Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1895 — FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS. [ARTICLE]

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.

A CAT THAT WHISTLES.

Little Frank Lawrence is a Brooklyn boy, and next to his toys he loves most his pet Maltese cat Ajax. Brooklyn swarms with cats, but Ajax is unique among felines, for he possesses a marvelous gift. In a word,* Ajax is a whistler. Now’, you must admit that a cat who can whistle is no ordinary tabby, and so there is reason in little Frank Lawrence’s affection for his puss.

Just how Ajax produces the strange whistling noise which has won him so much fame in the neighborhood of the Lawrence household even Mr. Jenks, the taxidermist, who lives next door, cannot explain. Just the same Ajax whistles, and whistles not very loud to be sure, but a clear whistle, none the less. Of course, the remarkable cat has not yet learned to trill a popular melody or even a consecutive bar of music, but little Frink says that some day he hopes to put Ajax on the stage with a complete repertory of music suitable for the pointed lips of a cat.

THE IBEX. The ibex, or steinbok, is an Alpine animal remarkable for the development of its horns, which are sometimes more than three feet in length, and of such extraordinary dimensions that they appear to a casual observer to be peculiarly unsuited for a quadruped w’hich traverses the craggy regions of Alpine precipices. Some writers Jsay that these enormous horns are employed by their owner as “buffers,” by which the force of a fall may be broken; and that the animal, when leaping from a great height, will alight on its horns, and by their elastic strength be guarded from the severity of a shock that would instantly kill any animal not so defended. This statement, however, is but little credited. To hunt the ibex successfully is as hard a matte'r as hunting the chamois, for the ibex is to the full as wary and active an animal, and is sometimes apt to turn the tables on its pursuer and assume the offensive. Should the hunter approach too near the ibex, the animal will, as if suddenly urged by the reckless courage of despair, dash boldly forward at its foe, and strike him from the precipitous rock over which he is forced to pass. The difficulty of the chase is further increased by the fact that the ibex is an animal of remarkable powers of endurance, and is capable of abstaining- from food or water for a considerable time. They live in little bands of five or ten in number, each troop being under command of an old male, and preserving admirable order among themselves. Their sentinel is ever on the watch, and at the slightest suspicious sound, scent, or object, the warning whistle is blown, and the whole troop make instantly for the highest attainable point.

FISHERMEM OF LABRADOR. A Labrador fishing stage usually consists of a long, low frame house, and little one room huts, or “tilts,” as they are called. The house is used as a store and dwelling for the agent of the Newfoundland merchant who has fitted up the stage. All the fishermen who occupy the tilts work for the merchant, and are paid for their fish in provisions from the store. The tilts are like those seen in the Newfoundland fishing and mining outposts (every settlement in Newfoundlanttexcept St. John’s is an outpost). The sides are logs set upright and supporting sod covered roofs—wretched abodes at the best. Along the Straits of Belle Isle the Labrador coast is fringed with a strip of coarse grass land, and here you may see an occasional small vegetable garden surrounded by a fish net for a fence. At Blanc Sablon I saw a desolate little burying ground amid the swaying rushes. Near by lay a couple of worn out boats, bottom up, and nets spread over the ground to dry. Here, too, I saw for the first time the dapper little Labrador gasher— a small fishing craft not much larger than a dory, but with sharp prow and stern, and two masts fitted with reddish brown sails. These are telling bits of color when the gashers skim over the deep blue water, with the foam streaking along their quarters and glittering in their wake. Altogether it was a varied scene; the headland, from a staff on which there fluttered the flag of the merchant who owned the “outfit” ; the gashers dashing in and out among the punts and jacks (stoutly built two stickers larger than the gashers); a fishing schooner with furled sails, but with toil-stained nets streaming from her spars in an endless variety of lights and shadows, according as the meshes twisted or bulged in the breeze; and in the distance the exquisite green and white spires of an iceberg. A note of toil drones through it all, however; for women are sawing fad chopping wood while the men are hauling tlxe nets. A curious implement of fishing in these waters is a spy-glass with plain window-glass in place of a len. A man in the bow of a fishing boat thrusts the glass in the water, and peering through it discovers whether there are- fish enough on the bottom to make it worth while to anchor, for anchoring in deep water is a toilsome matter. Short jacket suits in duck or cotton cheviot will be worn this summer. Very effective capes are made of a bright colored clothj with an applique of black cloth upon it traced with jet beads.