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The Cat Does Odd Jobs

Library Cats
by Marti Attoun

Spencer (Iowa) Public Library Director Vicki Myron discovered Dewey Readmore Books
in the library's book drop.

The shelves at the Spencer Public Library are filled with happy-ending stories, but they can’t hold a whisker to the one that began on a freezing January morning 16 years ago.

On that fateful day, Director Vicki Myron unlocked the library in Spencer, Iowa, (pop. 11,317) and brewed a pot of coffee. She and a staff member heard a whimpering, tracked it to the book drop in a back room, and opened the lid. Huddled in a heap of hardbacks was a bedraggled yellow kitten.

“The pads of his little feet were frozen,” Myron recalls. “We gave him a bath just to warm him up and he purred the whole time.”

That was 1988 and the rest is a Cinderella story for Dewey Readmore Books, the orphaned feline who has lived happily among the books ever since.

“His story has a life of its own,” Myron says while sifting through the cat’s fan mail. “We have people drive hundreds of miles out of their way just to see Dewey. We had a Japanese public television crew come here.”

Shortly after the kitten’s rescue, city officials approved the library’s cat-in-residence and a photo of the city’s “new employee” sitting on the card catalog appeared in The Daily Reporter in Spencer. Residents were invited to help name the kitty and 394 cast ballots. “We’ve never had such a turnout for a contest and there wasn’t even a prize,” Myron says with a laugh.

No one can pinpoint how or when Dewey catapulted from local glamour puss to Mr. January pinup in a national cat calendar. A mention from broadcaster Paul Harvey about the orphaned kitty that brightens a library helped. So did an article in Postcard Collector magazine featuring Dewey’s four postcard poses for a library fund-raiser. His acting debut in Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat, a video documentary, sealed his fame.

Library cats greet patrons in about 125 libraries across America. Most live and “work” in cozy, small-town libraries where they don’t get lost in the stacks. Historically, library cats earned their keep doing rodent patrol, but modern library cats have more white-collar duties: to act charming and make the library a welcoming and homey place.

Library cats greet patrons in about 125 libraries across America. Most live and “work” in cozy, small-town libraries where they don’t get lost in the stacks. Historically, library cats earned their keep doing rodent patrol, but modern library cats have more white-collar duties: to act charming and make the library a welcoming and homey place. “Library cats just create a nice, warm atmosphere,” says filmmaker Gary Roma, 37, producer of Puss in Books and owner of Iron Frog Productions in Boston. The stand-up comedian gives programs nationwide about library cats and maintains an online state-by-state directory of library cats, present and past.

Many libraries belong to the Library Cat Society, founded in 1987 by Phyllis Lahti of Moorhead, Minn., (pop. 32,177) to encourage libraries to curl up with a good cat. “The cats attract children to the library and the elderly who maybe can’t have pets in their apartment,” Roma says. “Books, libraries, and cats just go together.”

Dewey, the golden boy, moseys over to a 10-by-13-inch envelope box and settles in with one paw draped over the side. Even when he catnaps in the staff room, Dewey attracts visitors. Drew Horst, 2 1/2, makes a beeline toward him while hand-in-hand with his father, Jim Horst. “Every two weeks we come and get books and we get diverted to find Dewey the cat,” Jim explains. “Drew likes to read animal books.” The toddler gets down on his hands and knees and snuggles his blond head against the cat’s. “Dewey, Dewey,” he whispers.

Cats From Coast-to-Coast

“Not every cat could work in a library,” notes Judy Whitt, director of the Azle Public Library in Azle, Texas, (pop. 9,600) “but this one is doing just fine. Molli loves people.”

Stephanie Boren, a patron, has a favorite Molli story: “One day my son Michael sat down at the computer and Molli hopped on the table behind him and started massaging his neck,” she recalls. “Everyone loves the library cat.”

Molli is so popular, in fact, that she was catnapped near closing time one Saturday. Frantic staff members taped up “Molli Missing” posters. On Monday morning, a resident returned the overdue cat. “She claimed to have found her, but then slipped and said the cat didn’t really get along with her dog,” Whitt says. No fines were collected. They were just happy to have Molli out of circulation and back on the job.

