Children's Corner

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 26, 21 November 1929, Page 4

Children's Corner

TOPSY.

When Daddy decided to go back to the old house where he had lived when he was a boy, it was wonderful haw quickly Topsy, a town-bred cat, settled down to a eonntry life. Not only did she settle contentedly, but she • grew to like the country. .

In the town house she had been Tom and Mary's pet; now she was both pet and companion— more like a dog than a cat.

. She would join in some of their <<rames, and follow them when they went for walks, till in the end they never.thought of going for a ramble without her.

Down the lane, and through the wood and across the marshes was theii* favourite walk. Here there was much to see, especially during that first Spring.when everything was new to them.

• There were squirrels in. the wood, and rabbits almost everywhere, and on the marshes there were wild ducks and seagulls, snipe and red-shanks, and lots ,of other.birds,tas well as hares and stoats. Now and-then they had the luck to see otters slide into the river so gently that they scarcely made a ripple. Topsy seemed to enjoy the. walks asmxieh as they did, and after a o time she took to going clown to the marshes by herself, when the children were busy with their lessons. ''After the field-mice, I ex^ pect," said Daddy. Field-mi,be, however, were not the chief attraction. She had found Out a

far more interesting 'game , than

catching mice, as Tom and Mary discovered one day when they were' picnicking on the bank of one of,,£)|s; dykes that crossed the " To^y'^fi:pi: come with them as usual,■-^t^|i^le they were busy gettiiig th^'jflt^iih ready and making a gipsy; 'fir&p Tom noticed her cray/L on '■fjßg^:'.£^gen willow half sunk in a cte%%p^s|. She crouched down oit one.'*of the boughs tliht reached out- bver. the water, /rlirio'st level wit^ K^Sjibols!'' he wMs^T'ed to his sisterv^v' Topsy is?• ;wa|fehiiag the fj>K*;-f?'i>ii3?" >idbiey I*4^^ ttirouyh the reeds; :a% the^^at tyyh&SQ, still thiit .she"might haY^ s fe«en^Part of the tree. ■ s '%U » ' Tliere were many fisT^^® ?> that ciyJse. Looking closely, 'tßS^*ildren could see them swihi^i^^^ lazily to and fro, and as %h«3^ watched, one glided slowly right} under the bough on which Topsvi was sitting.

Unconscious of danger, it rose at a tiny floating" insect, and then like a flash Topsy.'s paw shot out, scooping the, water; some glittered in the air, and a roach, as big as a small herring, -was napping on the grass beside Tom' and

Mary.

They knew now why Topsy spent so much time on the marshes; and that fish was her favourite food she plainly showed as shesprang up the bank and, seized her prey in her jaws. i

How a town .cat could have learned; to catch.fish was more than they could understand; and that evening when "they told Daddy the. tale he was equally astonished

After thai,, whenever Topsy was, missing they knew pi-c\^ well where.to find her.

. She had two or three fayourite pools where fish were numerous and some log or jutting bank gave, her a favourable position.

Sometimes she had a loiig wait before a fish came within hep reach, but. in the end she was almost always successful/and one sultry day, when July was nearly over, she secured a prize that must have "been a record of its kind.

All the morning she had crouch ed patiently waiting, and not a fish had conic near her.

By midday even her wonderful" patience was worn 6ut, and she was just on the point of giving -lip when a dark shado,v.rose slowly underneath her.

Right to the surface it came—just at the right distance for

striking—and down went her j paw with every claw extended. Then, instead of flicking out a small roach, she found herself clawing at something solid, something that diyedas she struck it, something that almost dragged her off her seat.

Frantically she spread her claws and gripped the bough she was on, hanging back and tugging with all her strength. The struggles of the great fish seemed to be tearing every muscle in her shoulder.

, It could not escape—her claws were firmly fixed in the bonygills. It was pull fish and pull cat, with the strongest to win. Topsy had tha advantage that she had something solid to .pull from. Steadily she hauled till the fish.V head was out of water, its tail napping spray in every direction, and then, with one quick jerk, she had her prey beneath her, held securely .by both her forepaws and the weight of her body.

Just a few minutes' rest, she took, and then- she started, not to eat her prize, but to drag it home. ' .

jShe had never taken -a'-fish.-home before, and. there could, be only one reason for doing "so now —she^ knew she had done something cleVer, and wanted to show off her skill.

It was hard work to drag -that fish 'through the grass; every few minutes she had to stop and rest; arid half-way across the marsh, old Whitefaee, the. king of the: rookery in the wood, saw her and squawked the news to his companions/ who came flocking to the

fun.

in a moment they were round her, darting down on her and swerving as she reared up and struck savagely at<^ them. Cawing and squawking they swooped around, making such . a racket that the children wandering down the lane heard the noise and wondered what it meant.

'''Look!" said Tom, as they

climbed the gate at the end .of the lane, '' look at' the rooks.'' and •thqn, as they soared .high, in the air at the sight of the children, he saw Topsy crouching over, something . that glistened in the snn. "It's Topsy," she shouted; ."come on," .-and', they, raced across the marsh to their pet, who left the fish and rubbed herself against their legs, purring loudly as proud of herself as she could be.

There was no further walk for Tom and Mary that afternoon— ;£fee tale was too good to keep— ■^i, wrapping the fish up in dock [i^.a^g> they raced home, Topsy iaiigaSSk" and jumping through the gra^si li%hind them. "IfMi^pnderful!" said Daddy when tji^psshowed him the fish, | and -after/^w^ghing it on the kitchen scales tie^as still ft^oftjsprised. utt*s aVpereh," them; -tH^ee.- pou^lilfe^n; weight—aliai&st;. & JjW-ord I ll^f^| think." Oomg^t'o"Viis wavM^i^i he came baefc^iiiriJfaVome }&&&&&. of Paris, and prqeeed!te(l to mafc^ a east of the \ ..■"*( . So Topsy lost. tEe Eptefel sne had tvorked so hard for,- but\th - ehil- \ dren brought her plenty',V>£ dain-.j ties to make up forvit.'-AA few days later there was a; .-;»ainse«|'. cast of the perch in a gla§s\ *M^' with an inscription telling hw^M1 was caught and a photoorapVi Topsy underneath"it: ' fl \:i¥