Evening journal., 1913-12-22
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Russell Sage md lis Feline
Pets
B, Holland.

Il had always regarded Russell
Sage as a very austere man, interest
ed in nothing else than the accumu-
lation of wealth." said Charles E.
Hall, who was for some years identi-
fed with the preparation of the his
tory of Oregon and California.
Il had occasion to call upon Mr..
Sage, so that l might confirm GER
tain data which was collecting and
which bore upon the careers of some
of the very wealthy men Of the United
States.
81 rather expected to be summarily
elected from his office. Instead of
doing that, he invited me to be seated,
and after a few moments came to me
rubbing his hands together in what
l afterward discovered TO be a habit
Of his, especially when he was very
much interested.
After some conversation Mr.. Sage
invited me TO call upon him at his
house. / went there many times. He
seemed to be greatly interested in the
work which l had in hand, and he
asked me many questions about Il.
"One evening when l was calling
upon him TO ask him rather delicate
question, for the answer to 1t related
to some of his business undertakings,
he interrupted me by saying: You
never suspected that / was fond of
kittens and cats, did your
1T occurred to me that he said this
in the way of a joke or to avoid am
swering my question. / had already
discovered that he possessed an
abundant sense of humor and a gift
of very quaint and very dry humor-
GUS expressions and was fond of a
joke
HE did not give me time to an
swer, for he began calling in soft,
coaxing voice, John, John, come
here
"In a moment or two l saw very
sleek-lookng, handsome cat come
forth from some hiding place, and
with very deliberate and gentle step
cross the room until Mr.. Sage was
| within reach.
Then there began most vigorous
rubbing against Mr.. Sage's legs. 1
could hear the cat purring. Then in
! n moment he called again. have
forgotten the name-and another cat
appeared from some hiding place, a
very handsome maltese. Mr.. Sage
strOkcd the backs, scratched the
heads and talked TO these cats i'm a
lgentle voice and they seemed to like
the sound of his voice.
while he was thus petting these
hn 20. fuI - Oh
cats and kittens. He said: L am
very fond of cats. l love to see kit
tens play. When I come home tired
out after a days work 1 often spend
on hour or two after dinner with
these pets and it refreshes me-
He went on to tell me a great deal
that he had discovered, as he thought
l8Dout the nature of cats. He some.
times found himself wondering how
many thousand years ago men frs
tanned and domesticatod the wildcats
that were the ancestors of the mod
ern domestic animal
II became deeply interested in thii
little lecture. ! speedily realized tha
Mr. Sage enjoyed talking to me abou
his pets. 1t was a side character o.
which l am sure very few peopl,
knew.
Suddenly he looked at his watcl
and then, jumping up. said, I declar,
it is 10 o'clock. l must go to bed
i have TO go TO bed at 10 o'clocs
every night because l find that tn,
first hour after ! go to bed if ! 2,
not later than 10 o'clock / get wha
] call my beauty sleep. II l miss m,
beauty sleep ] am used up the mex
day Good night
II went away in wonder that
should have been permitted TO SCI
Russell Sage in that curious and We
delightful attitude of domcsticity /
was only a short time after that tia
Mr.. Sage was injured by q bonn
which was thrown at his feet by tn
lunatic Norcross."