Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

 

[From the Detroit Free Press.]

     Mrs. A. Rice, who keeps a boardinghouse on Randolph street, near Hotel Erichsen, has a cat which through her marvelous intelligence and instinctive prognostications has became a valuable acquisition to the household as well as the pet of all the boarders. At different times within a year, through forewarnings of an unmistakable nature, has tabby protected the house against the intrusions of sneak thieves, once saving the premises from threatened inundation caused by the sudden bursting of a water pipe at night. At another time rescuing the inmates from being smothered by escaping gas, a verdant lodger having blown out the flame instead of turning it off. Recently she capped the climax and proved herself a paragon of usefulness. It appears that one of the boarders, who had been engaged in reading in the parlor, instead of turning down the sidelight before retiring, as is customary, left it burning unnoticed, in close proximity to the door [the fixture being a movable one.] The heat coming in contact with the varnish so ignited the woodwork and started a blaze, which but for the cat’s sagacity would soon have called out the fire department. The crackling of the flames must have aroused the intelligent creature, for she rushed up stairs and mewed in the front of the door leading to Mrs. Rice’s bedroom. This demonstration not having the desired effect, the animal scratched at the paneling of the door quite forcibly, and evinced so much restlessness that Mrs. Rice, knowing that something must be wrong, arose to ascertain the cause of the disturbance. On opening the door she found the corrider full of smoke. To wake the inmates was but the work of a moment. This accomplished, she rushed down stairs, and with the assistance of the lodgers the flames, which had by this time gained considerable headway, were extinguished, fortunately before much damage had been done. After order had been restored her ladyship, the cat, jumped about in apparent high glee at what she had accomplished, appearing to thoroughly realize the importance of her situation. Mrs. Rice avers that her cat is not for sale.