OLD HICKORY. "
fin .
A‘Glimpse of the Home Life of
Andrew Jackson.
I
After the War He Settled Down and
Became :qu Pious—His Re-
’ lations and Neigh-
l? bots.
eff
I have been requested by a friend to
write my recollections of Gen. Jackson
and his family. Andrew Jackson was a
young lawyer when he came here from .
North Carolina with Judge McNairy.
He boarded with Col. John Donaldson,
at Clover Bottom, on Stone river. While
he was boarding there he fell in love
with and married Mr. Donaldson's
daughter, Rachel.
them the farm, which is now the Her-
mitage, and he built a house and went
there to live. At first he built a hewed
loghouse,‘ in which they lived for many
years, and then built the brick house
which is now- standing there. When a
youm man he was very fond of horse
racing, card playing and sport of every
kind. He fought a duel with Mr. Dick-
inson and killed him.
When the Indian war broke out he
raised a regiment and went out as a
general. After the Indian war he took
part in the war of 1812 with the Brit-
ish. He was the leading man, the hero
of the south, from the beginning until
the close of the war.
After he came home from the war
he settled down, became a very pious
man and joined the First Presbyterian
church here. He built a church at the
Hermitage, which is still standing. He
was afterward elected president of the
United States, and was president for
eight years. His wife died soon after
he was elected president, and his
nephew, Andrew Donaldson, with his
wife, went to Washington and kept
house for him. .
. Gen. Jackson had no children, but he
and his wife adopted her-brother’s son
and named him Andrew Jackson. While
he was president his adopted son mar-
ried a beautiful young lady from New
York. They had a beautiful daughter,
whom they named Rachel, for Mrs. Gen.
Jackson. She married Di‘. John Law-
rence, who is still living on a farm near
the Hermitage. Gen. Jackson was a
very hospitable man. All the distin-
guished men who visited Nashville were
entertained at his house. He always
had the house full of his wife’s relatives.
He was also a_ very kind man, and espe-
cially so to his slaves.
Col. Ward was a very prominent man,
and his farm was next to Gen. Jack-
son’s, He came here from Virginia, and
his wife was Miss Nancy Ward. They
were both wealthy, aristocratic Vir-
ginians. They had no children of their
own, but raised several of their nieces
and nephews. Her brother and his
wife died, leaving three sons and one
daughter. Mrs. Ward. sent to Virginia
for them, and they came here to live
with her. Col. Ward had a fine farm,
and over 100 negro slaves. His wife’s
sister, Miss Sallie Jones, mended his
nephew, Wililam Ward, who also had
a. large farm in this neighborhood, and
a great many negroes. Col. Ward’s wife
died and Mr. William Ward died.
Col. Ward became engaged to Mrs.
William Ward, and his nephews, named
Jones, who lived with him, said he
should not marry her. When they were
to be married his nephews went to the
house and got into a fight with Mrs.
William Ward’s son, and when Col.
Ward came out to stop them, they shot
and killed him. Mrs. William Ward
was the only (one who saw it, and she
traveled for several years to keep from
appearing against them in court. She
died, a broken-hearted woman, away
from her home. She was a most excel-
lent Christian woman. Her daughter
married, and is now living in Arkansas.
Col. Winston lived just between
Davidson county and Wilson connty,
and near Col. Ward. He came from
Virginia», and belonged to a distin-
guished family. His oldest son, Wil-
, liam, married Polly Cooper, and his sec-
ond son, Isaac, moved to Alabama, and
was made governor of the state. His
next son, Dr. Edwin Winston, lived in
Clarksville. All of his z-lvfldren became
useful, distinguished men, and made
excellent citizens. When the Indian
war broke out Maj. Exum organized a
company of cavalry, and Isaac Winston
joified it. Isaac Winston was going to
school to Maj. Exum when the war-
began. After the war Maj. Exum re-
opened his school here, and all the
promient boys went to him.——Miss Jane
Thomas, in Nashville American.
Oldest Marriage Proposal.
The oldest marriage proposal of
which there is any definite record is
3,425 years old. This remarkable an-
cient record, which is in the oriental
department of the British museum, is
a small clay table measuring eight
inches by four inches, and contains
about 98 lines of very fine' cuneiform
writing. It is made ofNile mud, and
bears upon it the marriage proposal of
a Pharaoh for the hand of the daughter
of the king of Babylon. It is a. dupli-
cate copy of a letter written about B.
