Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-04-27
FOUGHT WITH A CALICO CAT.
And Finding Ii nm Easy Victim the
Feline Victor Has Become De-
mornIiEed.

Ont on the West side, with a family
named Parker, lives a large and sad
eyed cat. His name IS Victor, but his
appearance indicates that he had better
have been christened Nanquished. One
ear is missing, one eye gone, and there
is an absence of fur on various portions
of his body. His bearing is abject and
his gait sneaking, and general air Of
might have seen better days" is ap-
parent in his conduct. The story Of
Victors downfall is no less Interesting
than ii is sad.
\ year ago he was frislling kitten,
with a good home, good name, and
fine, glossy coat. He was noted for
his gentle ways, never Offering violence
to the neighbor's baby when that small
parsonage made tour Of the premises
carrying him by the tail. 1t was his
custom to greet all strange cats with a
glad smile, and much of his time was
spent at the aforesaid neighbor's yard,
frolicking with a kitten of his own
age who dwelt there, or basking in the
sun under the watchful eye of the kit
tens mother.
Victor had reached the comparative
ly mature age of nine months, and was
large and strong for his.age, when he
returned home one afternoon from
playful hour spent with the neighbor's
kitten. Mrs. Parker had just put the
finishing touches TO a calico cat she
was making for the neighbor's baby.
The calico cat, plump from an abun-
dance of cotton, had been placed in
a corner of the sitting-room, so that
II was the first object that greeted
V!ctor's gaze when he entered the
apartment.
Victor may have been hungry, and
1t may have been the prosperous look
of the stuffed cat that Jared upon
his usually complacent spirit. At any
rate, Victor bristled up, and with a
declaration of war wildly expressed in
that part of his anatomy made use of
by the feline race when reused to
anger, he approached the strange cat.
He circled around it several times, and
finally sprang upon it in a frenzy of
rage. The two rolled over and over,
and the carpet was strewn with cotton
wool from one side of the room to the
other before Victor could be separated
from his mated rival.
Thenceforth Victor was a changed
cat. 81 came, l saw, l conquered"
seemed to be the dominating thought in
his mind, and if ever a cat was pulled
up with conceit, that cat was Victor.
He went proudly out of the house for
fresh foes to vanquish. Peace, which
had hitherto reigned within his gentle
breast, was dethroned, and gave way
to wild and lofty ambition. He would
fight every cat in Cook county. He
had tasted blood, or what answered
in the place of blood, in the calico cat,
and he would have more thereof. 1t
was an easy task to vanquish the
neighbor's kitten, the same afternoon
that he demolished his calico rival.
As an appetizer for breakfast the next
morning he sailed forth and fought
with the neigh bor's kittens mother.
He left a large scratch on the neigh
bor's baby's hand when the baby tried
to dissuade him from his bloody pur-
suit, and the baby shed large, juicy
tears. Let no guilty cat escape" was
his motto.
Daily complaints about the disgrace
full exploits of Master Victor were
brought to the ears of gentle Mrs.
Parker. She called him naughty kitty
in tones that were meant TO be stern,
but he only gave her scornful looks
Victor simply would fight.
But like all great fighters, he at last
met his Waterloo. \ black cat of row
ing propensities and green eyes recent
~ strayed into the ueighborhood. He
was a large, muscular cat. Victor heard
Of his arrival, and Kissing "Villain, thou
shalt die!" between his clinched teeth
or words to that effect, he went forth
to meet the newcomer on the field oi
honor. The two cats eyed each other
with every evidence of hate. At last
they came together with a mighty rush
The air was filed with yowls, fur
and dust, and they clinched and rolled
over and over. They separated, but
met again, the strange cat scoring 9
great point by closing one of his ad
versary's eyes. \ moment later, and
the strange eat spat out one Of Victor.
ears, and in the last round he bit severa
choice bites out Of the soft part of hi.
antagonists anatomy. Then Victor
snealled home. his coat drenched Will
| gore. And that eat never smiled again
Chicago Inter Ocean.