Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1893 — A Brilliant Thought. [ARTICLE]

A Brilliant Thought.

There may be more ways than one to kill a cat, but I learned of a novel way to protect that animal from the mischievous youngster the other day. It happened that I was stopping at a summer boarding house up in the Catskills for a few days where an old maid boarder had located herself and her three cats for the season. The children in the house, from the youngest to the oldest, had led the three cats such a dance that the felines were justified in wishing during their waking moments that they were dead. It had kept the old lady on the jump to keep her cats out of the children’s hands during the day and to protect them at night they had to be locked up in her room. Thus stood affairs until a few-weeks ago the old lady happened to think of a scheme whereby her own and her pets’ „ troubles would be epdeyl. She organized a juvenile..society, ipr the prevention of cruelty to animate. It was a thought that entered her head at 1 o’clock in the morning as she lay awake trying to devise a method to relieve the cats of trouble. The next morning every child in the boarding house was corailed in the old lady’s room, and she instilled into the young hearts love for everything that walked, flew or crawled, including babies. n The little comprehending the'sport they were sacrificing, or the deep motive of the old lady, all ! took! a pledge to live up to her teachings, and not only this but to get every new boarder’s children to join the society, too. For fear the novelty would wear off and the children would forget their pledge, the old lady sent to the city and obtained little badges for the children to wear. The result is that all the children in the house strut about like minature policeman; the cats are recovering their composure, besides patches of new fur, and the old lady can do her knitting without fear of being disturbed to rescue her pets from all but sudden death.—New York Herald.