C. 1530.—Detroit Free Press. ’
_ Lott-Handed Animals.
9- It is well known that left-handedness
has often been observed in animals.
'According to Vierordt, parrots seize ob-
jects with the left claw by preference,
or exclusively. The lion strikes with
the left paw, and Livingstone stated as
his opinion that all animals are left-
handed. Prof. Jordan has recently ver-
ified the statement with regard to par-
rots. He found that this bird makes a.
readier use of the left claw for climbing
than the right—Cincinnati Enquirer. '
,~- Never Sees the Papers.
Silk ribbons are used. in the court of
Victoria. to hold newspaper clippings
designed for the royal perusal. She
never sees the papers in their original
state. They are carefully perused by
an official, who cuts out what he thinks
will pleaseher, pins the clippings on
the ribbons, and lays them on the table.
—St. Louis Republic. ' .
. .
Her father gave.
'DESERT BIRDS OF AMERICA.
,The CocOpah Mountain {Vultures Are
Larger Than the Condor.
While the international boundary
commission has resurveyed the terri-
torial lines between the United States
and Mexico and has set up a string
of granite monuments all the way from
El Paso westward to San Diego, on the
Pacific ocean, since September, 1892, it
has been the means of giving to the
scientists of the world much valuable
information.
The most fruitful results of the
scientific expedition were those among
the birds and animals. Dr. Edgar A.
Mearns, U. S. A., had charge of collect-
ing ornithological and mammal speci-
mens in the progress across the deserts
and mountains and through the Coco-
pah Indian region. The doctor and his
assistants collected nearly 2,000 speci-
mens of curious life, and they have been
busy for weeks in arranging the enor-
mous collection. The doctor has packed
his specimens in San Diego and has
gone on to the Smithsonian institution
with them, expecting to put in some
two years in classifying them and put-
ting them in shape for the information
they will impart to naturalists every-
where. .
Among other birds making their last
stand in the Cocopah mountains before
the advance of man is one of noble size
——a bird that, as a strong, powerful and
graceful flyer, is the peer of American
birds. It is the California vulture. In
size it is larger than the South Ameri-
can condor, that king of birds in the
cloud-touching Andes. Few of these
birds are left in California, and they
are not. numerous even in that part of
the Cocopah mountains traversed by
Dr. Mearns. It has been remarked that
the California vulture is a. cowardly
bird, but the members of Dr. Mearns’
party do not think so after observing
one of these vultures fight a rattlesnake.
It was in the early morning. The big
bird had seized the snake behind the
head and was struggling upward with
its writhing, deadly burden. The
snake’s captor appeared aware that its
victim was dangerous. The burden was
heavy, as the reptile was nearly five
feet long. The great pinions of the
vulture waved rapidly as it slowly as-
cended from the mountain mesa. Al-
though large in size, these vultures are
not as strong as they appear to be. Up
and up went the bird and the rattle-
snake.
The grip of the bird on the snake’s
body was not of the best. The snake
seemed to be squirming from its cap-
tor‘s talons at least sufficiently to en-
able it to strike at the great bird. The
triangular head of the snake was seen
to recoil and dart at the mass of feath-
ers. It did this once or twice, and then
with a. shriek the vulture dropped its
prey. The bird was then probably 500
feet or so above the observers. The
astonished men below were then treated
to a spectacle seldom seen anywhere.
Few birds but a vulture could accom—
plish such a feat. The instant the snake
Escaped from the bird’s clutches it
dropped earthward like a shot. And
like a shot the bird dropped after it,
catching the astonished snake in mid-
air ere ittouched the ground with a
grip that caused death. At any rate,
the snake ceased to wiggle, and the
vulture soared away to a mountain
peak to devour its hard-earned meal.
