woman should know that Carriers
Little Liver Pills are specific for sick
haodacha Only one Pill a dose. A wom-
an can't stand everything
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