We've featured some famous cat lovers and cats here, like Abraham Lincoln and Felicette, first cat in space, and today let's learn about another cat lover - Mark Twain!
There are several Mark Twain cat quotes that show his esteem and affection for our feline friends. When we look for quotes by Mark Twain on cats like "A home without a cat -- and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat -- may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?" from Pudd'nhead Wilson, and "If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." NewEngland.com even notes that when his 13 year old daughter wrote a biography of him, she said “The difference between papa and mama, is that mama loves morals and papa loves cats.”
Of course he is best known as a writer, and Mark Twain cats quotations certainly show his enthusiasm for them, but off the written page, he lived up to the love for cats professed in his work. The Smithsonian Magazine notes that he had up to 19 cats at one time who he loved more than most people. (Understandably if you ask me!)
He wasn't able to travel with his beloved pets, so when traveling he even rented cats to stay with him! The most well known incident of Mark Twain renting cats happend in 1906 when staying in Dublin, New Hampshire. Twain biographer Albert Bigelow Paine said he rented 3 kittens for the summer and paid enough to rent them to make sure they would be well cared for after his stay. One was named Sackcloth and the other 2 identical kittens both shared the name Ashes. Paine even related an incdent where, as he was about to open a door, 2 of the kittens ran up and stood waiting. Twain then opened the door for them with a bow and said "Walk in, gentlemen. I always give precedence to royalty."
Thegreatcat.org also tells a story of a kitten who would play pool with the author. The cat liked to sit crammed into the pocket corner of the pool table and bat at the moving ball as it passed by. The accompanying picture (which looks to be an advertisement for Royal Crown soda), says that cats were Twains way to relax and playing with this kitten would put him in high spirits.
Thegreatcat.org also shares the story of Bambino, one of Twain's cats who had gone missing. Mark Twain's daugher Clara had gone to a sanatorium and smuggled in a black kitten to keep her company, who she named Bambino. One day Bambino decided to visit another patient, who hated cats and after that, Clara gifted Bambino to her father. One day, Bambino heard some other cats outside and managed to get out of an open window. After searching high and low, Twain decided to offer a $5 reward in the paper to see if someone would find Bambino. Of course, people curious to meet the author, and maybe make $5 in the process, lined up with black cats. Bambino showed up safe and sound a few nights later, but even after that, people still showed up with cats!
If you have ever been to the Mark Twain house and museum in Hartford, CT, you may have noticed a painting of a cat wearing a ruff on the mantle above the fireplace in the library. Twain would reportedly make up stories for his daughters featuring the cat in a ruff. Oh what adventures that cat must have had!
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