Newspaper Clipping
Title
Newspaper Clipping
Creator
Unknown
Identifier
WWP15926
Date
1919 October 8
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Contributor
Ball, HP
Relation
WWP15917
Language
English
Text
Not only in implication and in the brilliance of word play is the medium for humor found. The actual situation deftly presented never fails of appreciation. The following incident inimitably told caused a staid Englishman to chuckle for days after hearing it. A family in a Jersey city were grieved at the sudden death of their domestic pet, a large, handsome and affectionate tomcat. There was a long and melancholy discussion as to the best way of disposing of the body and it was decided that the head of the family on his way to his New York office in the morning should drop it over the side of the ferryboat in crossing the Hudson River. The crowd on the boat and the attention his action would have caused prevented him, however, from putting overboard the carefully wrapped square box in which the dead pussy reposed, so he took it to the office, and that night returned home with it again, still failing to find the opportunity to lose it on the way.
There was more melancholy in the family, and he decided that whatever happened he must get rid of the body the next morning. Before the children went to bed they were allowed to have one last look at their dead favorite. The box was reverentially unfastened. The little group stood round in silence, and then as the lid of the box was taken off there was revealed in place of the dead cat two large and succulent beefsteaks. The box had apparently been accidentally exchanged on the rack of the train coming down from the city. One’s thoughts leave the sorrowing family to follow the other box to its destination.
There was more melancholy in the family, and he decided that whatever happened he must get rid of the body the next morning. Before the children went to bed they were allowed to have one last look at their dead favorite. The box was reverentially unfastened. The little group stood round in silence, and then as the lid of the box was taken off there was revealed in place of the dead cat two large and succulent beefsteaks. The box had apparently been accidentally exchanged on the rack of the train coming down from the city. One’s thoughts leave the sorrowing family to follow the other box to its destination.
Original Format
Article
To
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938: Newspaper Clipping
Collection
Citation
Unknown, “Newspaper Clipping,” 1919 October 8, WWP15926, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.