The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-04
A QUEER ALLIANCE.

From the Philadelphia Times.1
Fur and feathers do not agree very
we'll as a rule, even in a woman's toilet.
In real life, of course, you all know
they are deadly enemies. If you have
a bird do not keep a cat, and If you
have a cat do not keep a bird. Above
all things, do not keep a parrot and a
cat, for the two can stir up more trou-
bic than anything else known outside of
g. Kansas cyclone
A parrot has no greater delight in the
world than to simulate the barking of
dog. The bark will terrify the cat I'M
til she finds out she is being fooled.
Then look out for her. Her rage knows
no bounds, and if she can wreak a dire
vengeance on the bird she will go to
any lengths Of cunning to do so. But
the parrot is not always the aggressOr.
The cat occasionally offends If Poll
in an absent-minded moment happens
to be seated near the side of the cage,
Pussy will spring UP with vicious eye
and extended claw and scare the bird
out of its four or five senses if it does
not succeed in doing the bird some sub
stantiaI injury.
If the two ever get near enough to
come to real conflict there will be the
most serious time within the peaceful
household that you ever saw. Pan
demOnium reigns and both cOmbatants
are literally torn to pieces. Nothing
can present a SOrrier spectacle than a
cat that has an encounter with par
rots beak, and woeful, indeed, is the
sight of the unfortunate bird who has
met the cat in deadly combat and
escaped with his life.
1t is rarely indeed, that the two can
be found living in peaceful amity AL
bert English of Waterford, Conn, main
tains that he possesses in his pair the
most remarkable couple he has ever
heard of.
The parrot is never Gagged. The door
stands wide open for it to enter it's
house when it pleases, but it rarely, if
ever, goes inside. 1t sleeps at night
perched on the back of a great rocking
chair, in which the cat takes it maps.
Never during the day does the cat lie
down that the bird does not sit beside it
and keep watch as a guardian angel
for the approach of danger in the
shape of stray dogs that may happen
along. Should one approach Pussy has
timely warning in the PoHy's simula-
ton OF a dogs barking. When the cat
has made its position safe, Polly pro-
ceeds to berate the offending canine
which has disturbed the domestic felic-
ity of the pair in the strongest English
that tongue can command.
Strangely enough, the parrot never
uses profanity on any other occasion.
The instant the cat is disturbed how
ever, he lets loose the flood gates of his
pent-up wrath in the choicest Billings
gate, and will not be cOaxed from his
rage for hours at a time.
The friendship grew out of the cat
saving the birds life when the latter
was very young. Before that time Poll
| had no use for Puss. In an unguarded
moment he allowed a strange cat to
approach near enough to seize him and
piniOn him beneath a. paw. But before
the cat could fasten his teeth in the
| bird Pussy had attacked the stranger.
| The latter got the worst licking it had
! ever experienced, and ever after gave
the bird and cat a. wide berth.
From that day the friendship between
| the two began, and it has since been
| sealed by continual manifestations of
good feeling.