Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-12-04

triangle on his nose, and Buff dis
like to tell 1t, but he is nothing in the
world but an ordinary yellow cat.
Somehow, yellow cats and dogs are
counted among the offscourings of their
kind, but Buff-well, T have changed
my opinion Of yellow cats since meet
ing him! ~ A%~
These Boston Eats live-that is. their
master and mistress live-in a brick
house on a street In Boston near a rail-
road. But Buff and Bouncer have a
house all their own. 1t stands in the
little square homely city yard, which
extends out to the tracks
You will understand that with noise,
SCOT. cinders and cramped quarters,
these city cats need some compensa-
ton for that lack Of freedom which
their country brothers enjoy. Their
mistress is SO fond of them and so
afraid of losing them that they are
even deprived of the city cats chief
pleasure-back fence promenades-by
reason of a wire netting stretching fiat
along the top of the fence, so tnat they
cannot climb up. AS consolation for
these privations, the mistress of Buff
n Bouncer has built them a. house
that no carpenter need be ashamed of.
She began it as a sort of shelter for
her pets when they wanted to be in
the yard in bad weather. But once
her fingers and the hammer got start
ed, the rough kennel grew and grew.
1t reached up until it became four feet
two inches high, and spread to two and
a half feet wide. 1t took on some fam
cy shingles and a cunning gable win
dow. The work then became SO fas-
cinating to the builder that she just
could not help adding a piazza and a
bay window. She is a very small wo-
man, SO she devised a way to get in
side in order to fasten In windows, to
tack up curtains, and to complete va
rious other arrangements for the COM
fort OF her cats. Nearly the whole
side of the house is swung on hinges,
so 1t a be pulled out, and as it comes
out, like a shelf table, some long, slen-
der jointed legs unfold, and 10! a sort
of port cochere, on the roof of which
the cats like to lie and sun themselves,
and underneath which their hammock
can be hung. ~
One day, when the cats mistress was
inside the tiny house, sitting on the
floor and hard at work, Buff came in,
jumped up on a crossbeam high up in
his house, and stretched his head ur
as If to look out of the little gable
window.
We'll, Buff" said his mistress, 'you
shall have an upstairs, since you want
it so badly" So she put In a sort OF
floor up there, leaving an opening, OF
course, with a shelf half way up, al
the back of the first floor room, tc
serve as a cat stairway. When Buff
and Bouncer go to their second story
they jump up on this shelf stair, then
easily spring through the opening into
their attic room. There is a piece Of
thick carpet for them to lie on, and
there they love to stay, doing or look
ing lazily out of their little front win
dow.
The little house is further fitted uI
with a movable fight of steps, which
stand sometimes at the front, some
times at the side of the piazza, but
which, you may be sure, Buff an6
Bouncer do not stop to use. 1t also
has q hammock and a bedstead fol-
each cat. And Buff and Bouncer will
lie in the hammock, allow themselves
to be tucked in bed, or ride in theil
carriage doll carriage-and seem tc
enjoy themselves hugely. They will
also sit up in little chairs at a small
table and eat, though they much prefer
their customary way. One has his
dish set on the floor of the piazza, an(
generally dimes there; the other has
his dish on the upper balcony or roo
of the piazza.
They seem to like to lie and sleey
in or take a ride in their carriage
though, of course, they have to take
turns. And they like to lie in theil
hammocks when their mistress puts
them there-that is, they will lie still
and pretend to sleep, and have never
said they didn't like it, which is a pref
ty sure sign that it is agreeable tc
them, don't you think so?
In the winter this home of Buff anl
Bouncer is closed and covered with
canvas and oilcloth to keep it from be-
ing spoiled by storms and S%nOWdrifts
At that inclement season these wise
Boston cats prefer to live in the warm
cozy kitchen of the big house; SO yor
see what a~ristocrats they are. They
not only have a home all their own
but it is their summer home, their re
sort, to which they go as soon as the
spring weather begins, and which il
kept open until the fall rains make
their abode too damp and chilly fol
them. Happy Buff and Bouncer, two
very lucky catsi sEsa