Kitty

kitten. A young cat, or the young of the cat. — Webster, 1882

“Ki-yi-yowl,” says Kitty.

     
After the Hard Winter, when the Ingallses have way too many mice at the homestead, Pa goes to Amos Whiting’s claim north of De Smet for a meeting to organize the town, and while there, he pays fifty whole cents for a young blue and white kitten with big ears and a long tail, the sure signs of a good mouser, according to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Charles Ingalls was present at a meeting at Mr. Whiting’s to organize Kingsbury County on March 9, 1880, and if this was historically when Pa brought the kitten home, it was before the Hard Winter, not after. The story of the kitten as told in Laura’s Pioneer Girl memoir is that Pa got it just after Mr. Hunter’s claim was jumped, which historically occurred in May 1881. In Pioneer Girl, Pa pays twenty-five cents for Kitty, not a half dollar.

From the beginning, Kitty is a fierce fighter, managing to kill a mouse while still a tiny kitten. She doesn’t seem to only take care of the mice, but holds her own so well against town dogs that when the Ingallses are living in town, boys like to encourage a new dog to go after Kitty, who jumps onto the dogs back, sinks her claws in, and holds on screeching until the dog has had enough.

Wilder doesn’t tell us what became of Kitty other than she was a grandmother within a few years, and the homestead was home to multiple generations of her descendants.

From my old blog, dated August 16, 2005:

Blue Tobacco Smoke. Laura Ingalls Wilder isn’t the only writer to describe tobacco smoke as blue. It is blue, but why?

Sunlight is a mixture of light in all colors of the rainbow. When sunlight passes through tobacco smoke, the different colors are broken up and dispersed based on the size and number of smoke and dust particles in the air. When the particles are extremely small, blue rays are scattered the most and produce a haze. It has to do with the wavelength of blue light being shorter than, for example, red or yellow light.

Tobacco smoke actually contains small droplets of yellow liquid. They are small enough to scatter light and give a blue color. If you blow tobacco smoke through a handkerchief, a yellow stain is left. Let’s not discuss the fact that smoking is bad for you or think about that yellow crap in Pa’s lungs. Tobacco smoke is blue because of the thousands of chemicals it contains and how light is absorbed or scattered by these chemicals. The phenomenon itself is an example of “Rayleigh scattering,” named after the man who first described the effect. It also explains why the sky is blue!

From my old blog, dated August 17, 2005:

Blue Cat Fur. Kitty Ingalls was described as having baby fur as blue as tobacco smoke. That would be tobacco smoke coming from the end of Charles Ingalls’ pipe, because after the smoke was inhaled and blown out, it would be white. And the reason why it turns white is gross, and yet another reason not to smoke. But I digress…

Genetically speaking, there are only two basic colors of cats: red (sometimes called orange) and black. All the other colors are variations of these two, including the seven solid colors: black, chocolate, cinnamon, white, blue, lavender, and fawn.
Blue cats are actually black cats who carry a recessive gene which “dilutes” the fur color. Both parents must carry this recessive gene in order for a kitten to have blue fur. White fur can appear on a cat of any color. Kitty’s white face, breast, paws, and tip of the tail is usually described as a tuxedo cat. Now you know.