Evening star., 1926-06-20
THE CITY
BYANANNIE LANCASTER.

soothing Stutf In an ear that had
ached and told her to run home and
get to bed quick, so that the dose
would drive the hurt away and let her
sleep like a top.
She obeyed him to the extent of
slipping into a kimono and an easy
chair under the droplight, with pile
| OF magazines to choose from, and
with an almost hilarious enjoyment
from the sudden cessation from pain.
She was so happy that she couldn't
even read--you know how 1t is when
the print blurs and the pages seem
| to weigh a ton--so she just let the old
thing drop in her LABOR on the floor
Or anywhere it wanted TO go. when
all of a sudden--there on the sill of
window she keeps forever open,
stood q big white cat. 1t had q black
| saddle and "a black ring, around one
eye. And it was nurrng. The cat
had come back!
Rigid with astonishment. and some
other feeling of bewilderment that
she couldn't quite account for. the
woman called the visitor over Where
| upon, with no scruples whatever of
| being caught where it had no right
to be, 1t accepted her invitation and
| cuddled In her lap.
AS all visitors should be entertained
according to their whim, she thought
1t would be interesting to state that it
was a rat that killed the canary. And
tho cat purred extra loud to let her
/ know IT was stale news, seeing he
knew 1t from the first. Then the
woman. being really glad for company,
now that her ear was so beautifully
well. told her visitor about some other
cats OF her acQuaintance-for one, the
gray tabby of her childhood that used
to tangle up the bali of yarn when
brown Jane was teaching her TO knit
and about those three little kittens
| bereft or their mittens--and the jul
diclal Thomas that turned the good
sister words to diamonds and made
her cruel stepsister talk toads-and
about Puss in Boots who liked to call
! himself the Marquis of Cara bis-and
the accomplished cat that killed the
rat that ate the malt that lay In the
House that Jack Built-and Dick
Whittfngton's Cat--and the travelled
| cat that went to London to see the
queen--and about Button, who knows
more about cats than anybody except
| the good Lord who made them
The cat must have been fed up on
! fairy tales, for with sudden altertness
he reached his back and laid his purr
aside.
Button, Huh. Button didn't
know everything. otherwise he
wouldn't have been so surprised at
not finding a cat III the ark Noah
could have told him that if he had
taken old Tom aboard there would
| have been no history OF the dove"
This was startling turn in the CON
| yerSation, but the woman had no
| chance to argu& because the maya
zine had truly fallen TO the floor with
a noise that aroused her and fright
ened the cat back 10 where he came
from.
| And as the open window was
screened and two stories from below
she knew it was a miracle-until next
morning made her realize the blessed
relief of medicine whose Jazz name
is dope.
! A WOMAN, mentally alive and as
modish as If she had just stepped
| from a June fashion page, stood at
! the head OF flight Of steps with one
I'hand on the railing. And as another
| woman was about to Scurry down, she
asked:
Would you mind letting me catch
hold OF your arm? Both elevators
were crowded. and as I'm In a. hurry
thought I'd walk down, but l feel
rather dizzy"
The other woman helped out, of
| course, and when they were on the
| ground floor asked If there was anv.
| thing she could do-wouldnt 1t be
wise TO call a cab?
! oh no. thanks. I'm all right now
| It's just that I have lived in an apart
| ment for so long and SO seldom walk
| up or down stairs that / am tinlid at
sight of steps-the steep incline. YOU
| know. as if were looking down into
| u Chasm."
| Which gnat of an incident is merely
! to show that the time may be corninc,
when we can no longer illustrate any
| simple doing with that hoar-y ada re;
| AS easy as going downstairs" And
| what is worse and more of 1t. we
may become the ancestors of a gener-
alton that will put feet back in the
rudimentary stage, along with the
third eye somewhere in the back of
our heads.