The evening times., 1899-08-31
A Scientific Triumph,

An incident which recently occurred
near st. Louis indicates that the benefits
of modern science are not confined entire
ly TO human beings. lady in that region
owned a large Angora cat, which was
sort of feline Cyrano de Bergerac He was
a white cat, but there was a large and dis
figuring yellow spot on his nose.
This blennish troubled the mind of his
owner though it is not likely that the cat
himself was seriously disturbed. She pom
dered deeply over the question, and finally
opened correspondence with a surgeon in
New York. After learning the nature of
the trouble, the surgeon recommended that
the cat be sent to his clinic in New York.
and it was done. The doctor, after exam
lining his patient, expressed the opinion
that electricity would remove the objec-
tionable fur, and that when fur grew
again on the animals nose it would be
white. The operation. he added, would be
performed in consideration of the sum of
consulted, but he had been thinking, and
his claws were ready for business. Seeing
the meditative way in which the Angora
fondled his blankets, and the length to
which handsome set of shining talons
were exposed, the doctor prudently decided
TO administer an anaesthetic. Then he re-
moved the yellow hairs by means of cleo
trio needles. and blistered the nose slightly
in order 10 insure the whiteness of the
new growth. The operation was success
full
This incident suggests some rather Gu
rious reflections upon the human Cyrano,
who, having no surgeon to come to his aid,
was obliged to wear his nose as nature
made il until the end of his days. If that
Cyrano had lived in this age of the world.
and had had money enough-it is not ev-
eryone who can afford to pay ninety dollars
for a mere improvement in appearance
he would have had a surgical operation
performed on his nose, and gone on and
won RoXane on his own account. without
any need for considering her cousin. He
would also have lived a much more peace
full life, since he would have had no occa-
sion to fight every man who made a re-
mark on his most prominent feature He
might have been poet, but he would have
been less satirical and cynical one. He
would have written beautiful sonnets to
Roxane-or somebody else-war songs for
the Gascony Cadets, poems of sentiment,
descriptive verse, pastorals, plays-any-
thing which a poet of that day naturally
would write. He might have learned to
win the favor of princes or of the public
one is about as difficult as the other-and
| through their kindness have amassed q
have bought house, and lived therein,
with Roxane, comfortable and happy
Benedict. And there would have been no
tragedy to be written.
Even an Angora cat is better off, in these
days, thar Cyrano de Bergerac in the DAYS
before the advance of science.
But after all, which would one rather be
de Bergerac or the cat? This is the ques.
ton which naturally occurs to those who
object to the materialism and lack of ro-
nance in the present age. Would one rath.
er be the poet of old France, with all hi.
whimsical humor and jesting pathos. or
comfortable matter r-of-fact rhymesmith o.
the present? Is 1t the prosperity of ths
present which is killing our poetry? Ths
thoughtful will say no. There is as mucf
tragedy, heroism, and pathos, in the world
now as ever; il anything, ii is intensified
by modern conditions. Where, in the Mid
this? A wealthy woman pays ninet!