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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1905)
A : ' WmlimMiM ,m tm .... i CIS v" x - 6 leg. i I T-jx A C ( vX 1 : -X -1 Wis.--; -.'i;" billed ffie eaaea life fiOTelfaxiA -Sep c And how Uncle DicR liit upon a possible solirtioiv of tKe proHem v J dinner at 2i!VstdLcllaee' i n' if . n V.' 'i ! f LL Pulborousrh. nl frvr t.hnt muttfov half of the people In the country houses In West Sussex, In England, are aroused over the cat contest between Edward Niles Har comb and his beautiful young wife, who was Mhn Irene Elllng of Pet worth. Cat came near driving these two young leaders of Sussex and Kent u divorce court. Cats ruined their honeymoon and cata came near wrecking their life happlnsss. But so far they have triumphed over the cats and they live together with the animals In their beautiful country estate on the River Arun. just above Pulborough. Miss Irene was and Is cjtt lvr pn i Dd Edward bates cats worse than he hates anything ex. cept an enemy of England. And. to complhcate matters. n knew nothing of her love of cats until after they were married and -ettled down to be happy forever afterward. Then-ln the full of theh- honeymoon one of Irene', beautl- ""'ana ruDDea 1U sllke-n fur against the l. Z. x . . 16 none'moon went Into eclipse. Edward kicked-kloked with the determined kick of a millionaire younger on-and came near kicking his life happiness to f Pieces. Irtfle wept and the whole, awful, terrible, fearful y secret came out. She confessed that she owned-nd loved . forty-two different cats; perhaps more-becauae-well any. way, Nelll Belli was-well-anyhow. pefhapa there' were nve or six more because Loved Her but Hated Cats More. Most young husbands would have, at that stage cf the tame, forgiven and told her to keep the cats In the other wing; of the family castle, but not so Edward. Sume husbands would have taken a club and settled the ca question-but not so In this case. Edward loved his bride m It was not that he loved her less, but halted cats more Not only lhated them, but feared and dreaded them He had screamed and gone Into spasms at the sight of a cat whn a child and grown up with an awful loathing and terror of anything feline and wthem he heard that his wife had not only caused her forty-two darlings to be Jhlpped over from Petworth to he new home, but was vk-e president of tfhe Southeastern Counties Cat club ex- " fl? Pal8Ce ihow pr,te whlner with her white chinchilla kittens at the MHhinda county show, and - honorable member of the National Cat club. Edward'a honeymoon was eclipsed. That was two years ago. the day after the bride and groom returned from their honeymoon tour through the Italian Alps They had met the winter before at a house "xT "lrneref von by I,ady Clarence Eustace nd had fallen In love at first eight, almost, while riding to hound, over the tovely rolling country. And neither HZ - V lthouh 't was the Lady Clarence". Uti. tl XmUal Wl" FAlln' ,nd consequent tnvi tattoo to the house party. Cats Forgotten During Honeymoon, The courtnhlp was brief and beautiful. Harcomb went ?etorth, and, for the time toeing Miss Elllng forgot rhe scores of cats In their soecl&llv and even forsook them and let servants feed them. Bo tt happened that durlnc all tihelr courtsbjp and their honey moon one suojeci or cats was not mentioned. Once, In Italy, they came near quarreling because Edward kicked at a cat, but he apologized and attributed has bride s tears tn her tenderness of heart rather than to her love of cats. Then came the astounding discovery made within a fer minute after the cats, carefully boxed, arrived at Wateraweet, the Harcomb country place. Harcomb was too considerate of his wife to use club. But his life be came a burden to him. Every time he touched a fur rug with his feet he leaped high in the air and even.whem be embraced bis wife with her furs on the catty feeling sent cold chills down his spine. It grew so bad that they quarreled-actually quarreled. Mra. Harcomb steadfastly refused to gilve up he cats and Harcomb declared he would not stay In the house with them. Mrs. Harcomb threatened to take her cats and go batk to her mother and Harcomb told heV to take them to but there he stopped. He was anxious to lose the cats-but not his wife. He urged upon her the neces sity of yleldlng-whicn made her the more determined not to yield. J Uncle Dick's Novel Solution of Problem. The situation became so tense that relatlvea came in and tried to arrange mattera. Finally Mrs. Harcomb'. hele Dick came down for the week end with them, and having neard all about the catastrophe, as the neighbors called the quarrel, he set about righting the trouble. " Irene should give up the cat," he said. "I won't." responded Irene. "And Edward should let her keep a few cat " con tinued Uncle nick. ' " Not a b famed on I haven't dared sleep for a month," aid Edward, " for fear one of those Infernal brutes wouM claw any eyes." "He's s brute to call tnyt' darling, brulea," sobbed Irene. ."There. Jihere," .aMJUncleiPlcfc, Why.don't you in between man and wife. Both played fair, but te rules of the game changed at times. t At the end of six months the excitement over th oon. test was great and the men. betting probably on their sympathies, were wagering 3 to 1 that Edward got rid of the cats-for the agreement ws that If he were good enough to cause Irene to give away all her cait she