Evening star., 1925-01-11
Heard and Seen

Jack Spratt, envoy extraordinary.
from Catland 10 Our House, has arisen
to the dignity of having been at
tended by a physician.
As long as Spratt was an alley
cat he was as hard as a pine knot.
In the old days he stayed out the
coldest nights, in the snow and the
sleet. No weather worried him.
Then he gave UP the struggle with
garbage cans, and traded the freedom
of the alley for the comfort of a,
warm home and the certainty of a
quarter Of a pound of beeksteak
day.
Some trade, if you ask me-" purred
Jack Spratt. There's just one thing
the matter with it-that quarter of
a pound Of steak ought to be changed
to half a pound"
Jack doesn't know it, of course,
but there was more Involved in that
trade. When he became a house cat
he slowly began to give up some OF
that hardness which enabled him,
as a kitten, TO wade through sleet
unharmed. .,...
A fellow cannot warm his tiger
coat before a radiator day after day
without becoming a bit soft.
And that was how it came about
that Jack caught cold.
few feline sneezes were the first
symptoms. His eyes did not CLEAN
so brightly a. the sight of his dinner.
as he crouched down, showing the
light gray places on the elbows
He did not miss n Crumb. however
Mr.. Spratt has to be mighty sick, in
deed. before he refuses to eat He
believes implicitly in that old saying.
Feed cold, starve g. fever"
Voluntarily he retired to his basket
in the basement, and there spent the
entire day. His muzzle took on q
pale look and his dolorous cast of
countenance became accentuated He
was one sick tom cat.
Then he began TO choke Some
thing seemed to catch in his throat.
as if he were having difficulty in
breathing. Maybe we had better call
the doctor" said the family.
The veterinarian, called on the
telephone, said he would be around
later in the afternoon.
"Old Jack Spratts going to have
doctor" Hours went by, but no
doctor And thAn a big limousine
thrashed through the drifts and stop
ped in front of Our House.
Out got the doctor, little black case
in hand.
"How-do-you-do. doctor, come right
in" we said. Where do you want
to see the pateint?"
ANY place there is plenty of light
jacks eyes got big as saucers when
he saw the tall representative of the
healing profession. Willingly Sprat:
would have sought his basement ref
uge. but he was in for it now: he
saw that with one eye. -.
What in the dickens was this man
doing, grabbing his hind leg ike
that? C9unting his pulse. buplti
Didn't heSknow that no cat likes to
have anybody monkeying around his
hind legs? A fellow can. stand haS1
, ing his front paws held, but the 3aiI
and hind legs are sacred. -,,rT, n
When the doctor took Spratt's temr
perature, what howl went up - ~ +,
"Me-ow-ow-ow screamed
Jack.
The doctor examined the ther-
mometer critically. ,-.s 49,
rs that very had?"
Not for a cat" replied the doctor,
replacing the thermometer in its
case. You see, a cats normal tenn
perature is 101 degrees. He has a
cold, that. is all. Keep him in the
house and he will get all right"
by the way, doctor, how much
meat ought we to feed him?"
Jack Spratt glared at the doctor.
| as If saying, You are no friend Of
mine"
But that was where he was mis-
| taken.
"Oh, give him half a pound a4day. -
| replied the doctor.
So Jack is indebted to the doctor,
after all, for getting his rations in
| creased from a quarter to a half a
pound of nice, raw, juicy beefsteak.
Hot dog" purrs Jack Spratt
c. E. TRACEWELL.