Evening star., 1929-06-30
This and That
By Charles E. TracetUeH.

Names of pet animals have a curious
way of changing themselves to some
thing else 'e@
Consider the. kittens which were
named in infancy Atnos, Porthos,
D'Artagnan, Aramis and Alexandra
Dumas.
The original idea was to do honor to
the immortal creator of "The Three
Musketeers." At the first glance 1t did
not seem bad idea.
The "three kitten musseteerS" was
good phrase, and the individual cats
fitted the names very well-amazingly
well, in fact.
Porthos turned out to be the largest
of the group, with D'Artagnan the next
in size. Aramis was a sly little black
fellow, while Athos was graceful to
degree.
As for Alexandra Dumas, the name
fitted him from the ground up. Alex
andre turned out to be roguish cat
with CLINT in his bright eyes. ever
ready for a prank or a frolic.
Yet one by one the original names
have fallen by the wayside, in the way
that names have of doing. Even in
human circles men often get names
which their parents never gave them.
Many a boy christened William
turns out to be plain Bill" except or
CHECKS ana N1ACu-
sands of boys with what may be termed
fancy names become "Skeeter' and
skinny"
The first kitten to lose its given name
and acquire another, and-for a kit
ten-a more natural one, was Aramis,
as we recall.
Aramis was coal black, as is his
mother. So what could be more nat
ural that he should end up by becoming
Blackie?
If the color of dog or cat Is dis
tinct enough, there is no more salts
factory name than one which refers to
it. Thus the world has its Spots, its
Bluffs, its Blackies and Whites.
The next kitten to get its name
changed by natural evolution was Athos.
who shortly became Little Ntpper, the
third of that name.
AS explained here previously to cat
FANS" the present Nipper was not only
the image of the other two, but showed
their traits so unmistakably that there
could be little doubt of his ancestry.
Pure black, gray and brown tiger,
Little Nipper III took his place in the
inc by divine right No amount of
naming could have withheld that one
from him in the end.
X X X
AS for Alexandra Dumas, he first be-
came Alexandra (but never Alex, and
finally, by a curious evolution, Boggs.
This little fellow, with his white
chest. paws and face, and black spots
over his eyes, with black saddle and
tail fiecked with white, seemed to de-
mand a name in keeping.
Finally Boggs was hit upon, with
the result that it received universal ac-
claim. Boggs Dickens, master OF
name selection, could have done no
better.
Porthos, maltese was a difficult one
to name, until he was about months
old. when he developed a habit OF
growing at his mates at feeding time.
Being larger than the others, he
would shoulder them away from
choice bit, especially if something new
had been added to the diet.
So he became Bully.
It was not until we had read w. r.
Burnett'S Little Caesar" that we
struck a name which fitted the very
pale tiger striped female kitten orig
inally named D,Artagnan. The heroine
of this novel has the alliterative gang
land name Of Blondy Belle.
So D'Artagnan became Blondy Belle,
which every reader will admit is o
much more fitting name for q female
kitten than D'Artagnan.