Waterbury Democrat., 1902-08-28

was full o. young catfish, and il
there is one thing that creeps or
flies or swims or runs that a cat
likes better than another it's cat
fish.
'"The old cat picked out couple
o. the fish and passed 'em back to
her kitten on the log, and gobbled
the rest o. the handful herself.
They tickled her palate so that she
dabbed both paws down in the wa
ter and brung up mess o. young
catfish in each one, and her and the
kitten got away with them and
smacked their lips.
'Then I looked little closer and
I seen the old catfish that had
rescued her family from the holfer
stump. She was layin' by the log,
lookin' scared, and / seen that most
of her family o. young ones was
missin'.
"'That cat says /, SIS swoopin'
that catfish's family off the face O.
the earth, so to speak, says I, as
sure as wasps astingin'!' says I.
1.-THE old catfish hadn't jest got on
to what was goin' on yit, but when the
y
scooped out another handful of the
catfsh's family and divide up with her
kitten, that old catfish actually turned
white around the gills.
tsShe seen it all at last, and with one
a1l-wollopin' slash of her tail she
jumped onto that log like a britchy
COW goin' over barnyard fence, and
Je-e-e-wi1likens boraxl maybe she
didn't swat that yaller cat! She swept
that yaller cat off o. that log as if she
hadn't been nothin' more than a
feather.
''Then the catfish stepped back into
the water and waited to see. The yal-
Ter cat scrambled back on to the log,
and her dander was up as high as it
could git. Oh, but she was mad.
.s'She pranced up and down the log
minute, and at it as in she went, scoop
in out young catfish and scatterin' 'em
to the winds SO fast that | see there
wouldn't be one of 'em left to tell the
tale unless the old catfish got her Sec
ond wind pretty quick and done some
thin.
"And she got her second wind, and
riz up ag'in that yaller cat ag'in most
exilaratin' for to see. Seems to me
for five minutes there wasn't nothin'
to be seen on that log but a whirlin'
streak o. yaller sort O. mixed up with
a whirlin' streak o. black, and cat
cussin'. Merciful man! I jest had to
plug my fingers in my ears, | couldn't
bear to hear itfsol f
when the whirlin' and back-talk
- - n L
There was catfish hide stretched here
and there on the log most enough to
make a saddle, and enough yaller had
scattered about to stuff it with. The
yaIler cat was sort o lickin' herself
here and there, and the catfish was
glarin' at her.
ssThe kittin' was standin' on the log
with. her back way up, and her tail
swelled like rollin' pin, and she was
spittin' away at that catfish fierce as
wildcats. The last one O. the catfish's
family had been swept off the face Of
the earth.
''The CATFISH SEEM tlHatsthe ogdcat's
kitten was still left, made up her mind
that she'd put an ehd-tol the cats fam
lily and sort o. even things up, so she
sprung back on to that log, grabbed
the kitten, and swallowed it, whole
and alive, right before its mothers
eyes.
'Jumpin' back into the water, the
catfish turned and stuck her big head
out, close by the log, and as the old cat
was tearin' her hair, as you might say,
or leastways what little she had left,
and was mournin' and moanin' for her
lost kitten, the fish opened her mouth
from ear to ear, SO as the cat could
hear her kitten cryin' way down in
the catfsh'si depths. say! ~ could
hear that l<ittenscry myself, way over
on the bank where was settih'!
swell, that voice of her kitten was
more than the sbereaved yaller cat
could stand. She bounced square on
top of the catfish and they both went
down together.
ST didn't see nor hear nothin' more
of either of 'em for maybe three min
utes, and made up my mind that the
cat had gone to join her kitten, when
see ripple on the water, and the
next minute the yaller cat come to the
top.
''She swan ashore, and she had the
catfish in tow. The catfish was dead,
and considerable clawed up.
THE yaller cat drug it out on
shore. Then she ripped it open with
her claws, and out stepped the kitten,
big as as life and twice as natural. 1t
was dazed little fer a spell, but soon
got it's tbearin's, and trotted away
with the old yaller cat as if nothin' had
happened, and didn't see 'em no more.
There" concluded the man from
Pochuck, "them's the news I've bruRg
over this time. Don't you believe L
seen 'em?"
Badly, the landlord, lit his cigar
butt, put it in his mouth and said:
Eyes, do. But you wouldn't "a
seen EN- if you had stayed away from
the stone frolic."
This view of the case seemed to af-
feet the man from Pochuck so that he
got up quick, and without even inquir-
ing if there were any points around
here in any way resembling those OF
the kind he said he had run against ct
Sprout Hill, he turned his face Pc
chuckward.-N. Y. Sun.