The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-20

corner. Here she paused for moment and seemed tocritically examine l's fastenings The animal seemed qulte satisfied with the construction or tue safe, and when she had aSalil reaeileu the door side she made playlul leap' rapped the bunch of yeys with ner yer vet like paws, stretched hersell com fortably beside the door, ana began, to purr little catlike song, looking at the four partners with an expression Whlch seemed to say: Now, gentlemen, you may rest perfectly secure Will as- sume all the responsibility of this busl- ness myself"
 Brothers" exclaimed one of the par ty. this is surely a good omen. Unpld- den this pretty little creature coihes into our place of business without cefe- mony she introduces herself to edch member of the firm. Next she eHafnines our property to sec if we are solvehe and in good standing with the Woilu ol f trade May this not be Vlsltalioll from heaven disguised in strange lollh Let us adopt the little stranger ana give l it home in the great house or Ma | nockjee, Poonjeajee X Co., Shoulo we refuse her shelter it is possible we or fend the deity. What say you, my goou brothers?"
 Well" said another member of the house. II am quite willing to admit that we really have no right to turn It away Suppose, as has been suggested we take the little thing, and i'll order that the good or ill-fortune it may prlhg pc equally divided, we will consider it one of the assets of the firm. NOW, now shall we divide the ownership or the an imal?'
 "Oh. we'll" exclaimed the others, we will follow the regular precedent or our people. You, Manockjee, may claim the left fore leg I will take the right, and So on till the cat is equally divided. IS this arrangement satisfactory to all?'
 There being no objection to this mode of distribution. it was so agreed. The book keeper was called into the count inp-house and the ownership of the cat was duly entered on the books Of the firm as one of it's assets. each quarter of the animal being designated as the property of some individual member ol the firm.
 All went we'll with the house of Ma noclxjee, Poonjeajee & Co. for year or so, and pussy became great faVorlte with the whole household. Never TOT centuries had the great house been so prosperous. Trade with the west had almost doubld Connections had been established in parts of North and Soutn America, all of which were successful'
 Yes, there could be no mistake, the Klt-
 ten had been a hamburger of good luck
 Some time during the month Of De
 cember, 1897, while puss was playing III the street in front of the store, It's at tentlon was distracted by some little moving object, and it did not notice a : bullock cart coming from an opposite direction. In a moment poor Kit was under the heavy wheels. and before Il could extrcate itself one white paw
 was crushed and broken.
 The left foreeg of the eat belonged tC , Manockjee, so it was the duty of Ma nockjee to send for the physician ant /. foot the bill A doctor was accordingl! sent for and did all in his power to re
 ljeve the sufferings of the injured ani = nal The leg was wrapped in bandage
 soaked in turpentine lniment, and reg
 ulary each day the doctor made m
 professional call.at the great house t'
 hasten the recovery of tse mascot, if In the early part of January, 1s9S' tn a cat was walking about over the table if ard desks of the counting-room Whel
 she overturned a lighted lamp. Tn
 flames from the lamp ignited the tur . pentine with which the bandages Wer soaked and pussy flew in terror throug
 the counting-room into the warehouse
 The agony of the burning bandage
 about the leg kept the poor beast goin l. at top speed, evidently hoping to fin n relief in some of the snug scorne
 among the bales of silk, where she na V taken many quiet nap on other occa
 slors Before help could be summone '' the great warehouse with it's Valuabl If contents was in flames, and three hour ,e after only the big iron safe marked tn I spot where once stood the old, old hous
 of Manockjee, Poonjeaiee X Go. Tn
 partners took their loss with all the ste VI iral forbearance of the confirmed fata ie+ All things were ordained in the be e' ginning. This was merely decree -e fate. So they bowed deferentially 'S fate and calmly proceeded to rebuil
 upon the ruins,
 l But now came the important questio -N or SpIlllIS LOT lO-S. w bo ''''' ~ NN' 'A
 A business meeting of the firm w
 held and 1t was soon decided by t ly other three partners that the whc it damage was caused by the burnil
 bandage wrapped about the left 10 I leg of the cat That left fore leg W re the individual and separate property
 Manockjee, which made decision nv easy matter. Of course, Manock1 ,, was responsible for the destruction os the warehouse. There was no room I )n doubt.
 Although Manockjee did not dispu
 this assertion outright, still he ask
 for time to reflect before assuming t ,n entire responsibility. At last he ask ~, hia partners if they would object to , friendly suit in the courts to decide ,, a certainty just where the blame shou be lodged 'In this manner said
 "we may settle the matter TOT all LII
 and it will leave no room for hard fe'
 ings."
 The case was presented fairly
 without prejudice Manockjee had IFS tained one of the brightest peaders
 fore the Indian bar, and though nf shrewd efforts the judge handed doN Y. the following remarkable decision;