MARK TWAIN LOVED CATS

Some recent pix of the Fabulous Jamieson Avenue Felines and a nice story.

Samuel P. Katt in one of the bookshelves

My favorite American author of Important Fiction, Mark Twain, has more going for him than a superb ability with words and a low pain threshold for idiots. Like me, he loved cats. He once wrote that “If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." I agree.

Scooter in her favorite spot

Twain wasn’t the only American writer who loved cats: many famous 19th-20th-century American writers kept and loved cats: T.S. Eliot, Patricia Highsmith and Ernest Hemingway, whose love of cats left a tribe of six-toed kitties in Key West.

Twain owned up to 19 cats at one time, which makes me feel “normal.” He made it clear to all he knew that he loved and respected all of them far beyond whatever he may have felt about people. His cats all had fantastical name, among them: Apollinaris, Beelzebub, Blatherskite, Buffalo Bill, Satan, Sin, Sour Mash, Tammany, Zoroaster, Soapy Sal and Pestilence.

Twain also wrote cats into his fiction. In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” a cat named Peter features, one of many.

Sebastian lounging around

Whenever Twain traveled, he would rent cats to take the place of his homebound companions. The most famous cat-renting episode occurred in Dublin, New Hampshire, in 1906, when he rented three kittens for the summer. One he named Sackcloth. The other two were identical and went under the joint name of Ashes. People remarked that since he couldn’t travel with the cats, he’d rent others and then leave behind money to help cover their care for life.

Corky and Sebastian taking over my chair

Once, as he was about to enter the screen door that led into the house, two kittens ran up in front of him and stood waiting. He opened the door, made a low bow, stepped back and said, “Walk in, gentlemen. I always give precedence to royalty.”

Molly approves of these volumes

Twain’s greatest cat love was Bambino, a cat originally owned by his daughter Clara. After Bambino went missing, Twain took out an advertisement in the New York American offering a $5 reward to return the missing cat to his house at 21 5th Avenue in New York City, describing Bambain as “Large and intensely black; thick, velvety fur; has a faint fringe of white hair across his chest; not easy to find in ordinary light.” Bambino eventually came home on his own, but not before numerous people had turned up with cats that might match this artistic description.

You can support That’s Another Fine Mess with a paid subscription for only $7/month or $70/year.

Comments are for paid subscribers.