114 AUTOB IOGRA P H Y 



when you entered the Lean-to you might stand 

 erect but as you advanced you had to " jouk." 



I do not know how successful the Colonel was 

 with cattle on Hog Prairie, but we had auricular 

 demonstration of the success of cat multiplication. 

 After seven of us had snuggled down in that 

 sunken Lean-to the cats would begin to land on 

 the floor by twos and threes with feline instinct 

 they came through the paneless window to find a 

 soft warm place on our beds. If they became too 

 obstreperous someone would declare war and then 

 there was a regular blue streak of cats, as the boys 

 would say. 



There comes back to me an appropriate verse 

 from a parody on the " Ode to Music " which I 

 learned in my boyhood and often declaimed from 

 the stage: 



" Then came a boy loud whooping to the gale, 

 And on his truant shoulders bore a pole; 

 Two furious cats, suspended by the tail, 

 Were swinging cheek by jowl. 

 O dulcet cats, what was your delighted measure 

 With claws deep buried in each other's face? 

 How did ye hiss and spit your venom round 

 With murderous yells of more than earthly sound. 

 O dulcet cats! Could one more pair like you 

 The concert join and pour the strain anew, 

 Not man could bear nor demons ear sustain 

 The fiendish caterwaul of rage and pain." 



