The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-01-04
How the Cats Came to
Strongsville
By M. QUAD
By M. QUAD
eopyright, 1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

mat he was born a half wiz ana with .
twisted leg besides His parents died
When he was ten years Ola ana L,oz
became a sort Of child outlaw He
wandered here and there till he finally
settled in Strongsviile
Hez found the farming class mucb
more sympathetic than the Villagers
Out ne was imposed on by them to a
certain degree. When he had GOT to ho
youth Of fourteen or fifteen no could
noe corn or potatoes or chop and split
wood as well as almost any man. They
would hire him by the week and give
| MIN such food and lodgings as thew
saw tit, and when he was through with
his week he was given some old clothes
or few cents in money.
The years passed on until Hezokiah
was twenty, and he was more of an ont.
law than ever. A man named Brooks
went to work In the sawmill at Stronrs-
vile. He was an old bachelor. and he
rented small house and lived alone
In passing the boy on the street one
day he must have given the victim
look of sympathy for when he got back
to his house again he found Hezekiah
seated on his doorstep. He invited him
in and gave him meal and a good
bed. From that day the unfortunate
had home.
To make clear what followed the
reader must know that Strongsyille
had strong antipathy to cats 1t was
founded on sanitary principles. There
had once been an epidemic of scarlet
fever and again an epidemic of mea-
sles, and the doctors had agreed that
the germs of both were carried from
house to house by the feline population.
Thus it came about that the cats were
eXterminated to the last one and the
mice had play day every day in the
year. The old bachelor learned this
fact as soon as he talked of renting a
house i'll the village. He was told that
If he brought cat along with him
she would certainly be poisoned off in
short order
One day after TIezekiah had had q
home for six month, he went to work
for a certain farmer at wages set by
MIR Brooks. who had become a guard
fan to him. After working for three
or four days HeZckiah unearthed a box
of gold coin amounting to $1,000 They
Were English coins and had been buried
in the long ago-so long ago that the
box had become mere punk. He car
ried the money home with him wrap
ped in his old coat, and it sent forth
metallic clinlls as 1t was thrown on the
table. He was smiling almost for the
first time in year, and after an effort
he managed to say:
Il dug it out of the ground"
did you tell the farmer?" asked
Mr.. Brooks when he had recovered
from his establishment
"Not word,'' was replied
well" continued the old bachelor
after the money had been counted,
"this find has made you rich, but don't
say anything about it to any one. The
people of this town have used you
shamefully, and want to see you get
even with them. You know what I
mean, don't your
In reply Hezekiah's face lighted up,
and he nodded his head. He had been
aware for a long time that no one had
played him fair, but he felt his help
lessness to resent it.
In thinking how he might revenge
the young mans wrongs the old bach
elor brought up the cat question, and
he soon had his plans laid. The next
n hlt 90, oil CT
ped and held in private conversation
for half an hour, and then he winked
and laughed and drove away. He
stored his tinware temporarily and
loaded up POO felines in its place.
That wagon re-entered the village at
II o'clock at night, when every man,
woman and child was sleeping his first
sleep. 1t paused in front of the town
hall. and the door was opened, and
the cats came bouncing out.
Two hundred cats might have been
exterminated in time but the tin ped
der returned next evening with 200
more re-enforcements and again the
third night. The town had now been
turned into a cat town. 1t had more
cats walking the fences or seated
around the back doors than any town
of four times its size in this state. BY
night 1t was d constant Serenade that
prevented sleep except at brief inter-
walls. There were enough cats to car
ry the germs of a dozen epidemics. 1t
Is cat town today Men were hired
by the week to shoot or trap them,
but kittens were born about as fast
as old cats were killed off, and at last
the people gave up and settled down
to bear the infliction with what pains
they could.
After the cat invasion was a month
old the bachelor said to the half wit:
sHezekiah, you know what cat is.
don't your
Hezekiah nodded and grinned.
"After paying all expenses of dump
ing 600 cats into Strongsville I have
$500 of your gold left. l am going
to put it in the bank for you and send
you to New York city to see if the
surgeons can make you over. l hope
they will be able to help you. If they
can't, you can come back home and
live with me the rest of your life. Do
you understand what l mean?"
The surgeons helped him some
enough so that when he caught sight
of twelve or fifteen cats summing them