... Hideous carnage ensues as the blood-thirsty crowd roars. But soon...
... Poor Leroy is cut down. He raises his paw in a plea for mercy - the missio. Was it paws up, or paws down for the defeated? We'll have to wait for next week's episode. Vae victis!
Of course, it's not the first time that hideous cat carnage has occurred in the Circle.
My cat and I were aging and we had become quite apathetic, we spent the hours doing almost nothing, I knitting endless and useless scarfs and him sleeping in his cushion. One day I rescued three kittens that somebody had abandoned in the street and took them to our home, at the begginning my cat received them with bad humor but little by little those three small lives have returned us the happiness and my old cat now even plays with them and for me it's world of amusement seeing them run,jump and play, I thanks to San Francisco for my new friends.
Just look at the jaded, world-weary expression on the elderly cat. This is a work of art of the highest caliber; the artist is the great maestro of the ex voto,
Selva Prieto Salazar.
Used to be, it was easy to raise a hearty larf by bringing up crinolines, those stiffened structures of steel and whalebone designed to support and shape ladies' dresses. Above, from the Janus Museum's superb collections, an anonymous stereoview entitled "Crinoline Difficulties", c.1856 - see, the woman on the right has been tripped up by the lady's crinoline - notice the peeler* in the background, studiously ignoring the incident. Crinolines were always a reliable subject for cartoons - Punch and Harpers doted on 'em. But I suppose I'm dating myself by still thinking them funny. I think we have a few more hilarious crinoline photographs - will have to dig them out.
UPDATE -
Friend and stereograph historian Russell Norton has passed on some information on the image - It's by Michael Burr, circa 1863. Rusty thinks our copy is a pirated version. Many thanks, Rusty.
*London constables wore the top hat until its replacement in 1863 by the Custodian Helmet.