Why the snake did not bite the vulture
and cause the death of the bird can
only be explained by the fact that the
thick feathers probably protected the
biped’s flesh from incision by the rep-
tile’s fangs. I
These vultures are closely allied to
the common turkey buzzard. Their
color is a glossy black, with patches of
white under the wings. The greater
part of the neck is bare, like the turkey
buzzard,with a rufile where the feathers
begin. There is a bright orange patch
on the head. A fair-sized specimen of
the California vulture is four feet high
and weighs about 20 pounds. Years
ago, when these huge birds were com-
mon, it was a familiar sight in the val-
leys to see California vultures and buz-
zards feeding on the same carcass in
perfect harmony, while occasionally a
raven would join them. These vultures
were frequently caught alive, when
gorged, by a lariat in the hands of a
cowboy. One cause of the extermina-
tion of the vulture in California has
been through the medium of poisoned
meat, prepared by ranchers to kill pes-
tiferous animals. The breeding habits
of the vultures are practically unknown,
although it is supposed to nest in caves
or cliffs, like the turkey buzzard. Ow-
ing to the practical extinction of the
bird, its eggspre as rare and valuable
as are those of the great. auk, and will
probably become more valuable. Some
15 perfect eggs of the great auk are in
\collections, one of these eggs being
worth $1,500 or more. Only two eggs of
the California vulture are known to ex-
ist. Even the national museum at
Washington does not possess one of
these valuable specimens.
Observations of bird life at different
places along the route of the boundary
survey, which sometimes took the nat-
uralists into the mountains, were of
rare interest. At one point along the
shores of a small lake many dead birds
were seen. These birds were known as
the “eared grebe.” The bodies of the
birds found within the limits of a given
distance were counted, and the number
of dead birds about the shores of the
entire lake was estimated at 350,000. It
was thought that one of the two causes,
or both combined, must account for the
death of so many birds. Either the
water, which was saturated with salt
and soda, was in some way injurious to
them, or, remaining to search for prop-
er food, which did not exist in the
lake, they became so weak as to be un-
able to fly and died of starvation. It is
said by old guides that this tremen-
dous bird mortality occurs at this par-
ticular point regularly every year.—
, Los Angeles Cor. Philadelphiap'l‘imes.
Suggestive.
Scene on the balcony. .
Marie (in ballroom attire)—I wish
I I had a wrap to put around my neck.
Young Moonbeams—Won’t my arms
do ?—Texas' Siftings.
SOUTHERN - “CRACKERS.”
The Poor VJhites Descend from
the Early Oolonists.
Old Lines Wiped Out by the Civil War—
A Most Important Labor Ele-
ment of the Industries
of the South. 1
q..___
The notion that the poor white ele-
ment of the Southern Appalachian re-
gion is identical with the poor people
generally over the country is an error,
and an error of enough importance to
call for correction. The poor white of
the south has some kinfolk in the
Adirondack region of New York and
'the Blue and Alleghany mountains of
Pennsylvania; but he has few rela-
tives any place else about the Mason-
Dixon line. The states of New York
and Pennsylvania were slave states un-
til the early part of this century.
This poor white mountaineer de—
scends direct from those immigrants
who came over in the early days of the
colonies, from 1620 to about, or some
time after, the revolutionary war. pe-
riod, as “sold passengers.” They sold
their services for a time sufficient to
enable Ithem to work out their passage
money. . They were sold, articled to
masters, in the colonies, for their bread
and fixed wages, and thus they earned
the cost of their migration.
The laws under which they were ar-
ticled were severe, as severe as appren-
tice laws in those days. The “sold pa..-
senger”' virtually became- the slave of
the purchaser of his labor. He could
be whipped, if he did not do the task
set him, and woe to the unlucky wight
if he ran away. He was sure to be
caught and cruelly punished.
And though he was usually a? de-
scendant of the lowest grade of human-
ity on the British. islands, he still had
enough of the Anglo—Saxon spirit about
him to make him an unsatisfactory
chattel. - .
From 1620 forward—the year when
the Dutch landed the first cargo of
African slaves on ‘the continent, the
“sold passenger” was fast replaced by
negroes, who took more naturally and
amiably to the slave life.
The poor white naturally came to
cherish a bitter hatred for the blacks
that were preferred over him. He al-
ready hated his domineering whit-e
master. When he was free to go he
put as many miles as his means and
his safety. from Indian murderers per-
mitted between himself and those he
hated and hoped he might never see
again» In that early time the mountain
region was not even surveyed, let alone
owned by individual proprietors.