would get no more. And he agreed that If his misdeeds raised the number to 100 he would live among cats all the ret of ihls life. The number was down to twenty-one at the end of six months and Edward's man friends were making him presents of things they thought would pleaae Irene so that he might win. Then came the blow. After all his goodness Edward flirted with Mrs. Henry Twombley the errant flirt and noted beauty, at the Sussex hunt ball SJd Irene, perceiving this, went the next day to London attended a cat show, purchased twenty dark smokes nnd had them sent home without even asking Edward to pay his forfeit, and the following day Mlml, the magnificent specimen of the Fells Oeoffrozl. was blessed with 'six lit tle Oeoffrozis and Edward was driven to the bad. X . ,!'' - n Edward's bad spell lasted until nearly the first annl-' Versary of their wedding, and Mrs. Harcomb then owned seventy-four cats a net gain of thirty-two and a huge gain in quality, according to her. The brown short hair, were the envy of the cat lovers of aJl south England and she showed them with success at the Portsmouth show. On the anniversary Edward's gift pleased Irene so much that she gave away five cats, including Blue Bells the beautiful tortoise shell, and Amorata, the maltese winner. Encouraged again Edward began pleasing his wife more than ever and the supply of cats and kittens rapidly low ered. A distemper aided him by carrying off nine cats in a week, and he had high hopes of triumph when the number on hand reached eighteen. Then Mrs. Harcomb became harder and harder to please as she saw the alme approaching when she must sacrifice even Doody Doody, the Angora. Tears came Into ,her eyes every time she gave up a cat until Eilward felt cruel. Despite his familiarity with cats and frequent con tact with them he did not overcome his dread of 'them, which grew rather than decreased. He locked himself into his rooms whin he read or wrote or slept He worked hard to please his wife, and a month In town during the brutiKiH ihe oat supply for Eeny Meeny season, witn a ilmiDled "allowance, aown to seven the lowest it ever got, auuea nve to the number and then some mistakes and ",um":" "r"i 'i up 10 nineteen wfaerc It now Is. i Bet Edward's friends, who have bet heavily on the out-' eome of the contest, have hints that It will never be finished, and that within a couple of months Mra. Har comb will give away all her cats and never look at one again because, well-because who would play with a oat when . WeJ1- anyhow, they've agreed that If If. a boy It hall be called Richard-after Uncle Dlok. ttts . ' H-a (BhineKiTIa that Won at 'TortsmoiitL folks make a business arrangement of ft Instead of quar reling about it? Irene ought to agree to give up a oat or two every time that Edward pleases her. and every time Irene plea at a Edward he should permit her to get a new cat That'll put you both on your good behavior and put an end to your quarreling." "He can't ever please me again." sobbed Irene. "He kicked at Tit Willow and he threw Mln out the dining room window Into the rose bush." "I couldn't stand It. Ill poison the whole Jot of them." said Edward. But finally Vncle Dick prevailed and the plan -was a.lopted. The subject of cat was. by agreement, tab-byooed-to make an awful pun-and the honeymoon be gin to rise again and shine with chastened, softened light upon the couple gaxlng out from their beautiful home ,urou Tne neautmil Sussex meadows. Occasionally a rubbed agalnt Edward'a toga and he rose suddenly mm Biiings unoer we breath. Rapid Fluctuation in Feline Population. Nothing came of the arrangement except peace for ore seek. Then Edward, walking on the east terrace ovtriooking the river, met KborasBan. the big orange IVxlan. and promptly kicked hrm into the rtver. Then nmemberlng hi promise, fce went to Portsmouth the fol lowing day and brought back Silver Gkry- prise win ner In the silver class at Southampton, And fa confessed cat and rhe kick and his wife kissed him one for the confession and once for the kitten the first two kl&see In week. That raised the number of kittens to fifty-three for the expected had happened In the case of NelU Belli and also of Pantatot, the prlae winning chinchilla Persian. The ten arrival discouraged Bdward, but he set to work in earnest, and on the following day hi brought back from LondonJust the ring that Irene had wantetf when she saw It In Regent street, and for tfnat Irent kissed all but two of Ne'.ll Belll's and Santatot's kitten, good-by and shipped them to a friend. For that Edward kissed her twice for each kitten and they both blessed Uncle Dick. Forgot Grenadine and Bought Maltese. By Wedmsday of the following week Irene had mads nineteen sacrifice as rewards of merit. Then she asked Edward to do an errand In town to order three mors yards of the champagne colored grenadine and he forgot. And to pay for his forgetting he brought back a blue eyed ttaltese and presentfd it to Irene. The entire countryside was astounded when Irene be gan to give away cat and they thought that the trouble was over and that the bride Intended to make a complete acrlflce and break up the famous cattery. Then every body was astounded to see Edward bringing home new cat, and act the atory of the compact came out and every body began to watch the strangest contest ever engaged J fx -wvN Jf" 1 v-s4a ViTimJ t- - -' ?S V- - u a 3 I ' Xw, ... - .. . .. ... i