On This Day

Born this day in 1878: Don Marquis, creator of Archie and Mehitabel:

do you think that i would change
my present freedom to range
for a castle or moated grange
wotthehell wotthehell
cage me and i d go frantic
my life is so romantic
capricious and corybantic
and i m toujours gai toujours gai

So Mehitabel the alley cat, descendant of Cleopatra. On which her amanuensis Archie the Cockroach observes:

boss sometimes i think
that our friend mehitabel
is a trifle too gay

It was Marquis who, while on the wagon, walked into a bar and said "I've conquered this goddam willpower of mine. Gimme a double Scotch."

[I tried to find video of the great Rosalie Sorrels doing her rendition of the courtship of Mehitabel by Percy ("these kittens dissolve the marriage!").   But it doesn't seem to be out there.]