mehitabel dances with the ghost of emily dickinson

fig. 1 emily dickinson Emily Dickinson (b. December 10, 1830, d. May 15, 1886), as overwrought and light weight as gold leaf, perhaps the lightest of America's precieux, was born of station and property in Amherst, Massachusetts where these days she has her very own national museum.

mehitabel dances with the ghost of emily dickinson by h. friley hall boss you will not believe it yesterday mehitabel s eyes got big and yellow and her back arched she yowled and danced sideways and i asked in some wonderment what had got into the old girl today she was much calmer and replied that she had seen the spook of emily dickinson in the wee early milkwagon dawn what quoth i was ms dickinson doing out in broad daylight i thought she was a good presbyterian or at least episcopalian ghost from amherst mass but mehitabel rejoined she did give me a turn being the good catholic cat that i am but there was nothing untoward in her demeanor indeed she was very ladylike and attempted to scratch my ears somewhat unsuccessfully i might add her being a shade and all boss mehitabel could not come to a point if she were a darning needle but eventually she claimed that emily dickinson s birthday began at midnight last night and so she was out kicking up her heels and a few odd buckets laughing like a loon she was 180 years old mehitabel said and the two of them went dancing down the morning streets yelling toujour gai and looking for sailors but you know boss as well as I that mehitabel doesn t see so well since she drank the sterno        archy           — with a nod to don marquis (1878-1937), thanks