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The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition]
The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition]
The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition]
Ebook78 pages1 hour

The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition]

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Includes 10 illustrations by Barbara Knox

A delightful, whimsical tale—one of the most popular books for cat lovers ever written.

May Sarton’s fictionalized account of her cat Tom Jones’s life and adventures prior to making the author’s acquaintance begins with a fiercely independent, nameless street cat who follows the ten commandments of the Gentleman Cat—including “A Gentleman Cat allows no constraint of his person, not even loving constraint.” But after several years of roaming, Tom has grown tired of his vagabond lifestyle, and he concludes that there might be some appeal after all in giving up the freedom of street life for a loving home. It will take just the right human companion, however, to make his transformation from Cat About Town to genuine Fur Person possible. Sarton’s book is one of the most beloved stories ever written about the joys and tribulations inherent in sharing one’s life with a cat.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 6, 2015
ISBN9781786250919
The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition]
Author

May Sarton

May Sarton (1912–1995) was born on May 3 in Wondelgem, Belgium, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her first volume of poetry, Encounters in April, was published in 1937 and her first novel, The Single Hound, in 1938. Her novels A Shower of Summer Days, The Birth of a Grandfather, and Faithful Are the Wounds, as well as her poetry collection In Time Like Air, all received nominations for the National Book Award. An accomplished memoirist, Sarton came out as a lesbian in her 1965 book Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. Her memoir Journal of a Solitude (1973) was an account of her experiences as a female artist. Sarton spent her later years in York, Maine, living and writing by the sea. In her last memoir, Endgame: A Journal of the Seventy-Ninth Year (1992), she shares her own personal thoughts on getting older. Her final poetry collection, Coming into Eighty, was published in 1994. Sarton died on July 16, 1995, in York, Maine.

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Rating: 4.162279385964912 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There are some lovely descriptions that capture the physical behavior of cats so exactly that I could see Tom Jones, larger than life, as well as many beloved cats of my own. I loved the narrator voice that lets us see the world from Tom's view.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A gentle lovely story of an amazing cat. The most amazing thing about him is that he is true to every cat I've ever known. The voice of the story resonates deeply, as he is by turns wary, comforted, confused, terrified, and loved. There is even gentle humor when the Gentleman Cat goes to the vet, and comes back a Gentle Cat!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Elegant prose and a deep understanding of cat psychology.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fur Person started out life as an orphan being raised by s young freckled faced boy. It wasn't the best way to start out but it did provide him shelter and steady food. At age six months he decided to take a stroll and never looked back.

    With a white bib and white tip of a tail, he became a Gentleman Cat About Town. He learned to cadge food from various grocers, enjoy glorious conquests and adept at standing up for himself. He also learned to sleep with one ear listening and ready to move when danger neared. After two years of this lifestyle he felt he needed a change.

    He needed a housekeeper: someone who would provide good meals for him on a regular basis, a warm and safe place for him to sleep, and the proper respect and treatment he required. It was not as easy a job as he thought it may be. And that is the tale of how the Cat About Town become Tom Jones, Fur Person.

    This is a charming story told from a feline point of view. I think it would be enjoyable to adults and children alike.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Short and sweet. All cat lovers of all ages will love this delightful book. Thoroughly steeped in cat attitude and mannerisms, humor and wisdom abound.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Actually the edition I read was not listed--I read the reprint--a 1978 edition. This was one of the truest and sweetest books that anyone who has had a cat (male or female) would love. I found myself crying when they moved and when he was homeless for awhile. I think this would be an excellent gift to give all of your cat loving friends. The illustrations (there are a few) are WONDERFUL. I would definitely read this again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Fur Person is a book that I think any cat lover will cherish. I reread it every couple of years and can always see so much of my cats in Tom Jones (even though my cats are girls). We follow Tom Jones on his journey from a Cat About Town to his discovery of a loving family, and his evolution with his new family, Brusque Voice (May Sarton) and Gentle Voice (Judy Matlack), from Gentleman Cat into a Fur Person. I would imagine that May Sarton took some literary freedom in relating Tom's early years before he became part of her and Judy's family, but his time with them is based on his true adventures. It's a charming little story that any cat lover can relate to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    ?When he was about two years old, and had been a Cat About Town for some time, glorious in conquests, but rather too thin for comfort, the Fur Person decided that it was time he settled down. This question of finding a permanent home and staff was not one to be approached lightly of a May morning like his casual relationships with various grocers in the neighborhood, kind but vulgar people who did not know how to address a Gentleman Cat. Not at all. This was to be a systematic search for a housekeeper suitable in every way. Every cat knows that the ideal housekeeper is an old maid, if possible living in a small house with a garden. The house should have both an attic and a cellar, the attic for fun and games, the cellar for hunting. Children, I regret to say, are to be avoided whenever possible. They are apt to distract the housekeeper from her duties, and their manners leave much to be desired.? And so begins Sarton's account of Tom Jones' life prior to his bedding down in Sarton's lap. Helps one to understand cats and Sarton.

