Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-07-10
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OUR CAT.

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OUR CAT.
Our cat was called Kitty Jones to
distinguish her from Kitty Smith,
next door, at least that was one rea.
son, and another was that when she
came to us, tiny Sip of kitten,
with the dividing line between her
bright eyes so distinctly on one side
we called her Tom, au1 it was only
when we found her one morning
cuddling a large family of kittens we
decided her name was misfit, and
not having another name convenient
we dubbed her Kitty tina. morAen.
She accepted the change with an air
of utter indifference, being so en-
gagged with herr family that probably
she did not notice such trifing mat
ter. And small wonder that she was
proud of her babies; there were five
of them, two tortoise shell darHngs
with tiger lines on their foreheads
Just like their mothers, and the 9TH
ers were mixed grey and white, cum
ming puffy little things, such perfect
delights to. hold that that 1t required
all mammals authority to keep us
away from the cellar where Mrs. Kit
ty had taken up her residence.
But at last there came a time
when all the little eyes were wide
open, and the five began to scamper
about the cellar, and finally to creep
up the back ssteps. One was always
treadln. on stray kitten, and nam
ma decided that they must be sent
away. So one afternoon we ,coaxed
Mrs. Kitty into the house, and shut
her up in long dark closet under
the stairs, where she went quietly
to sleep.
Then Aunt Mary, our old colored
house servant. carefully gathered ap
the kittens, tucking them snugly in
a warm basket. and went on pill
grimage out in the country among
her friends, leaving little furry pres
ent of a kitten wherever she paid a
visit. .ssf
: Now comes the strange part Of my
story. Aunt Mary was to stay over
night, so when she had been gone
about two hours we children opened
the little door under the stairs and
Mrs. Kitty walked out blinking and
yawning and stretching. as cats do
when they've had a nice long nap.
or course, as matter of habit, she
went straight to the cellar, and we
all followed and peeped in to see
what she would do. She wasn't a
bit disturbed, she just shifted around
moment, curled herself up in her
usual nook, and fell to washing her
face. We decided that she hadn't
a particle Of feeling. not even the
very natural feeling of a parent.
Mamma was glad that she took 1t SO
philosophically. and Mrs. Kitty in con-
sequence had extra milk for her sup
per.
Bright and early next morning we
were reused by shrek Of delight
from Reggie, the youngest Of US.
"oh mamma mamma. ba cried
come and see Mrs. Kitty has some
more kittens like the others!"
We all rushed to the cellar as soon
as we could tumble into our clothes,
and sure enough there sat Mrs. Kit.
ty.earrounued' by her reunited family,
washing their faces tmpartially. and
parrine contentedly. Aunt Mary ar
rived upon the scene few minutes
later and her ewes nearly popped
out Of her head with establishment.
But the secret was never discovered.
and whether the kittens found their
way home or Mrs. Kitty went after
them will forever remain a mystery.
Star.
TWO FOREST CATS KILLED.
John Horn. of McKeeyer., N. Y,
who makes the study of birds and
animals a pastime. has established
to his own satisfaction the fact that,
while eagles will aid eacl, other in
a fight against a common enemy,
as much cannot, be said of the lynx,
the. most ferocious member Of the
cat family found In the woods Of New
York State.
Mr.. Horn and a companion were
shooting grouse a few days ago and,
as fthey shot them, hung them on low
,,,nr,, ~, trace 20 h. n;ol.od ~ nv, tho
return trip to camp. Several had
been killed and the meL were work
ing backward on the trail when the
saw a bald eagle swoept
downward 200 yards in front Of him
and moment after rise with grouse
in Its talons. He rightly judged that
the bird had taken part of the days
spells and was laughing that so good
a Joke had been played upon him,
when the eagle lost its grip and down
came the grouse.
The eagle scared about for few
moments and then, folding its wings,
shot toward the ground, uttering
sharp cries as 1t descended. The
trees shut out further observation
at the time, but when Mr.. Horn heard
sharp sduallings mingled with the
: V.