Prize Cat Acts as Nurse and Companion of Helpless Man

Alcyone, Beautiful Persian, Shows He Can Do More Than Win Blue Ribbons.

OWNER IS PARALYZED AND WAITING FOR DEATH

Finds Amusement, Relaxation and Comfort in Antics and Loyalty of Pet.

Nestling upon the lap of his atrophied patient, amusing the ill man with his antics at play, or running to call the mistress of the household when her presence is needed, Alcyone, John McAllister's pet, companion, friend and attendant, illustrates the fact that a cat is some good in the world in other ways than as a mouse catcher or a prize winner.

Alcyone is a beautiful smoke Persian, winner of two prizes in the recent cat show in Grand Central Palace and a highly intelligent animal, but he is more highly prized for his faithfulness and loyalty to his owner, condemned by slowly increasing paralysis to pass the greater part of his time for five years in bed.

If it were not for Alcyone, as well as for the devotion of Mrs. McAllister, Mr. McAllister might long ago have become desperate.

They - the McAllisters and Alcyone - live at No. 310 West 140th street, where Mrs. McAllister has a furnished room house. Mr. McAllister was a marble cutter untll five years ago, when the paralysis which so frequently results from that occupation developed. Since that time he has been unable to work. The use of his muscles, one after another, has been denied him untll to-day he can barely lift his hand or totter across the six feet of space between his bed and his reclining chair, a trip which he makes but once a day.

For John McAllister it is a long time from dawn to dusk. Through many of his dreary hours while Mrs. McAllister is busy elsewhere Alcyone is his only companion. At the command of his patient Alcyone will nestle and purr in his lap, will play excitedly with a ball which hangs from the table at the bedside or lle quietly upon the table apparently meditating upon the inequalities of life.

Should Mr. McAllister desire the presence of his wife, Alcyone dashes downstairs at his patient's command and with his "meows" attracts Mrs. McAllister's attention. But Alcyone always hurries back to his patient, to whom he is devoted.

As he waits for the end of his suffering, Mr. McAllister finds his chief relaxation in the distractions that the lively and entertaining Alcyone affords. The patient's mind is as alert and clear as ever, and so long as it remains so he avers that he would not hasten his death, but the end will be welcome even should it come within an hour.

"the concept of compressing the entire human population into the space of a sugar cube is appealing to me"

Careful. Our alien overlords might say: "challenge accepted".

Had me going at first. Good actor.

"This is why I don’t use a Mac."

Uh oh. If this was a computer blog there would already be a flame war raging over hundreds if not thousands of comments.

Anyway, mac's never break down, have no bugs and their users never do anything stupid. If there's a problem, it's somebody else's fault. Definitely.

Ridiculous in the sense that every firearm is ridiculous. Awesome in the sense that "I'm right, you're wrong; and let me prove that by shooting you with this gun" awesome.

This looks cool and everything but uh, just gibe me a regular breakfast please.

Level Up!

"I happened to have in my crew preference a couple of knit needles."

Sure.