Then there was "Columbia" and her two kittens, "Yale" and "Harvard." The
readers of the ROUND TABLE never saw their older brothers wear their
college colors more bravely than these wee little kittens. Their
fawn-colored mother would get them quieted down after some merry romp,
and then they would suddenly begin another friendly fight, and roll over
and over again, till it was impossible to tell whether the blue or the
red was victorious. Near by was a "happy family" of short-haired spotted
cats from Elizabeth, New Jersey, consisting of a great-grandmother,
grandmother, mother, and seven kittens. And how proud gentle
great-grandmamma was when her granddaughter captured the second prize in
her class.
Perhaps our President would feel pleased were he to know how much
attention his namesake "Grover Cleveland" had at the show. He is a rich,
brown tabby, with wide black stripes, and was given a blue ribbon, the
mark of the first prize. He took it all very calmly, as much as to say,
"You couldn't do anything less for one with such a name as mine."
But even "Grover Cleveland" was not so aristocratic-looking as "Grover
B.," from Philadelphia. His short-haired coat was as white as the stone
door-steps of the houses in his native town, and--think of it--his
mistress values him at $1000! So well brought up is he that he sits at
the table with his master and mistress in a high chair and feeds himself
with his paw. His master says that he eats more quietly and gracefully
than their little nephew of five years, who, when he spills his bread
and milk, is told he can profit by "Grover's" example. So fond of him is
his master that his head appears on all his business paper and
envelopes, so that "Grover B." is known all over the world, and, through
his pictures on his master's envelopes, has travelled more extensively
than almost any other cat.
An even more wonderful short-haired cat was "Mittens," who has actually
been trained to love and live with birds. "Mittens" is a great deal of a
swell. His grandfather was a pure-blooded Maltese, and his
great-grandmamma was a very haughty Angora. All the traditions in his
family prompted him to consider birds as his natural prey and dogs as
his enemies. When he came to his present mistress, Mrs. M. L. Ponchez,
the latter had two Yorkshire terriers, a parrot, eight canaries, a
red-bird, and several chameleons, and of course she thought it would be
pretty difficult for "Mittens" to live in peace with all these other
pets. She thought she would try to teach him to be friendly to the birds
and dogs, and this is what she did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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