The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07
HUMANE DR.. GILLBY.
AND THE CATS.
A Vermont Device for Insuring
Peace at Night, as Described
by Col. Calliper.

Il suppose" said Col. Cdlliper, that a
more humane man than my old friend
DR.. Serene Gillby, who formerly lived in
Storkville Centre, Vt, never existed. All
through his long and happy and helpful
life he showed by example how easy 1t
was to get along in this world without
displaying any form Of cruelty to any sort
Of creature.
For an illustration of the good doctors
gentleness in all things. take his manner
Of dealing with disturbing cats:
we had cats in Storkville Centre, just
as they do everywhere, and there a. every
where they used to sing nights; and not
r~ealizing-how could they?-what a friend
Of all created things Dr.. Giuby WAS they
used to sing and now on his backyard
fence just as loudly and Interestingly as
they did on the fences Of his les considerable
%neighbors; but the good doctor did not
adopt the same means as theirs to keep
them way
They used to put along on the top Of their
fences long rows of tall sharp pointed
spikes, but this was something that. the
doctor could never have brought himself
to do, however loudly the cats might have
howled; but he did invent and bring into
Use on his fence a cat guard that could
not possibly do any injury 10 the cas- even
if they should brave it but which was in
fact even more effective than the spike
cat guard.
And it was really very simple, He
Just ran along the top Of his backyard fence
a line Of small iron pipe will little pcrfoIG-
tions in il along at frequent regular In
tervals and connected NJ this pipe with
the water supply system of his house, and
at nightfall he used To turn the water on in
this pipe, and of course when il came to
those little OPENINGS it was forced up
through them in many little jets, a line Of
tiny water jets springing up uniformly all
along the fence top. That's all there was
to il, simple as could be, and positively
harmless, but as positively effective; for
cats don't like water, you know, and they
kept away from the doctors fence abso-
lutely. His humane scheme worked PER-
fectly for him, but not so well, at first, for
his neighbors.
For, YOU see, the cats that could find
no room on his fence had 10 20 somewhere,
and this made more or less Of a congestion
Of cats on his n%cighbors' fences, with a
corresponding increase in the volume Of
the ~catcalls assailing them; but they were
reasonable they did not complain, and
when they saw the simple means by which
DR.. Gilby had managed to keep the CATS
Of his fence they n and all in the block
in which he lived installed on their own
fences a similar pipe.
Il really think that one of the most
extraordinary minor sights that StOrkville
Centre ever presented was the practically
continuous line Of little water Jets arising
from this line Of perforated piping extend
ing for several hundred feet along the tops
Of this continuous line of backyard fences
after the water had been turned on nights.
And all these fences we're quite free from
cats and everybody blessed tie doctor
Until winter came. Then the pipe iToze
up and they had no Jets at all.
But DR.. Gillby soon discovered n way
out OF this dihlculsv. and ! nm inclined 20
think that his supplementary invention by
which he made his humane cat protective
system available the year around any where