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Nantucket Quintuplets
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N a n t u c k et Q u i n tu p le t s
by Theodore C. Wyman
IN "THE ISLAND STEAMERS" by Paul C. Morris and Joseph F. Morin there is an interesting story about Marshall Barrett and the cats who made Steamboat Wharf their home. And about how he fed them and encouraged them to stay on as part of the local rat control program.
Of especial interest to me as I had the great privilege of knowing a most unusual cat named Mehitable who lived on the wharf in 1935. Not only did she take care of the rat control problem all by herself, but she also presented Nantucket with quintuplets (five kittens). So I had an interview with her about her great achievement and it was published in the Boston Globe. And here is a report of that interview.
Nantucket, Mass., March 13, 1935
The honor of the United States and the glory of Nantucket were upheld and added to on the third of March when Mehitable, the wharf cat, presented five kittens to a palpitating world that had been eagerly anticipating the blessed event.
News of her great achievement was at first withheld from the general press, as Mehitable was afraid that her children might be taken away from her and established in some cat hospital where more elaborate equipment for their care could be had. Now, however, she has decided to let the glad tidings ring forth throughout all the land, and for that purpose granted an interview to-day. A few intimate friends of the family have been allowed to gaze upon the new born marvels, but until now no sanctioned interview has been granted.
Mehitable, as many local Nantucket people know, is a most unusual member of the feline family, and has made quite a reputation for herself by her eccentric habits and by her ability to keep the freight shed free of mice and rats. The impressionable months of her early life were spent on the Coast Guard cutter ARGO, and she has never quite relinquished the roll in her walk or the sound of rumbling surf that creeps into her purring. It was only natural, considering her early seafaring life, that she should choose the steamboat dock as her new home after leaving the ARGO. There, at least, she could still hear the steamboat whistles and could instill in her children the love of the sea that is so deeply intrenched in her soul.
NANTUCKET QUINTUPLETS 31
Questioned as to whether she contemplated a vaudeville tour with her quintuplets, she replied with a distainful toss of her sleek, grey head.' "Never", she cried, with all her mother love vibrating in her passionate meow. "I would rather have them remain steamboat cats for the rest of their nine lives than have them exposed to the temptations and pitfalls of the outside world in any junket in search of fame."
Questioned further for pertinent facts about her daily life and about her children, she replied that the kittens did cramp her style a bit, but that she would soon return with renewed fury to her self-imposed task of policing the freight house. She did admit that she hesitated a bit about having only five kittens instead of her usual six or seven, but felt that the resulting glory more than justified her great sacrifice. As for naming her children, she feels that she owes it to her public to let them pick their names, but hopes that good American names will be chosen.
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