Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1896 — A Sham Battle. [ARTICLE]

A Sham Battle.

In the show window of a Greenwich street saloon called the Defender, a very Interesting performance takes place every day. The performers are a big black cat and a fat white rat. The performance consists of a series of graceful gambols, in which the cat pats the rat with its soft paw, chases It about the window, catches it gently In its mouth, and otherwise disports Itself. The rat, being unable to defend itself, is obliged to submit, though with a very bad grace. It is plain that it suffers more from terror than from physical pain, for the cat works with sheathed claws and Is very gentle. At times, when tormented to the very limit of desperation, the rate does the only thing that a defenseless creature can do under the circumstances. It turns sullenly at bay, sits up on Its hind legs and makes a show of fighting. There are some who say they have seen the rat chase the cat around the window, but this Is not very likely, unless, indeed, the cat permitted it in a, spirit of fun. It is said that a cat will never harm a white (or albino) rat, and will never go further than to play with It. Two different cats have been placed In the window on Greenwich street, and neither of them has done the rat any Injury.— -New York World.