FOR THE GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS.

. THE UNBIDDEN GUEST. 5 PIER JUMPING CATS. My Dear Girls, — At a party the other evening, one of the guests caused ' amusement by making her entrance with a beautiful P^.: curled up in her arms. an Puny "What do you think, girls? 'Feather,' followed me ail the She simply wouldn't go home." Feather merely waved her i Way htr t tail, gazed upon the company with lazy topaz eyes, uttered a ""I ° f * meow, and "high-hatted"' it with the lot of as, who just loved once. This naturally led to cat stories. "Uncle used to be k sea and what he couldn't tell you about sea-going cats wasn't wortlTk said another girl. "They are called 'pier jumpers,' and seem tTT"*'l when a ship is sailing. Sometimes in port you would see a dozen of »k°* together in the dock, just like sailors home from a voyage exch ' yarns. There have been many 'pier jumpers' who have made nam"'* 1 * themselves. There was Minnie, who chose Montreal for her ho Fifteen times Minnie had been ejected, but each time she came uV sailor once took her to Broadway, and bade her a fond farewell but the liner entered the harbour at Bermuda, Minnie appeared on 'deck * "Sailors, however, consider black cats unlucky. A crew of °fi v schooner, when they found the captain had taken a black cat on k ? demanded he throw her overhead. The captain refused, and toot°\ into his cabin for safety. The cat escaped, and ran up the rigging ir caring to ask any of the crew to bring his pet down, he climbed an h her himself, and there in the crow's nest sat puss interestedly wa t V ' large school of mackerel. Boats were quickly lowered, and l!" 5 * later they returned with their catch, filling 400 barrels whirl, U 7* 7000 dollars. Not only did the black cat stay on board but thl° took up a collection to buy her a silk cushion and a case of co A "'I milk! naen *ed "Another famous 'pier jumper' was 'One-eyed Mike' wl. favourite run was from 'Frisco to China. Mike was a fighter and 1 fr few of his spare parts behind at every port he touched. He iost half * ear at Hongkong, and left an eye at Manila, and tufts of fur just ** where. One summer Mike shipped on a freighter bound for favourite sport on board was catching flying fish, which cook oren J for the table. The bo'sun would hang a lantern near the well deck T and, attracted by the light, the fish would fly aboard. Once rt.sJ" • had dried they couldn't fly, and flopped helplessly on deck. WlnS ' "If the weather was stormy, and the boat shipping seas their w' remained wet, and they were able to fly away again. After Mb** arrival no fish v/ere found, and, as the weather was very calm the b ' became suspicious. He watched, and sure enough he found Mil- k. i° SUB feast all to himself. After that he taught Mike to catch fish for them' 1 He lashed a large pot to the »nem. stanchion, and made him pick up the fish and drop them into the pot. Each time he pilfered a fish he was smacked, but - for every four fish he nut in th« pot, he received one for himself."

LX