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December 17, 1807

John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 to September 7, 1892) has many claims to fame including his honoring of his cat. The sweetness of this American quaker, abolitionist, poet, is apparent in this elegy for his cat named, amusingly (when you consider feline habits), Bathsheba:


To whom none ever said scat,
No worthier cat
Ever sat on a mat
or caught a rat:
Requies-cat.

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