DEAR POSTMISTRESS,--Will you admit an old lady into your pleasant
circle? I wish to say a word or two about the poor cat Augusta C.
dislikes so much. Probably one reason why most people like dogs
better than cats is that dogs like people best, and cats like
places best. A dog will follow his owner to new places, but usually
a cat will stay at the old place, even if she is the only thing
left, unless she is blinded and carried away by force, and then she
will be frightened and confused for several days, though all her
old friends may be with her. But a dog only wants his old friends
with him, and he will stay almost anywhere. Cats are very
interesting, though they are not quite so loving. I have a cat
which a few years ago swallowed something which "stuck in her
throat," and the poor creature was badly troubled by it for a long
time. She could not lap either milk or water, and I was afraid she
would die. I tried to feed her with a spoon, as I have often fed
lambs, but did not succeed very well; her teeth were too sharp. As
I sat watching poor Katherine's efforts one day to drink a saucer
of warm milk which I had given her, I thought of trying to feed her
with a bottle. I put the milk into one which would hold a small
tea-cupful, and took her in my lap to feed her. Well, she and I
"made a mess" of it the first time. But after one or two trials
more, I succeeded in teaching her to drink from the bottle without
spilling the milk. Every time I thought she ought to be fed--which
was morning and night--I would get the bottle ready, and say,
"Katherine, do you want your milk?" If she was in a sound sleep,
she would spring up and mew in reply, and stand up on her hind-legs
like a rabbit. Then I would stoop down to her and hold out my left
hand, and she would lean her "elbows" on it, and put her paws on
the "shoulders" of the bottle, I holding it in my right hand, and
tipping it as she drank the milk, until she had taken the whole.
She would frequently mew for more, and follow me around until I
would give her another drink, when she would lick her chops, wash
her face, and lie down for a nap.
When drinking she would sit on her haunches, straight up, and put
her little paws around the bottle in the most comical way
imaginable. One could not keep from laughing to see her. If I
attempted to take it away before she was done, she would run her
nails out and hold on with quite a grip. I fed her in this way for
more than six weeks; and it was such a funny sight that the
neighbors would come in and ask me to feed her, and friends from
quite a distance would ask after my cat, and beg to see her eat. I
fed her longer than was necessary on this account, for she
recovered from the trouble after a while, and is as well now as
ever she was, only she is getting old. I sometimes tempt her with
the bottle now, just to see if she remembers her old
accomplishment. But Katherine is a very wise cat. She would use the
bottle when it was "prescribed" for her. When it was no longer
necessary, she seemed to prefer the natural way of drinking.