{"id":9152,"date":"2023-01-28T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=9152"},"modified":"2023-01-28T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T06:00:00","slug":"the-death-of-a-favorite-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/the-death-of-a-favorite-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death of a Favorite Cat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>From <a href=\"https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn85038485\/1915-01-28\/ed-1\/seq-4\/\">The Birmingham Age Herald, January 28, 1915<\/a>. By Thomas Gray.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>\u2019Twas on a lofty vase\u2019s side,<br\/>Where China\u2019s gayest art had dyed<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The azure flowers that blow;<br\/>Demurest of the tabby kind,<br\/>The pensive Selima reclined,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gazed on the lake below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Her conscious tail her joy declared;<br\/>The fair round face, the snowy beard,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The velvet of her paws,<br\/>Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,<br\/>Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She saw; and purred applause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Still had she gazed; but \u2019midst the tide<br\/>Two angel forms were seen to glide,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Genii of the stream;<br\/>Their scaly armour\u2019s Tyrian hue<br\/>Through richest purple to the view<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Betrayed a golden gleam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>The hapless nymph with wonder saw;<br\/>A whisker first and then a claw,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;With many an ardent wish,<br\/>She stretched in vain to reach the prize.<br\/>What female heart can gold despise?<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What cat\u2019s averse to fish?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Presumptuous maid! with looks intent<br\/>Again she stretched, again she bent,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Nor knew the gulf between.<br\/>(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)<br\/>The slippery verge her feet beguiled,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She tumbled headlong in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Eight times emerging from the flood<br\/>She mewed to every watery god,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Some speedy aid to send.<br\/>No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;<br\/>Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard;<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Favourite has no friend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,<br\/>Know, one false step is ne\u2019er retrieved,<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And be with caution bold.<br\/>Not all that tempts your wandering eyes<br\/>And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;<br\/>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not all that glitters, gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From The Birmingham Age Herald, January 28, 1915. By Thomas Gray. \u2019Twas on a lofty vase\u2019s side,Where China\u2019s gayest art had dyed&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The azure flowers that blow;Demurest of the tabby kind,The pensive Selima reclined,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gazed on the lake below. Her conscious tail her joy declared;The fair round face, the snowy beard,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The velvet of her paws,Her coat, that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,3],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-9152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harrisburg-telegraph","category-newspapers","tag-amos-r-wells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}