The Ocean Shores Library in Ocean Shores, Wash., (pop. 3,836) created its library cat position in 1999 after a survey revealed that 98 percent of the patrons favored a furry staff member.

Michelle Olson, library clerk, presented the results to the library’s board of trustees. During the meeting, a member left to make a phone call, returned and announced that an applicant would be arriving within five minutes. The calico kitten had been dumped beside the road.

It took less than a minute to know that she was the one,” Olson says. “She let each person hold and pet her without complaint, purring all the while.” They named the black, white, and peach-splotched kitten Trixie, in honor of Trixie Belden, the fictional girl detective in the children’s mystery series.

rixie has her own checkbook to pay for food and veterinary bills. As with all of these library cats, patrons “feed the kitty” donation can.

In Mystic, Conn., (pop. 4,001) Emily, the resident cat at the cozy 1891 Mystic & Noank Library, also has a name with a rich literary heritage. She’s named after authors Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson. “People come in just to see Emily. She’s pretty famous,” says Diane Gillece, librarian assistant. “Everyone comments on her pretty green eyes.”

The throwaway kitten joined the staff in 1989 and now has her own line of note cards and Christmas ornaments. She cheers readers by twirling with the new books on the revolving bookcase and sprawling flat on her back, paws straight up, at the end of an aisle. And she never passes up an elevator ride. “She’s getting a bit of a weight problem and we’ve been encouraging her to take the stairs,” Gillece says.

Security Patrol

Sometimes library cats mimic watchdogs—without the bark or bite. Such was the case with Page, the library cat at the Gladstone Public Library in Gladstone, Ore. (pop. 11,438).

“Between January and March, I bet I had half a dozen calls from the police that the security alarm had gone off,” says Catherine Powers, library director. “I’d have to drag out of bed at 1 a.m. or 3 a.m. and check the building and reset the alarm.”

Powers assumed that the alarm system was faulty because the motion sensor was set too high for 10-pound Page to trigger. A company employee checked out the system and offered the only logical explanation. “He said, ‘I think that cat is sliding down the banister.’”

Powers assured him that was ridiculous.

A few weeks later, Page strolled along the mezzanine stair railing, then just as pretty as you please, turned and slid down the banister. “We just all started laughing,” Powers says.

Meanwhile, back in Iowa, Myron says having a cat in the library promotes camaraderie among the staff as much as among the patrons.

Her staff keeps a camera handy to capture Dewey’s antics. Snapshots show Dewey riding atop the book cart, sacked out on a wall partition with one paw dangling over the clock, and standing at the front door waving a paw, which is how he greets Myron each morning.

Birthday-party pictures abound. Townspeople are always invited. Hundreds of patrons sign cards for Dewey. The celebrity cat’s likeness adorns the Spencer library cards and a mosaic wall in the city’s East Leach Park. He’s the subject of two book chapters, which gives him his own Library of Congress listing.

“He definitely adds warmth and friendliness,” says Mary Walk, children’s librarian, as she strokes Dewey’s head. He closes his eyes and purrs. “People have connected with Dewey worldwide,” Walk adds. “He’s the most famous person in Spencer.”

-----------------
Marti Attoun is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

Reprinted from American Profile

Are We 'Worth Our Keep'?

Help Us Grow!

We've never asked you for money before, but we're no longer a crawling kitten that can survive on mother's milk. We're a vigorously growing young cat, ready to WORK for our milk!

Even when the ship's lurching,
Toolbox the cat keeps shipmates purring.

Toolbox the cat is just like any other sailor. She sometimes gets seasick in rough waters. On occasion she has fallen overboard. And, after a long voyage, she can't wait to jump ashore and pussyfoot around a new port.

But this tiny calico gray kitty, who makes her home on the Kalmar Nyckel, has earned a distinction that not even the captain of the replica 17th-century Swedish tall ship can claim.

"She actually has more sea time than I do," said the ship's captain, David Hiott IV, as he nestled the 7-pound cat in the crook of his arm recently.

That's no fish tale.

While cats generally avoid deep water, 9-year-old Toolbox has missed only a handful of the ship's daytime sails since the Kalmar Nyckel took her first voyage in 1997. When the ship berths at ports of call from Provincetown, Mass., to Charleston, S.C., Toolbox is always part of the crew.

Ever since mankind first took to the sea, animals have been on board ships.

