Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1875 — Our Young Folks. [ARTICLE]

Our Young Folks.

The Charcoal Boy’s Cat. There was once a boy who lived in the heart of a deep forest, and burned charcoal for a living. It was a wild and gloomy place, 7 The boy worked with a great many men. They cut solid timber out of the forest, and, after digging a place in the ground, set the logs on end in the shape of an Indian wigwam; they then covered the heap thickly, so that fire would smolder in it, and set in on fire; after several days of slow burning the logs were changed into solid black charcoal ; and charcoal, you know, is sold in the markets and streets. There were long rows of these heaps where this boy worly-d. The men watched them all day while preparing new heaps, and took turns guarding' the fire in them at night. Such workers are called char-coal-burners. Many a lime had the charcoal boy lain stretched on the grass, with his hands and a bunch of pine boughs under his head, listening to the chat of his companions, or to the sighing noise ot the great woods around him. Frequently vivid pink lights would flash but of the heaps, and then they had to be covered more closely. The charcoal boy had nobody to live in his cabin with him but a cat, for his home and his brothers and sisters were far down the valley. He was much like Mother Goose’s little dairyman, who lived by himself until the rats and mice led him such a life that he had to go to London to seek him a wife! However, the charcoal boy had a cat, as I said. When the cat first came to keep his house for him she was a forlorn and wretched creature. Somebody had evidently carried her away from civilization and turned her loose in the woods. She was a mere kitten, but so thin and shaggy and wild-eyed when she appeared and rubbed herself mewing against the charcoal boy's legs as he sat in the door eating hissupper that she looked aged and decrepit. The boy might not have taken to her kindjy; but he was all alone in his cabin, and even the voice of a cat sounded pleasantly. So he gave her part of his supper and let her lie purring round his feet all night. Before long she grew sleek and spirited." She combed her coat carefully, and settled into a very domestic cat. As she sat in the door to welcome her master when he came home from his work, or as she moved gracefully about bis hut, she was as comfortable a puss as one would wish to_see. The charcoal boy, to amuse himself in bis idle hours, taught her tricks, which , she performed with such spirit that he grew really fond of hep 'His door had a wooden latch, which was lifted by a string. He connected this string ingeniously with his table, so that puss could at any time pounce upon the table, and with one sweep of her paw open or shut the door. He also hung a small trapeze from one of the rafters, and taught the cat to whirl herself over and over on it. This was great fun for the boy, and in time he trained the cat so perfectly and communicated with her so well by means of “ me-ows” that she went through her performance in a reguler routine at any time that he signaled to her. Often, when the pine sticks ..were dying down to ashes on. the hearth, and he stretched himself to sleep upon his hard bed, he put the cat through all her tricks and laughed at her till his eyes grew too sleepy to •watch her. But he did not know that he was training her to save him from danger. One night when the charcoal boy lay down in his hut he could scarcely sleep; for all the money which he had been several months earning w r as laid away in smooth bills under his head. Next day he meant to go down to the valley and carry it to his home. His mind was full of what he should see and hear at home. He lay awake, with his hands under his head, until the late owls hooted in the woods. Puss was curled around his feet. By and by he heard steps outside his cabin, and two shadows passed between his little window and the moonlight. In an instant he remembered that a couple of idle, viciouslooking men had been lingering for several days around the charcoal camp, and he felt sure that they were now coming into his cabin to rob him. He was no coward, so he resolved to give them a singular reception. Slipping off his bed and squeezing himself under it he uttered a long “ me-ow!” which puss understood. In an instant she answered with another cat-note, and, leaping upon the table, opened the door. The two men were just ready to force it open, but they started back at finding it thrown open by invisible hands. However, the bolder of the two stepped in and the other followed. “Me-ow!” continued the charcoal boy. “Me-ow!” answered puss, springing to her trapeze. “ There’s nothing but cats in here!” ■whispered one man. “ I hear ’em jump!” “ Strike a light, will you?" said the other. “ I can’t see anything!” So they struck a light, and, peering all around cautiously, saw a hut uninhabited by any creature save a cat, whirling madly on a trapeze over their heads! A wicked, ignorant man is easily terrified by an unnatural sight; the two thieves quaked. “ Ptz!” signaled the charcoal boy. “ The witches are in this house!” whispered the men. » “Me-ow!” replied the cat, promptly obeying her master’s signal and leaping back to the table to shut the door. If the two men felt misgivings when the door opened to them of itself they ,were completely frightened when it swung slowly to without hands to move it! The cat arched her back and hissed at them; but, before she could utter the prolonged ho w 1 which expressed her di si ike, they both ran and clutched the door-latch ana flew away from the cabin as if the rags of their shoes were little wings! As for puss, she stood still on the table, waving her tail to and fro like a .victorious banner, while her master laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks! — Metropolitan.