Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1879 — The Cat and the Bees. [ARTICLE]

The Cat and the Bees.

Charles Kaiser, who has the only hive of bees in town, says that when he first got his colony, his old cat’s curiosity was much excited in regard to the doings of the little insects, the like of which she had never before seen. At first she watched their comings and goings at a distance. She. then flattened herself upon the ground and crept along toward the hive, with tail hoii zontal and quivering. It was clearly evident that she thought the bees some new kind of game. Finally she took up a position at the entrance of the hive, and when a bee came in or started out made a dab at it with her paws. This went on for a time without attracting the attention of the inhabitants of the hive. Presently, however, old Tabby struck and crushed a bee on the edge of the opening to the hive. The smell of the crushed bee alarmed and enraged the whole colony. Bees by the score poured forth and darted into the fur of the astonished cat. Tabby rolled herself in the grass, spitting, spluttering, biting, clawing and squalling as a cat never squalled before. She appeared a mere ball of furs and bees as she rolled and tumbled about. She was at length hauled away from the hive with a garden rake, at the cost of several stings to her rescuer. Even after she had been taken to a distant part of the grounds the bees stuck to Tabby’s fur, and about once in two minutes she would utter an u - earthly “yowT” and bounce a full yard into the air. On coming, down she would try to scratch her ear, when a sting on the back would cause her to turn a succession of somersaults and give vent to a running fire of squalls. Like the parrot that was left alone with the monkey, old Tabby had a dreadful time. Two or three days after the adventure Tabby w’as caught by the owner, who took her by the neck and threw her down near the beehive. No sooner did she strike the ground than she gave a dreadful squall, and at a single bound reached the top of the’ fence full six feet in height. There she clung for a moment, with a tail as big as a rolling-pin, when, with another bound and squall, she was out of sight, and did not again put in an appearance for over a week.— Virginia City (Nev.) Enterprise.