The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-01-30
DOmesticAnimals Are Usually
Hard to Lose.
THEY HAVE THE H0MING INSTINCT
Stories Of Pigs, Horses, Cats, and Domes-
tie Turkeys that Found Their Way Home
Through All Manner of Di-cOura gemenis
and Across Rivers, states, aud Mounts
ains-Most Of Them, Like the Celebrated
Cat, Always Managed to Get Back.

Inc nomlEg instinct develops IN yOuHS
animals almost as early as the desire Tor
food. In the wild state it is a necessity,
since without il the young could never
keep in touch with herd or pack. Even al
ter centuries Of domesticatiOn, ii Is sun
acute. Witness this tale of little pigs
They were under q month old when tner
owner decided to move He wanted TO tat
ten and kill their mothers. so o11ered the
lot Of forty at d bargain price. ne!BhDof
five miles away bought the pigs, put theIa
in a big box, hoisted the box on a wagon,
and hauled it home. There tie pigs were
put In a close pen, fed with mix anu
mush for two weeks, then given the range
of a small lot adjacent to the pen. Three
mornings later every one was MISSING
A small hole carefully rooted under tbf
gate was the sole explanation OF their
disappearance. Their buyer searched high
and low for them, sending even TO ada
cent farms, but could not find them. That
afternoon the original owner sent WORD
he had found thirty-Dine OF the forty
standing squealing at his gate when ne
awoke The buyer going to reclaim the
strays, found the missing fOrtieth pig "
ing exhausted by the roadside, but still
struggling to wr.the along on the trail Oh
its mates.
Upon the same middle Tennessee planta-
ton a four-year-old mare was bought
from an Ohio drove. The drove had been
brought down on stock cars 10 the county
town. seven miles away. The mare SEEM
ed perfectly content IN her new surround
ings, SO after a week or two she was al
| lowed to pasture with other stock For 4
day she was happy. grazing and frolcK-
ing with the rest. Toward noon OF the
| second day a watcher saw her suddenly
! fling up her head, cock one ear forward
one back, as though listening intently 10
far of call, then start in swinging
gallon for the pasture fence, clear it with
| one flying leap, crCss field OF young corn
| take q hour dairy fence a much sitter one
| and go away due north. Nothing more
| was seen or heard of her for three months
| Then by a singular chance she was DIS
| covered, impounded as an estray, more
than half way across the State Of Ken.
/ lucky She had swan a considerable river
| to get so far, and had been taken up
| through breaking into a pasture TO Craze
! She was going home straight as the crow
| flies, making 70 account whatever of the
she had been fetched.
| Turkeys Are Good HOmers.
| Among fowls, domestic turkeys are the
most persistent komers. This same plan
, tation's mistress found that out in a way
at once odd and provoking. She raised {
brood of fourteen, which turned out Il
contain thirteen gobSlers. They wer'
| fine, lusty bronze-brown fellows, although
this was in the year when bronze turkeys
! so-called, were unknown. She gave away
| seven out of the thirteen to as man!
neighbors, to put at the head of thei
breeding iocks. AS consequence almos
every day for six weeks she had to g
out and help separate her own turkey!
from some other flock. Each of the gift
gobSlers came back home, not once, Blu
many times, with his harem at his heels
Cats are proverbial homers. Southern
negroes have many entertaining supersti
tions connected with their transfer. Il
moving they say it is the worst luck il
the world to take along the cat. 1t i
also very bad luck to give away a cat
unless its feet are creased, and above,
TO make marks en- the threshold ii gOe
ever. They say, further, the hOming pro
pensity can be destroyed by putting but
ter on pussy's feet before they touch any
thing in her new home. Black walnuts
which it is nearly as bad luck to NOV
as cats, may be made to serve as ill-lucl
antidotes by cracking them carefully, an
either tying a necklace of shells on tn
cat, or putting them upon her feet 70
boots. 1t is lucky to have the gift of
cat, and luckier still TO have one come t
you of its own motion. A gift-cat ough
to be taken home in a bag securely tied
so none Of the luck will escape
Notwithstanding this was done in tn
case of a tortoise shell tabby, she cam
home over q distance of fifteen miles Sh
took all summer to do il in. The roa
home led through pleasant woods. an
was never very far from a clear creek. A
various times between June, when sh
| vanished from her new home, and NOVen
Der. when she reappeared at Der old one
. tabby was seen skittering through tn
woods with a bird ir her mouth. or sun
| ming herself luXurioUsly high IN som
safe tree-cTOtch. The first nipping fros
brought her to the familiar door, meow
ing and looking up at her old maste
quite as though she had never left it.