The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-04-24
Her IDEAL Pet /
tlt

/
questered in small apartments. There
is no common, easily comprehended
joy in the close companionship of an
uneasy fox terrier. 1t has been said
of the breed that a devoted master
or mistress can sit up all night train
ing a specimen, and in the morning it
! will find something outrageous and
totally new with which to demoralize
its environment. Yet folk in small
flats and folk in studios, they OF the
tribe Of the folding Bedouin," do har-
Dor fox terriers. 1t must be that they
answer some occult need of the soul,
they and the loud-voiced felines, the
monkeys and the parrots that one
finds domiciled in unlikely and incon-
venient spots about town. Mankind
Is gregarious, even to the point of
focking with fur, fins and feathers
when matter more attractive cannot
be acquired in sufficient numbers to
fill up all the space.
Jane Corners is alone in the family
apartment for six weeks this summer.
Jane Corners felt that need of the
soul which calls for the companion
ship of something and decided to
| adopt a pet. Now as cursory view
the best of all pets for a busy woman
appeared to be a turtle. A turtle, so
every one told Jane, has a distinct
personality of its own, yet never
forces it upon one. A turtle eats at
the most obliging intervals or not, as
suits ones convenience, and very lit
tie, of anything that happens to be at
hand. A turtle is as quiet as domes-
ticated sphynx and of so retiring a
| disposition that a chance motion in
hB direction will send him into his
shell for hours on end. Jane Connors
DECIDED to have turtle.
No sooner had she reached the de-
cision than, as luck would have it,
Jim Sykes stopped by to take her
motoring, and in wooded spot up on
Jerome avenue they spied turtle
diligently crossing the road, and ran
right over him. Jane hoped out of
the car IN no time and, finding the
creature uninjured and kissing in
lively fashion, at once secured him,
brought him home to the apartment
and christenod him the District At
torney.
1t was very late when she reached
home and very hot. Jane could not
Just find a proper pan for the District
Attorney, so she wrung out towel
| in cold water and put it on the floor
in the sitting room by the open win
dow. The District Attorney YVES a
mud turtle, and the towel seemed as
good as bank of mud for him 10
wallow in. Now Jane was alone III
the apartment and she left light, the
tall standing lamp turned very low to
scare burglars, and she went to bed
with her door open to let a breeze
through.
In the middle of the night she
awoke. In the sitting room sounded
the most blood curdling humping back
and forth. She leaned out Of bed and
swung the door wide open, and her
heart turned over and Jumped up into
her mouth Along the floor, wriggling
TO and fro and humping like mad, flop
ped and squirmed a long snake-like
white something. To and fro. up and
down it turned and twisted and pres
| emily made for the open door into the
| bedroom. AS it came toward her
Jane remembered with sick despair
that the matches were on the side
board in the dining room. That long
squirming white thing was now bump
Ing and wriggling directly beside the
| head of the bed. Jane thought of
| screaming for help but the people in
the next apartment are awful gossips
and Jane isp Unconditional and the
screams wouldn't come.
Pretty soon Jane remembered that
her ancestors were Puritans, and the
| descended part of her took her In
hand and said to her. "Jane Connors
get up this second and get those
matches" Jane got up. The thing
wriggled after her, now silent on the
rugs, now humping hard on the hard
wood floors, but chasing along be-
! sid9 her almost as fast as she. When
they got directly opposite the tall
standing lamp, the thing was between
her and it. She got up all her courage
and she jumped over it and put up a
hand to turn up the light. But just
at that moment her eyes fell on the
thing, and it was making a violent
squirm right for her. She sidestepped
suddenly and the standing lamp went
over with crash, and there she was
with the squirming creature very
close to her in the pitch dark.
She was pretty glad to hear the peo-
pie from the next apartment knocking
on the door and she was pretty glad
to let them in, if they are awful gos-
sips. When they managed to strike
6 light, of course there was the turtle
with his front legs caught fast in the
fringe of the towel, frightened to the
point of panic. poor thing, and drag
- NJ 10