Animals have had their full share indeed, of human misadventure at
sea, and have added many a tragic element to the always tragic tale of
wreck. A few years ago, for instance, the Black-eyed Susan was lost at
Scarborough. The wreck was several hours in going to pieces, during
which time they rescued the crew in the life cradle. One man was six
hours in the rigging before he could be got off. And (a friend tells me
this, who heard it from an eye-witness of the scene) the first thing he
did upon reaching the shore was to draw from his bosom a little kitten
which had been his especial pet. The man wept like a child when he
found that his little friend had perished in spite of all his care. A
woman from the same ship brought off a dog successfully.
Turning to “scientific” patrons of cats, we find that Sir Isaac
Newton--if history tells no fibs--not only had Diamond, the little dog
who upset a lighted candle among his manuscripts, but also a cat, and
at least one kitten. So much is certain, for to give them means of exit
and ingress, he cut two holes in his barn door--a big hole for the
cat, a little hole for the kitten! One really hopes this story may be
true--it is so delightfully unsophisticated for a philosopher.
Another man of science, Sir David Brewster, began life with a great
dislike of cats. In later years there were so many mice in his house,
that after her promise never to let Pussy appear in the study, he
permitted his daughter to give the trap a feline assistant. Pussy,
however, was no party to this contract, and, knowing what utter
nonsense it was, took matters into her own claws.
Writes this daughter, Mrs. Gordon:
“I was sitting with my father one day and the study door was ajar.
To my dismay, Pussy pushed it open, walked in, and with a most
assured air put a paw on one shoulder, and a paw on the other, and
then composedly kissed him. Utterly thunderstruck at the creature’s
audacity, my father ended by being so delighted that he quite forgot
to have an electric shock. He took Pussy into his closest affections,
feeding and tending her as if she were a child.”
When after some years she died, both master and mistress grieved
sincerely, and never had another pet.
And finally, grave Princeton College has had a pet, which was also a
phenomenon, in the shape of a two-legged cat--biped from birth--but
a most cheerful, healthy, engaging little creature, dark maltese in
color, with a white star on her breast. Her fashion of walking was
queer, but lively, as the sketch by Dr. F. C. Hill of Princeton will
show.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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