The English, Scottish, Irish and con-
tinental immigrants who had some
means sat down on the rich valleys,
river bot-toms and rolling savannahs,
and the poor white was made welcome
to the foot hills and mountain plateaux.
These descendants of the British vil-
lein of the feudal era. grew and multi-
plied, became almost. as distinct a peo-
ple from the lords of the lowlands as
the Scotch highlander was as related
to his lowland neighbor in the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries.
The stir of the period since the close
of our civil war has made somewhat in-
distinct the- line that separates the
mountaineer from the plainsman of the
south, especially in the foot hills and
at points where the two have inter-
mingled in. traffic, in the schoolhouse
and church, and especially where the
poor whites have been employed at
mining, iron making, etc.; but go into
the mountain far enough and you find
the type as clearcut as it was 100 years
ago, with its inimitable drawling
speech and curious dialect; its sallow
complexion, lanky frame, lazy habits,
and immorality—all as distinctly
marked as they were when hundreds-
of these people found Cherokee wives
in Georgia and Tennessee, in the early
part of the country and bleached most
of the copper out of the skin of the
Choctaw, as well as out of the Cherokee.
It is a pity that some competent an-
thropological historian has not traced
the annals of this interesting and dis-
tinctive section of our population and
made record of it in the interest of
science, no less than in the interest of
the proper education and elevation of
the mountain people. It has become es-
pecially in the Piedmont section of the
south, 3. most important labor element.
The cotton mill labor by thousands
comes from the “cracker of the hills;”
and it is destined to become 'a. great
power, that labor population, social and
political.
The redemption of the poor white be-
gan when slavery went down in blood
and destruction, and it has gone on
faster and traveled further than some
of us think—Chattanooga Times.
_ She Managed Well. .
Apropos of the facility with which
women can adapt themselves to circum-
stances, a little woman boarded a street
car with two babies in her care, one in
her arms, theother by the hand. She
also carried a satchel, a bunch of wild
flowers she had evidently gathered that
morning, her pocket book, and as there
was only one seat for the trio, she took
the other baby in her arms and held
both during the ride. But the pieceode-
resistance was her door-key, which she
held, like some faithful Bruno, between
her teeth. Nor did she relinquish it
through the entire trip, but carried it
with the air of one who had a place for
everything, and everything in its place.
--Detroit Free Press.
~~ The Vital Question.
She—Tell me, hubby dear, what is
that big aerolite everybody is talking
about?
He—It is anenormous heavenly body,
which, according to the statement of a
Spanish scientist, is shortly to explode
over the earth, and the fragments of
which are to lay Spain, Portugal,
France and Germany _-in ruins.
“What do you think I should 'wear on
the occasion?"—-Tit-Bits.
Nor AN 'INFERNAL “MACHINE.
Only a Harmless Little Ring Clicking on
Satchel Lock.
A dynamo which furnishes the elec-
tric light for one of the passenger trains
between Chicago and Omaha on the
Milwaukee road was the cause of an
interesting episode in the sleepeuthe
other night, says the Chicago Times-
Herald.
A stranger of rather mysterious
aspect got on at Elgin on a west-bound
train. He had anueer-looking satchel
5 with him, which he pushed under the
seat. When the porter came to make
up the berths he put the satchel on an
adjoining seat.
Presently he paused in the midst of
his bed-making, and, fixing both eyes
on the satchel, stared at it. His orbs
seemed to grow as he did so. Finally
he cautiously approached the owner
and said:
“Excuse me, sah, but has you got any
kind 0b clockwork in dat grip, sah?”
The stranger looked at him for a mo-
ment with evident surprise and replied
that he had not.
“Well, excuse me, sah, but dey’s
clockwork ’round dis vicinity some
where, sah, and seems to me it bettah
be looked up. I’ve beam of dem t’ings
gom’ off.” -,
By this time two or three other pas-
sengers and the conductor had come
up, and became interested in the situa—
tion. The ticking-was distinctly audi-
ble and seemed to come from the “in-
wards" of the grip. The stranger
seemed to be as much interested as
anybody, and remarked that his wife
might have put in the bedroom clock
instead of his collar box. He opened
the satchel, but investigation into all
its recesses failed to solve the mystery.
