LINDBERGH AND HIS CAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 July 1931, Page 20 (Supplement)

LINDBERGH AND HIS CAT.

There is hardly a creature in the whole animal kingdom which has not been pictured on at least one ctainp from our own or a foreign country. Some have been pictured many times, horses, for instance. Others, such as Lions, tigers, elephants, camels, and the Agama lizard of Liberia, are not so frequently found. ‘Perhaps the least pictured of all animals is the ordinary pussycat. Indeed, until last fall you could search through all your stamp albums and never find one stamp picturing tabby. Since last November, however, tabby may feel as proud as any other animal, lor Spain then issued a stamp in honour of Colonel Lindbergh. «In the lower righthand corner sits a cat as serene as you please. It is not a specially aristocratic cat, but just a plain every-day pussycat !

Now how did that cat get such an honoured place with Colonel Lindbergh, and how in the world did they both come to be pictured on a postal stamp of Spain? Well, like everything else that seems to be difficult, it’s all very simple when you know. Dad will remember when Lindbergh flew for Paris some newsboys shouted the 'headlines, “Lindy flies alone”; other's, “Lindy flies with his cat.” It was thought that Lindy had taken for a companion a kitten he had befriended on the flying field. When Lindy got to Paris it was discovered that he had not taken the cat at all. That, however, did not'stop Spain from including a cat in the design of the Lindbergh stamp which was one of a series of stamps issued to commemorate leading aviators of Spanish-American countries. To many it will be news that on this stamp Lindy shares honours with the cat in that he appears for the first time on a postage stamp. THE SILVER FEATHER. Long ago, when it was the fashion to invite fairies to christening.., a certain King asked the. Lady Moonlight to his little daughter’s name-day feast. The fairy arrived in a silver chariot drawn bv silver geese, and she gave the Princess the name Moonblossom, and offered her a feather plucked from one of the geese as a present. “If she is in trouble, let her throw the feather to the wind and I. will come to her assistance,” smiled the Lady Moonlight as she drove off’. The King and Queen were disappointed, because they had hoped the fairy would give the Princess great beauty, or riches, or magic jewels. They wondered what she would do with the feather. Well, Moonblossom grew quickly, and she often looked at the feather. When she had toothache, she nearly threw it to the wind; again, when she was eaught in the rain with her new dress on; and once when she lost her way in the wood. But each time she thought it was not quite worth while, because something worse might happen. So she waited and waited. She grew into a lovely maiden, and still she kep’ her silver feather. Then a number of Princes asked Moonblossom’s hand- in marriage, 'but she would have none of them because she thought they all wanted the precious christening present. "What shall I do with it?” she sighed. And then it rained, and rained, and rained, till in despair Moonblossom threw the feather to the wind and asked for a fine day. “Now I’ve done a silly thing,” she thought, as she walked in the sunshine, and, meeting one of the Princes who wished to marry her, she told him all about it.

“Well,” he smiled, “it will prove that I don't want your feather, because I’m quite ready to marry you without it.” Moon blossom married the Prince, and later on she set the fashion of not inviting fairies to feasts —because they gave such strange presents! She also invented the word Moonshine —meaning something of no use- —and you will hear that word used to-day U you listen for it.