Newspaper Clipping of the Day

The latest of the "Boston Post's" "Famous Cats of New England," is Billy, fire station mascot:

As handsome a cat as ever washed his face in Brookline, Mass., that richest town in the U.S.A. and pride of all New England, is Billy, the cat at Station A firehouse. More pedigreed felines there may be that dwell in the millionaires' mansions that dot the old town, but a cleaner looking, prettier mannered, more popular cat could not be found.

"His blacks so black and his whites so white" runs the loved little nursery jingle. It must have been written as an ode to Station A's Billy. For an inky black back and tail contrast smartly with the unbroken whiteness of forepaws, face, and breast. Just two black patches of fur for "eyebrows" give Billy a forever surprised and wide-awake look.

The cat who believes in "safety first" is Billy. He has learned to distinguish perfectly between the ringing of the noon bells and the bell that signals "fire."

Billy has a favorite sunny sleeping spot right in front of where the engines must pass. Let the noon bell ring and Billy never bats an eyelash--just slumbers on. Let the fire warning ring, though, and like a streak--the sort of streak that only a cat in flight can make--Billy has dashed to the stairway and pulled himself out of the way of all the wheels. In the seven years he has been around the fire station not a single one of his lives has been imperiled.

The two platoon system has Bill's vote every time. Since the men have been coming and going in two shifts it means that treats from their lunch boxes have just doubled, and Billy has grown fat with feasting. Much as the men of Station A enjoy this privilege, the chief says that he thinks Bill enjoys it most of all.
~December 26, 1920