Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1882 — Crazy on Cats. [ARTICLE]

Crazy on Cats.

PhilaUelpb La Press. } : Cats recently,!! not in mfet ages,have been accepted as the syujbplic representatives of maidenhood pfwsed to the sere and yellow leaf ■ of unmarried de'* cadence- In fact, caricaturists have provided aged spinsters with" '®' common coat-of-arms consisting of cats rampaut and couchant, and in various other attitudes of heraldic significance, quartered upon shields of azure, gules, etc. Miss Esther M. Myers, who died two days ago at the ripe age of 78,seems to have been the only recorded instance of acceptance as a fact of what had come to be the emblem of pointed satire. It is nearly a year since her friends charged with her welfare,found her in an almost starving condition, surrounded by Angora, pi&ltese, and less pure-blooded tabbies ; aud totals, who starved rather than make a meal off their benefactress,who bad cultivated a small family of them numbering fifty of all ages. This squalor was due to no lack,of support but rather to a diseased condition of mind whlph preferred the companionship of pets to association of those with whom her early and midale as well aa declining years had been spent , , , Quite sixty years ago,a most attractive young woman was a pupil at the most fashionable school or this' city of that day,kept by Mme. Jordan. There are not many to-day living who recal the tall, slender 'blonde Whose attire was the envy of ffiany blessed with, a plentiful wardrobe and in. accent of a a island cotton, which not a few .thought it tony to Imitate. With bills promptly settled, and teachers treated with consideriitlMi, feHow-pupils regretted the lot that consigned ;them to plain clothes and stringent discipline. The favored h&ldenj was she whose 1 death is herein recorded. In her later year* m little bouse iu the outskirts of '

the city was all too large for the aged lady, who manifested a great interest in the propagation of chickens and ducks as well as cats. The former furnished food in eggs and meat for herself aod favorites. This eccentricity was not discouraged; in fact, the the kind and charitable peqple£wbo were interesting themselves rather encouraged it as a harmless and not expensive way of solacing the retirement of their ward. Letters were written to addresses given by the recluse an those: 1 ; of her relations, but no replies having been received tbeir existence began to be doubted. As the figments of a dis- ' ordered brain. It is related that she was never happier than when she watched a favorite tabby, feloniously appropriating the meal 4. which she ought to have eaten herself. JThey grew so bold that they would even paw it out of the stew pans in which it was cooking, while she looked on - in ecs—tacies of merriment at the cleverness of her pets in running over a hot stove.