As he closed it up the ticking began
again, and everybody was more puz-
zled than ever until the conductor no-
ticed that the little ring which is at-
tached to all satchel locks to assist in
opening was swinging to and fro with
the vibrations caused by the dynamo
and so produced the regular “tick—tick”
which had alarmed the porter. Then
everybody laughed, and the porter went
on with his Work.
CAT STOPS A MONKEY FIGHT.
Simians near the Feline Spit and Lose All
Combativeness.
A battle royal between monkeys took
place one afternoon recently, says the
New York J ournal, in the window of a
downtown animal importer, to the
great delight of all who could crowd
near enough to the scene to see the
conflict. -
Six young monkeys were playing in a
cage behind a big plate-glass window.
Suddenly the monkeys took it into
their heads to scrap. They sprang at
each other in the wildest way and hair
flew at a lively rate.
There was no apparent reasOn why
the creatures should have gone at each
other, but go at each other they did. A
Donnybrook fair was notin it compared
with the way these monkeys plugged
and chewed each other. Each one
seemed to be for himself and against
all the others.
The crowd of men and boys on the
sidewalk yelled with excitement for
several minutes.
Finally a boy who is employed at a
neighboring restaurant appeared with
a big gray and black cat in his arms.
“Let me get near the window,” he
cried, “and I'll bet my cat will scare
the life out of the whole lot of them
monkeys.”
The crowd let the boy through. The
lad held his Thomas cat up to the glass,
and instantly Mr. Cat straightened out
his whiskers and commenced spitting.
That was enough.
The gang of monkey fighters heard
the spitting and quit. Their fury was
quieted in a jiffy, and they jumped to
the farthest corner of the cage with a
unanimity that was as pronounced as
their mutual aggressiveness had been.
SIX HOUSEHOLD TREATMENTS.
AN agreeable way of treating the
eyes with salt and Water is to wink
them in a cup that is brimful. The
eyes will be suffused by simply wink-
ing the lashes in the water.
GOOD laundry-women always rub
their irons in salt to make them smooth
before putting them upon fine starched
goods; and it does clean them beauti-
fully—better than wax.
DAIRY salt sprinkled over the carpet
will effectually lay the dust and will
prevent the sweeper using the carpet
too roughly, and it will make the colors
bright and last longer.
A PINCH-‘of powdered sugar and an-
other of corn starch beaten in with the
yolks of eggs will keep an omelet from
collapsing. Beat the whites stiff and
then cut them into the yolks. -
A GOOD tonic for hair is salt water.
Put a teaspoonful of salt in a half pint
of water and rub a little on the scalp
every day with a small soft cloth. The
effect at the end of a month will please
Erasmus
takes out ink, paint; ‘3. . . . ' ;
tar, pitch, grease I . .,,
apihstains cfrom ‘3po‘rlng(f
co in an car- - = ~' . ‘
pets quickly and - ELiCLEAI‘IS I' :1-
completely and ‘ i4 .I ”
Mabeavcps‘a Ring ' . I.
---No Acid.——-— 106.. 250., st Drug
D No unpleasant odor. and Drylloods Stores
N at inflammable. Samples mailed, 5c.
L. B. SUTTON, New Canaan, Ct.
L“
Ill
0d
56 YEARS ESTABLISHED.
GRAND AND UPRIGHT.
Nearly 100,000 Manufactured. .
EASY TERMS. ‘ ‘ EXCHANGED.
REASONABLE PRICES. s 5%
. FISCHER PIANO WAREROOMS.
‘ Write for Catalogue.
my,”
I .u..—‘.n.~..._._.. .
sure to result.
a " ° A Model a
Housekeeper g
M writes: “Iswant to tell you how very much pleased I:
24 we are with your ; x ‘- _ I:
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"v . . . - , A w .
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a not only for Monday’s wash, _ . . g:
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(M . kinds. In fact, we find it in- OIlSosp willbe +3
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8': MRS. M. E. Emmy, Rutland, Vt. “mum Pow- ,6
(N THE J. B. WILLIAMS (30., Glastonbury, Conn. I:
‘54 Makers of Williams' Femous Shaving soaps. _ )9
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mama
A dN-GAT-ENATION.
curries i.
Hard by our Christian temples on the
Church Gfeen, lives and flourishes the
most remarkable eat of this or any
other age, whereof history gives record.
