The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-08-11

TOO, was FOND Of them anu ouI EEilSAaS~
trsss' first home was a hens nest. IN
it she was born, in it she was reared,
and as soon as she was big enough TO
go to roOst with the chickens she was
taken up there by her mother along
with her brothers and sisters, every
night as regularly as ths night came.
Her fondness for the chickens is more
marked than was her mothers. 1t is
evidently an inherited, as well as a
cultivated, affection.
The chickens are great stalwart
Plymouth Rocks. and it is no uncom-
mon thing to sse the black cat go up TO
one of them, siding up in a most .af-
Ifeettonate, yet experimental way, rub
against it and if lit remains still long
enough, reach up. her head and rub it
against the chickens neck or against
its head, if it is not too tall for such
caTess, as if to beg for some slight
return of affection. But the chickens
do not seem to return the black cats
affection with any warmth. The toll
crate her and her kittens in their nests
and allow the room on the roosts, but
as for exchanging demonstrations of
affection in broad daylight they seem
to have decided objections, perhaps on
ground of dignity.
AS the black cat slides up to them
and rubs against them they side away,
look embarrassed, We always think, and
| try to leave their ardtnt four legged
admirer. And sometimes, if she Is too
persistent, they give her sharp pecks
| with thair baalEc an6 than she eo5Tvy
marches away, looking as if she
thought this was pretty cold world,
wherein such return is made for such
tender feelings as she certainly has for
the ungainly bipeds.
A year or so ago our neighbors, the
owners of the black cat cat, moved in
to the country quite a distance from
town. They did not take pussy along,
probably feeling secure that she was
able to take care of herself, and would
have plenty of friends to help her if
she were not. And so, when she went
home and found the house deserted,
she came over and. without ceremony
| adopted US. And we have no obtee-
ton to bSing her wards, so long as she
is content to roost with the chickens
and rear her families in their nests.
Not whit less strange than the
tastes of 'the black eat' were those of
two setter puppies that friend of
mine recently owned. In the same
barnyard where they often romped ap-
peared every morning before pasture
out of pasture a motherly Jersey COW.
how the puppies first became attached
to the COW nobody seems to have dis
covered. But it became matter of
much amusement and comment that
they followed the larger quadruped to
pasture every morning. And little
! later the still more astonishing dis
icoVery was made that they remained
with her throughout the day and es-
corted her home every night.
One night, as the owner OF the trio
was watching them while they wander
ed back home, he noted that the pup
pies were very uneasy and used every
endeavor known to their puppish in
tellects to hurry the COW home. There
was a little patch of blue grass not
far from the barnyard, and the Jersey
was accustomed to stop there zach
night, just long enough to bite off a
few mouthfuls of the succulent blades,
before going into quarters. On this
Occasion the puppies resented the de-
lay, pstulantly barking at their potege
and swapping threateningly, but by no
means viciously. at her nose as she
tried to snip off the grass. Following
to the barn, the master discovered that
the cause of the anxiety of the puppies
| to get there was that they were nearly
famished. So great was their devotion
to their big friend that they would re-
main in the pasture following every
step she took all day, until they were
as hungry as gaunt pigs rather, than
lsave her for a single half hour.
But the most remarkable Of their
performances came one morning while
they were on their way to pasture. Be-
tween the barn and the fisld extends q
railway, which connects an important
Southern city with one of the great
cities Of the North by single line
The engineer of a freight train which
was moving up the road noticed some
distance up the tracks the not ilsusual
sight of the old cow and the two pup
pies on the way to pasture. He had
grown to feel acquainted with the
strange family, and felt deeply Inter
Ested in them. That made 1t the more
disturbing to him when the COW tried
to cross the track rather dangerously
near to the approaching train. and, In
stead of passing on over when the
whistle gave its several shrleks of
warning, turned up the road and COM
m!nced trying to run away from the
engine at and awkward COW trot. The
| puppies took the situation at once and
"an after her. trying to drive her off
| the track. They leaped at her nose and
parked and snarled, and tried every
| artifice they could think of to make
their big ward do the right thing But
she could not understand. Meantime,
he train being a light one, the en-
gineer got it well under his CONTROL
| nd amusedly moved along behind. this
combination of cross purposes to see
| IVY the misunderstanding would come
out Hes allowed the tkain to approach
10 close to them that the puppies finally
cspair5d of accomplishing their ;pur-
pose that is, driving the stupid cow
70 hnthe track-with one impulse they
urned and charged straight approach
ng engine. And they We're so fixed
their purpose to hold it UP that the
nginfer was obliged to come to a sud-
4 r,t1 Ir,4s