Dogs and cats are the most common ship mascots. Yet, monkeys, parrots, goats, mongooses, pythons and even bears also have served as at-sea companions, writes Liza Verity in her book, "Animals at Sea" (National Maritime Museum, 2004), which offers touching tales of sailors and their furred and feathered friends.

Verity writes about Bruin, a friendly bear who had the run of the British ship HMS Rodney in 1869: "When the animal dozed on the ship, up to a dozen sailors laid next him and used his body as a pillow." Then, there was Trim the cat, who accompanied English explorer Matthew Flinders on four voyages and endured seven years of captivity with him on the island of Mauritius from 1803 to 1810.

Not all animals and sailors coexisted so peaceably. Take the Syrian bear -- named Bob -- who once attacked the admiral and yeoman on a 19th-century ship. When the mascot later fell overboard, the crew was not allowed to save him. Then there was Bonzo, a bulldog who served on a HMS Barham in 1916. The feisty pet got into trouble after he bit the ship's bugler and nudged the ship's cat overboard.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, ships carried such livestock as cattle, pigs, goats and poultry as a source of fresh meat. During long voyages, sailors occasionally would get attached to the animals. The pigs on one Royal Navy ship in 1764 were so cheerful, one skipper said, "you get too partial towards them and feel after dinner sometimes as though you have eaten an old messmate."

Superstitious sailors believed that cats could predict the weather. "If a cat washes her face over her ear, 'tis a sign the weather will be fine and clear," according to an old English proverb.

But, more often, cats served as the ship's "ratters" and helped control rodent infestations. "You always got vermin in the old ships. Rats were an enormous problem -- that's how the Black Plague spread -- so a ship's cat was an important thing to have," says Barbara Mayers, education director for the Kalmar Nyckel.

While Toolbox hunts down her fair share of mice and rats, she isn't actually finding them on the Kalmar Nyckel. "The only rats are the ones she brings aboard to play with," chief mate Lauren Morgens says.

Plenty of Entertainment For Everyone

A tingling bell hanging from her purple collar signals that Toolbox is prowling the deck of the Kalmar Nyckel. "This whole ship is her domain. She runs up the stays. It's like a jungle gym," Morgens says.

Toolbox spends her days scratching her nails on the ship's ropes, scampering up the ship's rigging and voicing her pleasure or displeasure with loud meows.

During one recent voyage, a migration of songbirds landed on the ship's deck. Toolbox's large yellow eyes opened wide and she began a wild chase, causing the birds to flutter about. "The cat was like 'This is the best thing ever,' " Morgens says.

Historically, cats have entertained a ship's crew. According to the U.S. Coast Guard's Web site,

Camouflage, a tabby mascot who served on a ship in 1945, also proved to be a playful fellow. The cat's idea of "a rousing good time" was to chase Japanese tracer bullets when they streaked across the deck of the ship. "A tracer would come 'ping,' and Camouflage would dart from one rail to the other in hot, if futile, pursuit."

Toolbox's name comes from her place of birth. She was born in the toolbox of a carpenter who helped build the Kalmar Nyckel.

The cat's mother, a stray who lived in the Wilmington shipyard on East Seventh Street, gave birth to five kittens. All were adopted but Toolbox. The tiny gray kitten's friendly, unabashed nature captured the heart of the ship's volunteers and Capt. David Hiott. "Cap said the crew shanghaied her, but I think she had a lot to do with that," Mayers said.

She Won't Be Left Behind

In 1997, Hiott decided to take the cat on a nine-day trip to Lewes to get her used to the ship. When the Kalmar Nyckel returned to Wilmington, Toolbox was the first one down the gangplank. But, after that, she returned to the ship for almost every trip.

"She likes being on the ship. She has a couple of hiding places," Hiott said.

After a voyage, Toolbox usually jumps ashore and disappears to explore a new port. Hiott said she loves to play and prowl in tall grass. Yet, somehow, she always knows to return before the Kalmar Nyckel ships out.

Mayers isn't sure how the cat does it, but believes Toolbox can sense various movements and sounds and knows when the ship is leaving.

For the most part, Toolbox has been a good shipmate. "She's super-super friendly to everyone. As long as you pet her, she's your friend. She's not a one-person cat," Morgens says.

