The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-10-25
.CAT AND KITS CANE BACK. RIGHTS OF UNITED STATES
THE WONDER OF THE PACIFIC
MAIL WHARF.
The Greatest Proof on Record of the
Iron Strength of the Feline Constitu-
ton.

Everybody knows that cats always
come back, but it has been left to the
pet of the Pacific Mail wharf and her
four kittens to give an example that
eclipseS all others ever sung or written
of. The cat and kittens in question
went through the narrowing experience
of spending II hours undergoing fumi-
cation in the Pacific Mail wharf ware
house. They are alive and well and the
kits are growing fast.
Ii is the custom to fumigate all car
goes from the orient and Tabby had
chosen the warehouse as a place for her
happy home just at the time when a
large cargo was ready to be treated to
sulphurous hot air. She was quietly
admiring her family when the doors
were closed and sealed and the hot air
was turned on.
If anyone had known that the mother
cat was inside he would have seen that
she was hauled out, as the cat is too
popular for anyone to want to see her
sulphured to death. But no one knew
about it and so the pussy suddenly
found herself in the midst of an atmos-
phere that used to be guaranteed TO
kill any living thing, but is now only
guaranteed to kill everything but cats.
The sulphur smoke is pumped into the
warehouse by big engine and the pipe
is quite near where the cat and kittens
lay, so that the fond mother must have
been one of the first of the living things
| in the building to discover that blasts
resembling those that are supposed to
come from Tophet were coming her
way.
The torrid poisonous wind kept up for
| hours, while the entire building was
slowly filed with the deadly fumes
! Just what the cat did is not known.
! The flies fell dead around her and even
| the hardy cockroaChes gave up their
| little ghosts and turned up their num-
| erOus feet. Rats all went out of burr
| ness, spiders, centipedes and bugs OF
| all kinds went to their rewards but the
| cat remained in the game.
Those who opened the warehouse
when the sulphur was thought to have
| been turned on long enough to kill pll-
| que bacilli and everything else were
startled by plaintive meaow. 1t came
from the darkness behind the Office. The
| first thoughts were of ghosts, as it was
| taken for granted that there coulG rot
| be anything mortal lcf. alive in the
place.
Investigation disclosed the cat and
the four kittens. They were not feeling
as we'll as they had the day before. The
mother semmed to be wobbly and, wher
| she tried to navigate, her nose hit tn,
| floor whereat she jumped as if the la
| was quite a shock. Her eyes had E
far-away look and she had the genera
/ dppGdIdICG VI IL Illle runner aICeT Int
| home stretch. The kittens lay sleepinl
on top of one another in various at.
titudes suggesting a bad night. ,
Soon cool breeZes blew through the
building, the mothers legs grew strong
| enough to be walked on and she wan.
-dered back to see what had become OF
her offspring. She found that they were
| alive and wanted something to eat
Both cat and kittens are all right
| now. Someone has taken one of the kit
| tens for pet and there are only three
| Anyone who wants cat with a stronl
constitution is welcome to take the
| rest. They are rather thin and some o
the custom house men say that it i!
easy to see through the cat withou
using an X-ray, but they are not deli
cate and will be easy to raise.
About a year ago a dog was locked
un under the same circumstances. Tn
end of the fumigation found him morI
bund and this was hailed as a proof o
the efficiency of fumigation, But whe,
1t comes to cats or kittens fuinigatiol
Is only one of many life experiences.
This cat" said a custom house man
gets nothing to eat, but she is raising
family on 1t, though it does seem t
bring her ribs out rather strongly. Sh
is probably the thinest ca' in the worl
but her horoscope calls for a long llf
and she is going to see a lot of the ney
century"