The New York herald., 1921-09-18

our childhood in an extremely laud-
able endeavor to awaken some Of the
kinder human sensbilities in nature which
turned instinctively to throwing rocks at
cats and tying tin cans to dogs tails as the
natural pastimes OF youth there is one we
remember better than all the rest.
1t was about poor clown to whom some
thing very dreadful indeed happened. al
though we forget exactly what it was, just
before the grand entry of all the circus per-
formers took place, and although his heart
was breaking from sorrow the poor clown
had to be funny all afternoon. Now that we
recall this story in our more mature years
there seems to have been chance for sew
eral inaccuracies to have crept into the
account as we heard It. Particularly we
will say that In all the crcuses we ever
attended a clown more or less would not
have been missed. However, it is not our
intention to cast any reflections upon the
author of this story. We merely relate 1t
to you as it was given to us.
The point we wish to make is that we
never until now really appreciated that story
Here it is beautiful Saturday afternoon
Every one in the whole world. except US has
quit work and gone to the ball game the
matinee, the seashore or to some other place
Of amusement while we sit chained like
galley slave to typewriter and write with
a broken heart.
we have our subject all picked out We
know exactly what we are going to write
about It is the most mournful subject In
the wcrld. Also it is the most talked about
and therefore probably the most timely We
noticed ten different stories about this one
subject in one issue of one of the morning
daies last week.
IN Ut before beginning our serious dis
* cusson of this subject wish to
- digress to say something about the
cats of New York. The most marvellous
thing about the cats isn't their color, al
though the number of black cats is perfectly
astounding, but the fact that they are so
tame They walk along the streets just as
il no one ever bothered them, and If you
will stop, stretch your throat. tighten up on
your vocal cords and cry kitty, kitty, kitty
in a weak voice they will walk over to you
purring and allow their heads to be
scratched.
Now, back where we came from cats in
stnctively recognize pair OF trousers as
belonging to a hereditary enemy. and you
have to be mighty wen acquainted with
cat before she will approach when she Is
summoned and even then she advances with
a certain springiness in her step which
acouaints YOU with the fact although she
is walking toward you she is also prepared
to retreat at your slightest hostile move
ment
The timidity of the Southern cat is the
natural result of the constant warfare being
waged upon her by the small boys, who have
as their allies In these battles such dogs as
belong to the members Of the gang. An
oxya alliance
tween the dogs and the boys.
Now there is no such thing noticeable in
New York. In the first place. the boys do
not have dogs. The dogs are all on the END
of chains and straps and are apparently
owned by young women and grown men.
who spend their time walking up and down
the sidewalks with them. 1t must be mighty
uncomfortable for the dog. Personally, we
would rather not be dog IL we had to be
led about the streets on the end Of a chain
and wear a muZze.
The cat and dog life Is entirely reversed
here The cats are allowed the freedom and
the dogs are abused-abused kindly, II Is
true. but still abused. OF course since the
dogs are constantly watched they cannot fol-
low their natural instinct about chasing cats.
but how about the small boys? How does
1t happen that they have surrendered one
OF the prerogatives of youth?
Now that we come TO think about ~, the
explanation probably lies in the fact that
there are so few rocks on the streets and so
few back fences for cats to walk on that
this phase of life has been lost to the small
boys of New York. You know, in the smaller
cities cats travel from place to place by
walking on the tops of fences. They thus
are out of danger from the dogs. but not
from boys.
II is very tempting to see the silhouette
of a stray cat on your own back fence.
~ Ut about that mournful subject which
* Is In keeping with our present state
- OF feeling We will get to It in
minute
Once we knew a cat that caused It's mis-
tress to get married. The cat was just an
ordinary house tabby that wore ribbon
around its neck and had the freedom OF the
place. including the parlor even when Miss
Jenny had visitors young man named
Jim had been calling on Miss Jenny for some
time. but he bashful that he never
could get to the point OF asking her to
marry him. He had brought flowers and
candy and had taken her down to the drug
store several times to eat ice cream and hear
the phonograph play. but that was az far
as he could get
Jim was handy man with paint brush
whenever the boys got together for an even
ing with the intention of putting coat OF
red on the town before morning. He could
sit with impassive solemnity behind two
deuces in mans game lie could ride and
hunt and swim and fish, but he couldn't
Cs4tef Il.