Like even the most experienced sailors, she does get seasick during rough weather. But that only makes the crew love her more. "You can hardly overlook a cat that gets seasick with you," says Mayers, who calls Toolbox "a very well-mannered lassie. She's quite a sociable little creature."

Toolbox is so popular with children that the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is planning a children's book, written by author Ted Ireland, and a coloring book about the cat that will be published next spring.

Yet, the cat, like many felines, doesn't like sudden movements or grabbing hands.

"If [schoolchildren] don't behave as she believes that they ought, she doesn't come out. She is very much the mistress of her movements."

This seafaring cat does have her own idiosyncrasies. For instance, she doesn't eat fish. "She is a cat with a sensitive tummy. She only eats dry food," Morgens says.

Toolbox takes lazy naps whenever she likes, usually in Hiott's cabin or on the chest of Sharon Litcofsky, the ship's boatswain, who is in charge of training new crew. And her main home is the wardroom (or crew's cabin), which she shares with Morgens -- who, ironically, has "a horrible allergy" to all cats except Toolbox. "This is the only cat I've ever not been allergic to," she says.

Still, it hasn't been all smooth sailing. Shipboard cats have fallen into the water from time to time. Toolbox is no exception.

Crew members have twice fished her from the sea. The most serious occasion was during a trip to Chester, Pa. Toolbox miscalculated a leap and wound up in the Delaware River. Luckily, a crew member saw the splash, raced to the side of the boat, scooped up the cat and threw her back on board.

Hiott, who has grown fond of the kitty, said it was a very close call: "We almost lost her."

-----------------

Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com.

Reprinted from Wilmington, DE News Journal website

How You Can Help Hurricane Survivors

There's a whisper down the line at 11:39
When the Night Mail's ready to depart,
Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
We must find him or the train can't start.'
All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster's daughters
They are searching high and low,
Saying 'Skimble where is Skimble for unless he's very nimble
Then the Night Mail just can't go.'
At 11:42 then the signal's nearly due
And the passengers are frantic to a man -
Then Skimble will appear and he'll saunter to the rear:
He's been busy in the luggage van!
He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
And the signal goes 'All Clear!'
And we're off at last for the northern part
Of the Northern Hemisphere!

You may say that by and large it is Skimble who's in charge
Of the Sleeping Car Express.
From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards
He will supervise them all, more or less.
Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces
Of the travellers in the First and in the Third;
He establishes control by a regular patrol
And he'd know at once if anything occurred.
He will watch you without winking and he sees what you are thinking
And it's certain that he doesn't approve
Of hilarity and riot, so the folk are very quiet
When Skimble is about and on them ove.
You can play no pranks with Skimbleshanks!
He's a Cat that cannot be ignored;
So nothing goes wrong on the Northern Mail
When Skimbleshanks is aboard.

Oh it's very pleasant when you have found your little den
With your name written up on the door.
And the berth is very neat with a newly folded sheet
And there's not a speck of dust on the floor.
There is every sort of light - you can make it dark or bright;
There's a button that you turn to make a breeze.
There's a funny little basin you're supposed to wash your face in
And a crank to shut the window if you sneeze.
Then the guard looks in politely and will ask you very brightly
'Do you like your morning tea weak or strong?'
But Skimble's just behind him and was ready to remind him,
For Skimble won't let anything go wrong.
And when you creep into your cosy berth
And pull up the counterpane,
You are bound to admit that it's very nice
To know that you won't be bothered by mice -
You can leave all that to the Railway Cat,
The Cat of the Railway Train!

In the middle of the night he is always fresh and bright;
Every now and then he has a cup of tea
With perhaps a drop of Scotch while he's keeping on the watch,
Only stopping here and there to catch a flea.
You were fast asleep at Crewe and so you never knew
That he was walking up and down the station;
You were sleeping all the while he was busy at Carlisle,
Where he greets the stationmaster with elation.
But you saw him at Dumfries, where he summons the police
If there's anything they ought to know about:
When you get to Gallowgate there you do not have to wait -
For Skimbleshanks will help you to get out!
He gives you a wave of his long brown tail
Which says: 'I'll see you again!
You'll meet without fail on the Midnight Mail
The Cat of the Railway Train.'

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