The New York herald., 1921-12-27

It was Rafferty,, the ochre and white
killer. whose tail was deleted by First
avenue coal truck in 1915, and after all
these years has only a stump left at the
place where his left ear ought to be. that
was the first of the recumbent cats to
stir to life at the Bide-a-Wee home late
last night, following Christmas dinner
given for him and all kinds and condi-
tions of other hobo cats and dogs early
in the afternoon.
His head felt like one of the big gas
tanks over in Charley Murphy's district,
and it was not until he had rolled him
self weakly on his other side and made
out through the window the blur Of
Hughie Skelly's brewery looming against
the night sky that he knew where he
was. He was in the Bide-a-Wee Home
all right.
At that. he had been the last survivor
at the cat feast, for he learned long ago
that catnip Is treacherous stuff when
you wade right into it-that the right
jazz is to start in on low gear and use
Judgment. letting the first few warm
you up slow and easy while you look
about you and size up who Is IN the
room and what the break Is likely to be
II you have been taught the system
right and play 1t right you'll be still
going strong then while all the light
weight cats about you are spilling their
right names and trying to sing tenor.
or all the feline and canine derelicts
that gathered at the bulging cans and
overflowing platters at the Bide-a-Wee
animal feast yesterday only Rafferty,
who for all his age can trim his weight
in cat meat anywhere between First ave-
nue. from Bellevue Hospital and Astoria
ferry any time and has not missed
charity handout at the Bide-a-Wee since
1t moved to its present home in far East
Thirty-eighth street-only Rafferty,, as
has been said, was able to totter unas-
sisted to the moss in the western, or
cat, wing Of the Bide-a-Wee when the
feast was finally over and the last wisp
Of catnip had been taken away.
From the eastern or dog wing OF the
place long snores came The dogs, from
a Great Dane with an eye gone and that
works 125th street In winter and Coney
Island In summer, to a dachshund that
dived under a steam radiator during the
party because motion picture man
came In and the "dach' thought it was
a sausage machine. every last dog and
puppy Of them was full to the ears and
snoring his head off. Poets have raved
about the whispering Of forest leaves,
the tapping of waves on a beach and the
cooling of doves and so on and forth.
But room full of snoring dogs, II you
let Rafferty, have his pick. supplies the
sweetest music in all the world.
II you will accept the assurances Of
Mines Harry Ulysses Kibbe, A. v. T..
Dillington. Samuel Probasco and Edgar
Saltus, who were hostesses to the cats
and dogs at the Christmas party yester-
day. no dogs or cats were ever more
appreciative or grateful than the hun
dred or so that were entertained at the
handout. Mostly they were the regulars
at the place, for the Bide-a-Wee has no
oubliette or gas chamber and sometimes
cats and dogs stick around there quite
while before, little by little. kindly
persons who like animal pets come and
take them away. But about half the
four footed creatures that were present
yesterday were tramps brought In by
children of the neighborhood, who re-
ceived scouting commissions early in the
week and were told to bring in any
strays they ran across.