The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-02-19
THE WISE CAT.

The WISE CAT.
A certain cat set out to seek his
fortune, and travelled through the
wide world. At last he came to a
country where a cat had never been
| seen before. The inhabitants were
! at first frightened by the strange
monster; but, having observed puss
killing the mice with which the coun-
try was overrun, they plucked up
courage, and, approaching him, re-
quested that he should follow them
before the king. Puss complied will
| ingly enough, and the end of the mat
, ter was that he was. installed rat
catcher to the king, and large sal
ary bestowed upon him. The faith
fulness with which puss discharged
his duties raised him high in the roy
al regard, and a circumstance soon
occurred which advanced him still
! further The king took his maps by
an open window, and had a plate OF
cherries placed beside him that he
might eat them when he awoke. A
crow from the neighboring forest
constantly stole the fruit, nor had all
the efforts of the kings servants sue
ceeded in destroying the bird. The
cat, however, concealed himself in
the window hangings, and pounced
upon the unlucky maurauder, and
broke his neck. The king was full
of gratitude, and ordered that puss'
salary be increased. Soon after,
! bear came and ravaged the kings S
f1ocks His majesty commanded puss
to kill him. 81 can only do what I
am able" pleaded the cat; but the
king insisted. While puss was COM
ing, Bruin attacked the store of a
swarm of bees, and was stung to
death. You have done as l knew
you would, my dear; cat, - said the
king, and would listen to no explana-
tions. The. cat received the Order
of the Royal Shoestring.
!. Next an elephant came and raw
aged the crops. The king sent for
the cat to attack him. "Alas! l can
only do what l am able" again plead
ed the cat, but there was no moving
the king. While the cat was coming,
/ the elephant fell into pit and was
killed =
you have. done as I knew you
would" said the king once more;
and the cat received the Order OF the
Royal Penknife and the care of the
Royal Shoe Brush.
A great army marched to subdue
the kingdom. The king gave himself
no uneasiness "Have we not the
cat -here?" he asked. 'My dear, go
and put these troublesome fellows to
flight" $500. o..
Alas! your majesty" said the un-
fortunate cat, II can but do as 1 am
able, and luck will turn at last; but
I the king was stubborn as ever. And,
while the cat was coming, a band Of
the enemy fell upon him and de-
stroyed him; and they overthrew all
the kingdom The king was taken
prisoner and compelled to feed cats
all his life. THAT ungrateful cat!'
he continually exclaimed. - Arlo
Bates, in st. Nicholas.
THE LADY OF THE PICTURE.
She was soft-eyed, dark-haired and
wore a yellow gown. She looked
down from, the frame and spoke.
Good afternoon" We jumped and
she smiled Good afternoon" said
she again. Look up here and you'll
see me-" We looked up and saw that
we had seated ourselves at table
under the picture of lady.
Doubtless you never thought that
a picture could talk" she said. But
a picture can We never try 1t un-
less we want to, and that isn't very
often. Why, once I said something
to a lady and she looked up and
stared, and 1 said something else,
and she was so alarmed that she
went to another table. Now what do
you think of that? Those"
Here she broke off and sat immov-
able as the waitress came up. She
looked closely at the picture, but
could see nothing. After she had
taken our order and gone away our
Lady of the Picture" spoke again.
Its very, very tiresome sitting
here day after day with nothing to
do. l see lots of things. though. The
rich ladies sweep by me with their
furs, perfumes, rings and trains, the
mattresses hurry to and fro, there
comes a tired mother with children
clinging to her skirts and baby in
her arms o, there's lots of things
to see." The waitress came up again,
bringing the order She set the tray
down, looked at the picture doubt
fully, served us, and then went away
| heard her say to another waitress:
THAT there pictur' looks awful
Queer. / wouldn't like to be them
people settin' there, l tell you,' and
then her voice died away.
THE Lady of the Picture" went
on: Sometimes l wish l could step
out of the frame, and be like other
people all the time Dy all the time
! | mean that I'd like to stay out OF
this frame all the time, for once
year we are allowed to step out of the
frame, and do as we like. We usu-
! ally so out at night, you know, we
couldn't go very we'll in the daytime.