Book preview

The Fur Person [Illustrated Edition] - May Sarton

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

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Text originally published in 1957 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

The Fur Person

By

May Sarton

Illustrations by Barbara Knox

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

CHAPTER I — Alexander’s Furpiece and the Cat About Town 5

CHAPTER II — An Adventure 11

CHAPTER III — An Escape 14

CHAPTER IV — A Dish of Haddock 17

CHAPTER V — A Home-coming 20

CHAPTER VI — The Fur Person Gets a Name and Fights a Nameless Cat 24

CHAPTER VII — Tom Jones Keeps Everything Under Control 27

CHAPTER VIII — Poor Jones Has A Hard Time 30

CHAPTER IX — Glorious Jones or The Catnip Hangover 33

CHAPTER X — The Mouse Is at Large! 36

CHAPTER XI — The Great Move 40

CHAPTER XIII — The Eleventh Commandment or the Reflections of a Window-box Cat 44

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 49

CHAPTER I — Alexander’s Furpiece and the Cat About Town

When he was about two years old, and had been a Cat About Town for some time, glorious in conquests, but rather too thin for comfort, the Fur Person decided that it was time he settled down. This question of finding a permanent home and staff was not one to be approached lightly of a May morning like his casual relationships with various grocers in the neighborhood, kind but vulgar people who did not know how to address a Gentleman Cat. Not at all. This was to be a systematic search for a housekeeper suitable in every way. Every cat knows that the ideal housekeeper is an old maid, if possible living in a small house with a garden. The house should have both an attic and a cellar, the attic for fun and games, the cellar for hunting. Children, I regret to say, are to be avoided whenever possible. They are apt to distract the housekeeper from her duties, and their manners leave much to be desired.

The Fur Person owed his life to a small freckled boy, but he was very good at forgetting things he wished to forget, and this was one of them. It was quite true that the boy named Alexander had howled so loudly when a man from the Animal Rescue League came with a black bag that his mother had relented and said, looking down at the litter, Well, you may keep just one, Alexander. But you’ll have to choose quickly.

The one with the rather long tail, Alexander said without a moment’s hesitation, and dived into the box to rescue the small wobbly velvet pillow who was to turn into the Fur Person, but who was still so small that his ears were not yet unbuttoned and he could barely see out of vague blue eyes. The discomfort of having no mother but only an awkward boy was considerable, but his own proper mother, who would have licked him into shape and provided warm milk whenever he so much as murmured, had disappeared shortly after giving birth to five kittens with very high desperate voices. Instead, Alexander came (when he remembered it) with a medicine dropper and some inferior cow’s milk, carried the kitten around inside his leather jacket and was apt to squeeze him rather too tight; that may be why the Fur Person grew into a somewhat long and straggly cat. He slept on Alexander’s bed and on very cold nights sometimes wound himself round Alexander’s neck, and thus came to be known as Alexander’s Furpiece. He bore with Alexander and Alexander’s whims until he was nearly six months old. Then one fine summer day, having licked his shirt front into white splendor and examined with pride the white tip of his tail, and seen that every stripe was glossy along his tiger back, he swaggered out like any young dandy, and what began as an extended rove and ramble ended in a way of life, for he never came back.

As a Cat About Town he developed a stiff hippy walk; he had a very small nick taken out of one ear; and sometimes he was too busy to bother about washing for days at a time. His shirt front became gray, the white tip of his tail almost disappeared, and his whiskers sprang out from his cheeks with the strength and vitality of porcupine quills. He learned a great variety of street songs, how to terrify without lifting a paw, how to wail a coward into retreat, how to scream a bully into attacking just a fraction of a second too soon, how to court a gentle middle-aged tabby as well as many a saucy young thing; he

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