Its pride of ancestry is shrouded in
mystery and its feline relationships and
hape _of posterity, a good deal mixed.
The cat-agraph of our puss was artisti-
cally drawn in chalk, on Dr. Higgins’
stable wall, when its infant eyes first
opened to catacaustic curves and its
feeble cst-swaul was heard in the cat-
abasion of the good doctor ’sbsrn. Being
of cat-abaptist tendency, it was trans-
planted to one of the a-mews-ing homes
not far from earnest Brother Robbins’
aquarium. Thenccforth it. inaugurated
a nightly cat-adrome about our church
green and opéfiéd up the cat-alogue of
events, which have made this out more
famous than the cycle cat-amaran now
tumbling the waters of our bay into
miniature cat-aracts.
The first cat-asterism of this now reI-
nownad cat-echistical cat, occurred last
fall in the very height of the cat-expel—
lar and flv season. The maid of all
work had spread some adhesive paper
on the kit. hen;table to easnare the un-
euspectim fly. The cal-spleen] builded
greater than she knew. The cat-erels
ofthe kitchen, had left milk as well
beside the fly-paper. The cat-a-
mouted on top the adhesive sheet, and
sat down upon caudal and rear quarters
to enjoy l: creamy feast, reckless and
regardless of the strong attachment
There" are things that
stick closer than a brother or another
fellow’s sister, and fly paper is one of
them. The harder tabby struggled to
break away from the cat-enation of the
newly made acquaintance, the more
painful it became to part. The doors to
dining and sitting rooms were open!
Tom Felis jumped for liberty and
dashed spitting through both, with tail
romantically erect and its tip braced
with the adhesive paper like a Dutch
brig with squaresail set uthwart the
mast. There was company in the par-
lor and thither our cat-kin dashed in
frenzied speed. The lady guests see-
ing the strange spparation frantically
dart under tables and chairs, jumped
up upon the latter, twisted their skirts
tight about. their boot-tops and
screamed; then stood motionless as if
seized with cat-alepsyr
One more courageous than the others,
opened the front door when puss sailed
out and across the Park with jib and
sky-sail full set, like Emperor Williams’
yacht Meteor running before the wind.
The cat’s owner vainly pursued. He
was distanced in the race. He, however;
found the fly paper intact, but with
great shreds of cat-cuticle, enough to
make cat-gut for a bull-fiddle, and
hsndsfull of fur attached, sticking to
the We pickets of a fence, between
which the out had dashed in mad haste
and. thus stripped sail from its main-
masl. But the cat, oh where was he?
Ask of the women who for around came
quickly out to see.
CHAPTER II.
The Oat-boat race, must have been
twenty miles or more, to windward, for
it was three days before puss returned'
That it won there could be no doubt,
though under racing rules thrown out
on time allowance. “It was a. wiser but
sadder feline. It plainly showed its
embarrhssment. It came back like a
locomotive, with its tender behind.
Never did cut more painfully exper-
ience the stern realities of life. He
was indeed, rarer than a day in J 11113.
It could no longer sig With head beauti-
fully erect, using its caudel spendage
asacushion. When it would sit and
put-sue its wontcd meditations, it would
fall down, first dropping upon its fore-
legs like a horse, and resting on its side
and yet Withsl, it was still a. stuck-up
est.
Thus Weary weeks went on. The
nightly Thomas orchestras were at an
end, and cold, dreary winter impelled
puss to her wanted place of congenial
warmth under the kitchen stove. Life
and Tom’s denuded fur began to grow '
smooth again. It was in the opening
spring time, when his master desired
one morning to have an early breakfast
and tried to outdo the women folks, as
silly men sometimes attempt to do. It
had been a very cold night. Tom
showeddelight as the master emptied
the stove-grate, and shoveled out the
contents of the ash-pit. When the
master went for the kindlings to start
the fire, Tom slyly crept into the open
ash reservoir and concealed himself be-I
s
nesth the iron cover forming the hearth.
ience. Anon the teakeltle began to
sing and Tom to enjoy his thaw-out
and con-cut-inations. But the firey
furnace made rapid advances on Tom’s
unprotecteilines. Of a sudden, in tlie
twinkling of an eye, upto the ceiling
went the iron ash-pit cover, on)! Tom
singed to a faded out yellow, followed
after, as if shot from a catapult
and allccme down with a dull, sick-
ening thud, Tom spitting ‘fire and
The iron lid struck and battered the
tea kettle in its descent, then ricochet-
ed, hurling the spider onto the floor,
letting'pandemonium loose in the kitch-
en. Luckily the ”outer door stood ajar.
