A Real Beauty
July 12, 2008
The mention over on Stirred, Straight Up, With a Twist of The Honeymoon Killers and the marvelous Shirley Stoler reminded me that back in the late 70s when I was managing the West Fourth Street Bookstore, near Washington Square Park, Stoler used to come in, pick out a book, and then stretch out on the [...]


I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. . . . I recollect [Hodge] one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying 'why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;' and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'