-

THE YOUTHS CABINET.

just balancing himself for a spring,
when he perceived, to his astonishment,
that now he was faced by a formidable
adversary, not the least disposed to fly.
He crouched, lashing his flanks with his
long tail, while the bear, about five yards
from him, remained like a statue, look-
ing at the panther with her fierce glaring
eyes. |

One minute they remained thus; the
panther, his sides heaving with exertion,
agitated, and apparently undecided ; the
bear perfectly calmy and motionless.
Gradually the panther crawled back-
ward, till at a right distance for a spring,
when, throwing all his weight upon his
hind parts, to increase’its power, he darted
upon the bear like lightning, and fixed
his claws into her back. The bear, with

irresistible force, seized the panther with |

her two fore-paws, pressing it with the
weight of her body, and rolled over it.
I heard a heavy grunt, a plaintive howl,
a crashing of bones, and the panther was
dead. The cub of the bear came to as-
certain what was going on, and after a
few minutes’ examination of the victim,
it strutted down the slope of the hill,
followed by the mother, who was ap-
parently unhurt.—Pitisburgh National
Reformer.

 

The Cat a Fisherman.

*
§ my readers very well know, I

| am of the opinion that cats have

()\ been greatly slandered, and that

~ there is in the race to which they
belong, a greater amount of intelligence,
to say nothing about the kind, confiding,

  

179

amiable, loving disposition we so often
find in them, than they generally have
credit for. A little boy has just sent me
a story of a cat in his father’s family,
which affords additional evidence that I
am right in my estimate of the cat
tribe. |

“At the end of the garden where I
live,” says this boy, in his letter, “there
was a stream of water. One day my
brother-in-law went to the stream to
clean some vegetables, and this cat fol-
lowed along. In the water stood a
wash-tub with a board across the top
of it. The cat got upon this tub, and
sat there, as he was éngaged with the
vegetables. He cut off some pieces,
and threw into the water beside the tub.
The fish would come up to catch the
pieces. When the fish rose to the top
of the water, the cat would strike her
paw at them, till she caught one. In
order to see her work, my brother-in-
law threw in more pieces, till the cat
could catch them very well. He thought
no more about the matter till some time
afterward. One evening he was writ-
ing, when he heard something bouncing
on the floor. He looked to see what it
was, and behold, there the cat lay watch-
ing a trout that she had just brought
in. The fish was about eight inches
long. Afterward, he said that he had
seen from two to four fish called suckers,
lying on the kitchen floor in the morn-
ing, that had been caught by this cat.”

It is pretty clear to my mind, that
a cat must have a good deal of skill
in the art of fishing, to be able to catch,
trout. That species of fish is generally
wide awake, and I have found that it is
generally necessary to be wide awake
myself, in catching them. ’