Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-08-27
ssWARKED NIT
CATS"
Hy CAROLINE LCcKHART
Copyright. by J. E Lippincott Co.,

Il vas marked nit catS-by niy mud
Ger" Mr.. Voael observed, each tine
that he stood with his hands deep in
:,is trousers pockets at either his
kitchen or diEingroom window and
WATCHED the neighborhood tabbies
trotting Driskly along the periiously
narrow top of the high board fence
which inclosed the VogePs back yard.
They gil me such a crawliness UP
NY back along--I don't know what.
Miss Josephine Vogel, angular ana
austere in her print morning gown,
| always echoed, as she stood beside
her father and regarded the antics OF
the sleek Thomases.
You get it from me, Chosaphine; 1
hat chust dose feelings"
The neighborhood cats seemed
aware of the Vogel antipathy for them
selves, and, with feline malevolency,
assembled each night in sort of cat
congress in the cement alley directly
under the Eogel's sleeping apartments.
IF l should not get in the prisons
| for firing guns inside the city limits.
should shoot somebody or Something's"
declared MIR. Vogel savagely.
Each night he hurled portions of his
wardrobe and all the movable furni-
ture in his room into the alley, but
the cats dispersed only to reconvene
and attack the subject under discus
sion with renewed vigor.
One morning after one of the usual
midnight experiences, Mrs. Vogel went
out in the alley to gather up Mr..
VogeTs ammunition. There was
cake of soap and her curling-tongs
Mr.. Vogels CATERS and his camel's
hair fiesh-brush. Mrs. Vogel was load
ing these articles and others, of
personal nature, into her apron when
pack of street ours, urged on by
gamins, whirled into the alley in pur-
suit of black kitten; before Mrs.
Vogel could protest, the kitten had
run up her skirt and was glaring a
wild-eyed defiance at its pursuers from
Mrs. VOgels plump shoulder
p The instant that lady felt it's soft
fur against her cheek and heard the
pSdllA6 VI ltS ACdI BIC
became a passionate partisan. The
leading dog received swift kick from
Mrs. Vogel's square-toed shoe which
staggered it, and the rest of the pack
swerved outside the danger line.
"You touch dis kitten and 1 make it
hot by you!" declared Mrs. Vogel to
the jeering gamins in the street end
Of the alley.
The kitten chung to her like frigh-
ened child, mewing piteously. Mrs.
Vogel listened until she heard Jo-
sephine moving about on the second
floor and then she stealthily opened
the kitchen door. 1t was not hand
some kitten, this outcast; it was
black with cleaning yellow eyes,
head shaped like a triangle, and a
squawk which seemed to come from
rusty throat. But its wafer-like
thinness was the thing which appealed
to Mrs. Vogels heart. On the alert
for Josephine's step on the stairway,
! she hurriedly emptied the contents of
the cream-pitcher into saucer and
set it by the stove. Her round face
was radiant as the starving kitten
Tapped the cream with incredible
rapidity, almost strangling in its eager
ness for food. When the cream was
gone, Mrs. Vogel felt the kittens side
critically to note If there was any ap-
preciable difference in its thickness.
The outcast thrived astonishingly
on the cream which formerly went
into Mr.. Vogel's coffee, and it grew in
length and height and thickness with
a rapidity which was a constant source
of amazement to Mrs. Vogel, who
robbed the table of cream without
conjunction.
While Mr.. Vogel was at his Office
and Josephine shopping or paying
visits, the black cat, kitten no
longer, sat on the back step with an
arrogant air of proprietorship and
washed it's face or regarded with
certain aloofness the vulgar fence
walking Tables who no longer tres
passed by day, at least, on the Vogel
premises. At night the cat was shut
in the cellar, and if his voice mingled
with the discords which made the mid
night hours hideous, Mr.. Vogel never
suspected that he harbored one of the
disturbers of his peace.
There were times, during Mr.
Vogel's more amiable moods, when
his wife contemplated Kidding herself
of her secret, and to that end she
adroitly switched the conversation to
her husbands temper was such that
it stayed the confession on her lips.
81 would blant the sweet peas there"
said Mr. Vogel earnestly, one Sabbath
afternoon, as he and Mrs. Vogel stood
in their restricted back yard, land
dose vines there. Ach, Colt! where
did dot cat come from?"
A black streak had shot from the
cellar window and, seating itself in
the sunshine, had commenced care
full toilet. Mrs. Vogel, in dismay, saw
that the coal man had left the win
dow open.
elf me BROOM" commanded Mr.
Vogel sternly. mo cats sits in my
back yard ven l am awake"
HE does no harm; he makes no
noise; he only washes his face" plead
ed Mrs. Vogel.
"You know dot cat?" demanded Mr..
Vobel suspiciously.
81 hat seen him before, l dink," she
replied His face seems familiar
STAND back, Rachel. 1 will swipe
him." Mr. Vogel snatched a convent
ent lath and swung it.
The cat gave him one injured look,
side-stepped and bounded lightly to
Mrs. Vogel's shoulder, where it sat Sc
cure, glaring its old-time defiance at
Mr.. Vogel
"WhOSe cat is dot 2n Numbered Mr.