The Jennings daily record., 1902-11-14

and said nothin'.
"'There's goin' TO be some doin's
here,' says I. I feel II in my bones.'
I says.
"And sure enough, It wasn't long
before the doin's begun. They start
ed in with the old cat jabbin' one
Of her paws down and snatchin'
somethin' out O. the water.
''As she riz her paw see IL was
full o. somethin' that wiggled and
squirmed like all possessed, tryin'
to git away. When the cat see what
it was that she had she spread a
smile all over her face. Her paw
was full o. young catfish. and If
there il one thing that creeps or
flies or swims or .runs that q 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 holser
stump. She was layin' by the log,
lookifi' scared, and l seen thst most
Of her family o young ones was
missit1'.
"'That cat says I, is swoopin'
that catfish's family OF the face o
the earth, so to speak, says I, as
sure as wasps astingin'!' says I.
"The old catfish hadn't jest got on
to what was goin' on yit, but when the
yaller cat on the log reached down and
scooped out another handful of the
catfist's family and divide up with her
kitten. that old catfish actually turned
white around the gills.
"She seen it oil at last, and with one
all-wollopin' slash of her tail she
jumped onto that log like a britchy
COW goin' over barnyard fence. and
Je.e-e-willikens borax! maybe she
didn't swat that yaller cat! She swept
that yaller cat OF o. that log as II she
hadn't been nothin' more than a
feather.
"Then the catfish stepped back into
the water and waited to see. The yal-
ler cat scrambled back on to the log,
and her dander was up as high as it
could git. Oh, but she was mad.
"She pranced up and down the log
minute, and at it ag'in she went, scoop
in out young catfish and scatterin 'em
to the winds so fast that l 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 whirlin'
streak o. yaller sort o mixed up with
a whirlin' streak O. black, and cat.
cussin'. Merciful man! l jest had to
plug my fingers in my ears, couldn't
bear to hear it so!
"When the whirlin' and back-talk
Quit, the catfish was back in the water.
There WAS catfish hide stretched here
and there on the log most enough to
make a saddle, and enough yaller hae!
scattered about to stuff it with. The
yaller cat was sort o lickin' herself
here and there, and the catfish was
glarin' at her.
"The kittin' was stahdin' on the log
with her back way up, and her tail
swelled like a 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, seein' that the old cats
kitten was still left, made up her mind
that she'd put an end to 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 it's mother
eyes.
"Jumpin' back into the water. the
catfish turned and stuck her big heat
out, close by the log, and ms the old ca1
was tearih' her hair, as you might say
or leastways what little she had left
and was mournin' and moanin' for he1
lost kitten, the fish opened her moutf
from ear to ear, so as the cat coule
hear her kitten cryin' way down il
the catfish's depths. Say! coult
hear TINT kitten cry myself, way ove]
on the bank where was settin'!
"Well, that voice of her kitten wa
more than the bereaved yaller ca
could stand. She pounced square OF
top of the catfish and they both wen
down together.
II didn't sec nor hear nothin' NOR
of either of 'em for maybe three min
utes, and 1 made up my mind that tn
cat had gone to join her kitten. whe1
see ripple on the water. and tn
next minute the yaller cat come to tn
top.
"She swan ashore, and she had tn
catfish iii tow. The catfish was dead