The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-02-17
MARK TWAIN's CATS.
The Catalogue OF the HumOrist's
Works la Which Cats Are Found.

Works la w hich Eats Are round
Kipling has a story Of a strange re-
venge that was wrought upon an Indian
household by one Dana Da. a HindOO OF
supernatural powers, writes Herman
Spencer IN Harpers Weekly His ven
geance found expression IN a visitation of
cats. Like the rats and mice in the
legend of the Pied Piper Of Hamelin, eats
were everywhere. They were young eats,
unpleasantly young. but otherwise not
especially Objectionable save for the fact
that they were thcrc-uucxpectedly and
unaccountably there. There were cats
IN the bathroom. cats on the library
mauteI, cats ia the dining room. eats on
the bed. cats under the chair cushions,
eats in the victims boots. cats in his
ulster pockets, cats in his saddle-rolI, cats
sitting on his chest when he aw0ke I'm the
morning everywhere, cats. II has q
dendish look. They were too young 10
have gotten there Of themselves, and
much too numerous 90 nave gotten there
10y ordinary generation. There was 10
rational accounting for them; they were
"a sending the sending Of Dana Da.
Mark Twain is the Dana Da OF con
temporary literature. He has visited us
with cats. There are cats in his essays.
cats in his novels, cats IN his short stories
cats in his books of travel. cats in his
philologicaI studies. cats ia his doctrinal
discoursas. cats in his autobiography.
Cats. cats. cats, cats. eats. cats. cats.
II Is. therefore. obviously impracticable
20 present here "a complete cat-anthology
from his works, or even a Cat-cOncOTd-
ance 10 them, but it rs;sy be said in gen.
eraI that the cat appears very early in
his writings, and despite the unusual cru
city Of his treatment Of st. has survived
until the present day. it has even bred.
Il disappears constantly, but IL always
comes back, frequently with kittens. II
always comes back. no matter what DE
does 10 IT, lie killed Il the first time q
appeared. and Enough he has often killed
il since in various ingenious ways. there
was "a deliberate cruelty iu the manner iu
which he did this,One 90 death that would
have discourag ed and egtrauged any other
animal To would have aiienated the az
fections of the ordinary h0me-loving cat,
even. but this cat Marks cat. seems
proof against all manner Of deaths 1t
Is imperishable. indestructible, and for
ever undiscouraged and undiscOura geable.
Though He brayed it in a mortar, yet
would IT. return.
Cat No ! ia the Mark Twain catteTy. or
better. perhaps. the Cat in its first ava
tar. persisted in this wise. Mr.. Clemens
was involved. some decades ago, in a
controversy with an Englishnan over
an international copyright law. He was
made Ill., he said. 10y one Of the English
mans arguments, but this did not deter
him from reading It 10 the cat And you
never saw q cat take on So" Later he
referred again TO the cat, but withdrew
hts allusion hastily: THE cat-but never
mind the cat. The cat is dead So ended
the first cat.
Il Is when we are reading of the feats
of the Frog, the Frog. and not that ba-
trachiau chorus that dinned the ears of
the Stygian voyaEers with their eternal
kO-ax. ko-aX. and of the bewiidered Blue
jay. and OF the undiscouTaged Cat. that
We feel that We are in the high places of
the literature of humor, and we yield us
to the will Of the master of laughter.
And this is not that laughter that IS
likeued to the cracking of thOrns under
a pot. but the ineXtinguishable laughter
Of the gods For It must have been re-
marked that his eat Is q Cheshire, not a
Maltese. nor q Persian. nor any other OF
all the obscure tribes that revisit the
glimpses of the moon, for though II APP
pear and disappear, as before the eyes of
the astonished Alice. one thing stays with
uS-the grin remains.