Evening star., 1944-10-18
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdceWeH.

Pennys one night out In eight years
Is probably worth telling about since
cats are cats the world around, even
In warning world.
1t was only recently that this pet was
permitted outdoors, and then only at
selected times. and with great trepida-
tion on the part of her human friends.
After all 1t is rather unusual even
for cat, to go eight years without ever
feeling grass beneath ones tootsies, or
knowing the feeling of fresh air and
rain on the head
1t had been surmised that Miss Penny
would not come in, ever, when she had
first been let out, but much to every
ones surprise, and probably most to
her own, she came back home nicely.
Sunday mornings, when there is little
traffic and few dogs-their owners all
being in bed-were the selected times.
in most cases.
The cat would stand at the kitchen
screen door and beg with eloquent green
eyes. The comic song, The Kitten
With the Big Green Eyes" popular sew
eral years ago, summed up the situa-
ton
Penny would dash out on the porch
and hesitate before going down into the
yard. What world had suddenly be-
come hers! Birds and squirrels, dogs
and cats, green grass, flowers, and the
wind and the sunshine and the fur
rustling breeze
Surely no cat would have believed 1t
all, and certainly Penny scarcely did.
Perhaps she never knew why she always
came back, after IS minutes to half an
hoJr.
Geological Park officials would not
have been surprised. They always have
insisted that the captive animals feel
more at home in their cages, after a
certain number of years, than outdoors
The call of the wild Is insistent but
the call of civilization, and especially Of
habit, Is even greater
Penny had always come back, until
that night
In burst of generosity, she had been
let out about S o'clock in the evening.
1t was one of those cloudy days, with
rain, OF which the city had too much
Yes, such rains in autumn are good for
everything-the trees, the shrubs grass,
even the reservoirs. The summer had
been dry, and rains were too late to do
the crops much good, but they would
help immensely in the various natural
processes which are the life of our lives.
even as little as we city people often fail
to recognize it.
Penny stood on the porch in the
gathering twilight. She snuf1ed the
air as If it were good to taste, and it
was; the moist quality gave it SAVIOR
she had never known before.
Out into the yard she pranced. 1t
was getting dark before she showed
up again.
Why. there Is PENNY" came the cry.
as the cat leaped up to the front porch.
just as she was about to come in a
dog ran along the sidewalk. Penny gave
him one look, turned around, and
dashed down into the shrubbery
That was the last seen of her.
Night came, and the protected house
cat failed to respond to calls. Lights
were turned on, the screen door kept
open, and Kitty, kitty, kitty" issued
into the night, but there was no kitty.
No doubt she was hidden under some
shrub, or just across the street. No
doubt she would return later. No doubt
she would-but the thought came-sup-
pose she had just kept on going?
Penny was not cat to make much
appeal to others of her tribe. perhaps,
but still there was the unknown quality
and quantity of a moving motor car at
night, with its binding lights.
Penny had no experience with such
things
Lost in the night, or securely asleep
beneath shrub?
The worried household got little sleep
that night, and friends of cats, at least.
will understand.
The next morning, shortly after dawn,
when good light at last illumined the
yard, all hands went to look for Penny
And there she was, seated in chair
in the garden, licking her fur as il
nothing at all had happened, which, Of
cousse. 1t hadn't. =