Felis broke for the open again and sped
out in the direction of the Baptist horse
sheds. When it returned, several hours
later, its erst soft, sleek coat of fur,
was of the tinge of a. decayed squash,
its bru’sed bones Sadly uéeding cat-
agmatic aid. For weeks, the odor of
burnt hair, permeated that kitchen with
s pungency in excess of moth-balls.
CHAPTER III.
It was the down If summer: The
balmy air ms vocal with the songs of
birds and fragrant with the odors of
sweetest flowers. Tom Felis had re-
gained his wonted coat of fur, compos-
ure and even frolicksome levity. He
arched his lithe spine and with velvet
foot sought, as anon, the unwary mouse"
and Sparrow. His neat and thrifty
master betook himself to the rake and
gatheredinto a big rounded heap in
the back yard, the waste papers, and
dead grass and leaves of winter’s ac-
cumulation. Tom eyed the growing
pyramid of soft dried leaves and grass,
with contemplative interest. He
watched it for days, said nothing, but
thought much.
Next, he burrowed a hole from the
rear, and to the centre of the raked-up
refuse heap and made a sort of Oat-a-
slept here the sleep of the righteous, in
an undisturbed and luxurious repose.
In this life the most. ecstatic joys are of
shortest duration. So with Tom’s now
made paradise. After many days of
drying, scorching sunshine, the master
assayed to burn his conical heap of rub-
bish. He applied the torch all around
and on top the combustible pile. The
soft summer winds fanned the flames
and ye gods it was a brilliant and allur-
ing sight. The household came out to
witness the conflagration, and all went
merry as a marriage bell.
Suddenly there came an eruption,
an upheaval of burning embers, rivaling
Vesuvius; fire-brands filled the air,
flying in all directions; from some hid-
den quarter above the burning ingots,
was heard ear piercing wails of agon-
izing terror. Then dropped to earth
our Thomas, all in a roasting blaze of
glory. Re no sooner touched earth
then he flew for the barn, all afire.
Now it became his master’s turn to
yield to the terrors of the moment!
Puss thus aflame would burn the barn,
. Siloha scurrying for water", buckets, I
the house and home were sure to go next
gdippcrs and pails, haven’t been seen
m".-. _....
since the burning of ancient Nineveh.
Poor Tom was cornered and his roasted
body was deluged with water. Fire
and water were more than he could
bear and he collapsed from pain and
sheer exhaustion.
of the cat-aleptic household, poured out
their salad oils over Tom’s parchment
with lavish abandon; bottles of hair oils
and vsseliue, were brought and used on
the nearly defunct cat with equal prod-
ignlity. ' .
lie was dosed cat-oesthsrticslly, With
cat-nip, cut-mint, est-sup, cst-hsrtins,
cal-kins, cat-fish cat’s-tail, cat’s-feet,
cat’s-head, and all the caItil-slogue of
cat-aran’s or cal-sos’ inventions; But
mirabulz’ dictu, he is saved, as a brand
from the burning.
“Tom’s history and exploits are no
more extraordinary and variegated
than is the new cost of fur coming out
in spotted profusion on his cremated
body. These patches on back and
sides, are of the crazy quilt order, and
it is believed that too Fourth of July
pyrotecnic artist, he would prove a.
mascott, as an exploding flower pot or
corruscating battery. But enough that
he still lives, and here’s to you, Tom
Fells. may you live long and prosper
and finis, requiescat, in pace. '
Mrs. Nora Mokeley of.Harbor ave-
nue, was taken to the ssnitsrium at
Westport, this morning. I _
Dr. Walter Hitchcock and LeGrand
Raymond attended the Yale-Princeton
ball game at New Haven, yesterday.
It was a new and comforting expef- -
yeowing loud enough to split his throat! -
comb, as it were. Days and nights, Tom ,
Kind hearted ladies-
Norwalk Chronicler