The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-14
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS.

THE question whether dumb animals
have any appreciation of pictures has
occupied the attention of a. great many
naturaliSts," said a man who takes
great interest in animals. 81 know from
experience that great many animals
recognize pictures. both of themselves
and other animals. Every boy has
shown the house cat or the dog it's i'm
age in q mirror and remembers the
surprise the animal expressed 1 owned
cat that not only recognized itself in
the mirror but took advantage of the
knowledge. The cat was a white tom
and was one of the brightest animals
l ever knew He arrived at our house
when but kitten and we adopted him,
or rather he adopted us, for he made up
his mind to stay and we agreed after
vainly trying to drive him away. The
only objection / had to the cat was his
color. He would insist in crawling in
the coal bin in search of mice and he
would roll in the dust just because he
liked it with the result that his white
fur was always black. He would clean
up occasionally, and when he did he
looked very pretty, but 1t was seldom he
did. One day my wife picked him up
carrying him to a mirror, held him up
to it and said: Now, Tom, just look
at yourself. You are a sight, and ought
to be ashamed of yourself. She gave
him a shake and dropped him on the
floor Tom looked at the mirror, the
first one he had ever gazed in, and in
a minute jumped on the bureau and in
vestigated his reflection. He thoroughly
examined everything about it, and
finally jumped down. A few days after
that occurrence I remarked that Tom
looked very clean, and asked If some one
had washed him My wife also re-
marked about his cleanliness and laugh
ingly said that she supposed he had
really got ashamed of himself when he
saw in the mirror how dirty he was.
Her remark was true, as we discovered
later. One day stepped into the room
where the mirror was. and there sat
Tom washing himself in front of the
mirror. He would pause occasionally,
take a critical look at his reflection, and
then proceed with his bath. He became
very proud of himself and would look
in the glass oftener than a woman. He
quit visiting the coal bin and would not
roll in the dust, nor would he go any
place where there was a chance of get
ting dirt on his snowy white fur. I
would sometimes put a little dirt on
him, and he would get very angry, but
would at once trot off to the mirror
and clean himself Tom became a dude
cat if there ever was one"
I'm my humble opinion the prize idiot
of the universe is the man who will de-
1iberately attend a campaign rally out
in the woods twenty miles from home"
said a man at the Copeland who is not
a politician. cit is considered a great
thing to put up a lunch and go out in
the country with a 1QI OF OLneT men TO
some grove where an office-seeker with
oratory to burn can get good whack
at you The further from town and the
less chance of protection from rain the
better. Just why any one should do
this is a question which can not be in
diligently answered. can understand |
and appreciate why a man will go out
and tramp through the woods and
tangled brush all day if he has gun
with him, and I also know the feel
ing that prompts man to take his fish
ing tackle and spend days and even
weeks angling for the ganney bass or
channel cat but for the life of me I
can not see the pleasure man gets in
sitting all day on a bench out in a
grove while some speaker pours out
warmed over political arguments and
stories 1 went out on that kind Of a
trip not long ago, and hope am for
given for it. I got up ealy in order to
be sure to catch the train, rode to the
meeting place in a crowded car, stood
around till noon in soggy ground that
reminded me of the coward after
rain, caught the drippings from the |
trees on the back of my neck, listened to