The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-11


 fully demonstrated and the proprietor is delighted at the visitors exclamations of wonder.
 ''Tll tell you why teach cats to jump upon me from their cages" he says confidentially. Tt impresses them at once with the idea of perfect familiarity with me, for, as you have noticed cats like to rub around persons they like and who are pleased with such atten- tions, but If they are repulsed it is hard to rid them of suspicion and fear of the persons who cast them off. Even the kittens, which are just as initiative as young monkeys and take leaf out of the old cats book, as train them to do when they are too obstreperous for the shop and I want to get rid of them, l never think of picking them up in my hands and putting them out. That would make them afraid of me- so far as personal contact goes, So I keep a broom in here, and when there is too much of them I sweep them out; they dislike the broom, as you can see by the way they bristle at the sight of it, but they have no fear of me.
 What sort of cats are the easiest to train? Well, that is difficult question to answer. It depends more or less on what you wish to teach them. Some time ago a great turn on the variety stage was done by pair of boxing cats. A great many people went to see it and thought that it was a wonderful per- formance, indeed, and marveled at the cleverness of the owner of the cats in being able to teach them the manly art But, do you know, boxing is one of the easiest things in the world you can teach a cat. that is, the right variety of cats? I saw one of the bouts between these stage cats and immediately went to work to study 1t out. That was long before cats were in such demand, and I had to sell all kinds of other animals to make living. I noticed that the cats | the snowman used were the fighting kind--square cats, we call them in the trade. They have broad faces, very short noses and heavy, stocky shoul- ders, with plenty of music in their hind legs. This was a hint, so I took a cou- pie of square kittens which generally were on the still hunt for trouble and wrapped soft rags around their fore paws. Of course, not understanding my game, the rags worried them con sideraby for a while and they spent their time trying to get rid of them, as sensible animals would But in short time they became used to them, and when I held them up by the scruff of the neck, and faced them so they would 1 have to knock against each other, it was no time before they were striking and punching at each other as hard as they could. Soon they were willing to go it alone, and within two months had as good a pair of boxers as ever held mill
 The Angora cats are very difficult to train, although they are now in de- mand and bringing, excellent prices. The white Angora is especially stupid, and there is not a brindle running about the back fences and singing to the moon which hasn't more sense in a minute than 1t has in a year. But. then, it is beautiful to look at and makes a fine parlor ornament, so suppose 1t will always be popular with those persons who go in more for feline show than they do for feline intelec- tual gifts
 "Now, here is cat whose character is at present the subject of some scien- tific dispute, so I understand" says the proprietor as he produces a peculiar looking animal from a topmost cage. It is unusually large, with coat of va rying light gray and dark gray stripes, has a long black nose, and a thick, bushy tail, which Is marked with alter hating black and gray rings.
 This is the coon-cat," continues the 1 proprietor "and there are very few of his kind in New York In West Vir- ! ginia and some parts of Pennsylvana there are plenty of them, and, in fact, any place where raccoons and com mon cats abound there should be a great many coon-cats. But several sci- entiflc cat men have come out and | claimed that the coon-cat is not a cross between the raccoon and the cat, but Is distinct species in itself Besides | this one fellow has gone up the state 1 somewhere to start farm for the ras- l ing of coon-cats which, he%says, are not coon-cats. The father of this l beauty was a raccoon, and I owned 1 him. His mother was a cat, and she also belonged to me; so have the docu- ments to prove my case.
 "Coon-cats are worth from twenty | five to fifty dollars on account of their rarity They can be taught many tricks, for there is nothing in the anil maj kingdom with more brains than a coon, and the cross between the coon and cat seems to scoop in all the men, tai attributes of both progenitors.
 Are people willing to pay for trained cats? Certainly. Many a person who comes here to get medium priced cat for his home becomes interested in the antics and tricks of my expert stock and goes away with high priced puss in his basket. Not only that, many persons have called in to price my mon- keys (which I keep more because they are initiative and unconsciously inspire such traits in the kittens), but have be- come more impressed by the cats and have bought them instead
 Some of my Maltese stock I have trained as ratters, and they can give cards and spades to terrier dogs and beat them at the game. I sell a great many of them every month to big mer- cantie houses which the vermin have infested. Our prices? Anywhere from two to fifteen dollars for experts. Mall tese cats trained to do tricks and par Tor things come much higher
 Cats are the cleanest animals in the world I can keep one hundred of them It. II