Evening star., 1925-08-02
This and That
BY Charles Z. Traceueu.

Jack Spratt. having consumed an
egg matted milk for his breakfast.
Sauntered out to snoop around the
neighborhood.
The little striped fellow was feeling
fine after his convalescence from his
recent vacation of two weeks in the
unknown.
Breakfast had tasted pretty good
as was manifested by the avidity
with which the cat Tapped up the
egg matted milk, or rather egg matted
cream, for Jack Spratt turns up his
white snub nose at milk.
Descending the back steps, Jack
stopped to enjoy the sunshine before
starting on his snooping. tour.
What morning 1t was!
Like transcendental gold, the sun
shine poured down over the garden in
flood. bathing alike the nodding
Roses, the glorious Gladioli, the sturdy
zinnias. the giant Mallows, Phlox pan
nicles. lingering Sna pdragons.
1t is among these that Jack always
begins his shopping. characteristic of
the feline tribe. In this occupation
he holds fast to the Middle English
word, snoken, from which our modern
'snoop" is derived.
Snoken meant to sniff. and this
Jack Spratt does with infinite pains
He wiggles his sensitive nostrils at
the distant barking dogs.
First he started out, this morning,
by undulating his grayand-black
striped body in and out among the
| Gladiolus stalks, without SO much as
touching one of them, just rustlng the
| leaves.
A dog would have ruined them all,
but cat is more discriminating.
X 4
Seating himself at the base of a
| Hibiscus, Jack peered out from be.
tween the broad leaves clothing the
| willowy but thick branches.
| His white shirt front might have
answered for a soap advertisement.
so white 1t appeared there. against the
| green.
Adventure called. however.
You must not linger, Jack"
| thrilled Adventure. TRY the next
yard. Some grand bug may be lurk.
| ing over there
A wild look sprang into the cats
/ eyes. He laid his ears back, slanted
his eyes, arched his back, stood the
hair up along his back-and sprang
| Straight into the yard he bounded,
| leaping high into the air after a vel
low butterfly, spatting his forepaws
| together much as child claps its
hands.
The butterfly gayly flew away.
| Looking somewhat chagrined, Spratt
bounded for the fence, and disap-
peared over it into the next yard.
| Wildly he crossed the yard, leaped
| the next fence. and SO across yard
after yard. taking each partition with
a long bound.
| 1t would be interesting to match
cat against greyhound. These
lanky fellows have great reputation
for speed. but believe tom cat can
| outrun one of them any day.
| Jack then investigated a garbage
| can, smiling around the lid. Perhaps
| this recalled unpleasant memories of
hardShips suffered on his two-week
| sightseeing tour of Washington-per-
sonally conducted. Anyway. he speed
lily dropped the can and slid across the
alley.
/ Yard after yard was probed in turn.
| Finding everything all right, Spratt
/ would go on to the next property,
taking care to poke around behind
| clumps of flowers as he went.
| Closely planted flower beds delight
he imasines he is a tiger. or some
thing, when he gets completely COW
Tered out Of sight.
Corcealment is one of the basic
| laws Of the cat family. Thou shalt
not be seen," says their Lord. 1t is
not for nothing that there is such a
| term as "fraidy-cat."
| Cats are afraid, and are not bit
ashamed of 1t, as we are. With them
1t is fight and proper. A cat has to
be afraid in his business of living.
Only by clever sneaking can a
soft-bodied little animal such as a
cat take care of itself for days at
q time in a great city. They go out
alone, and they come back alone, and
no one has seen them.
1t is just >an everyday miracle of
Catland.
Jack crouched in the flower bed.
waiting for bird to settle just above
him. He particularly hoped that the
Humming Bird would take shot at
that big pink flower.
The Humming Bird annoys Spratt
excessively. What was he created
for?" Jacks big eyes seem to say. as
he turks, and turks, and turks.
For you to catch, jack" shrills
Adventure. Take your time. old
fellow, and wait, and wait, and wait"
|