Some of these came by e-mail, and some were handed to me at the desk on paper, and I typed them in. The children's I've typed
exactly as written, except for spelling, which I'm afraid I could not help myself from fixing. Newest at the bottom.
JUL 23 1999
I am the one who let him in. I was stamping the snow off and he went past my feet like a shot. Florence says I should take
credit for fourteen good years and I will. He used to sit on my book when I tried to read in the window seat and I would read
around him. I will miss that very much.
— Hannah Schubert, Saltgrass
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JUL 24 1999
Paperback was my friend. He let me brush him and he did not bite even when I did it backwards. I drew him with wings. He is in
heaven with the other library cats and they all have their own shelf.
— Renee, age 7
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JUL 26 1999
I'd like it on the record, since Florence has put it on the computer for the whole world to see, that in March of 1985 I voted
against the cat, and that I was wrong. I have been on a good many boards in my life. That is the only vote I ever lost that I was
glad to lose. My granddaughter is typing this for me.
— Henrietta Sealy, Saltgrass
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JUL 27 1999
My son was so shy in first grade that he wouldn't read out loud for his teacher, not one word. Florence suggested we try reading to
Paperback. For a whole winter we went in every afternoon and my boy read Frog and Toad to that cat in the children's corner,
very quietly, and the cat sat there and listened, or slept, which my son said was the same thing. By spring he was reading to his
class. He's a sophomore now and he's taking it hard. Thank you, Florence. Thank you, Paperback.
— Lisa Stice, Saltgrass
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JUL 29 1999
Note left on the circulation desk, typed in by F.M.:
Florence. The ham was my idea, not his. Don't let anybody tell you different. I'll be in Monday as usual. It won't be the same
having the table to myself. J.M.
— John Mays
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AUG 3 1999
I was chairman of the board the night we voted, and I've been asked more than once since what I was thinking. I'll tell you. I was
thinking that in fifty-four years of coming to that library I'd never seen a farmer's kid run up the front steps to get inside until
that cat came. That's all a library needs, is a reason to come in the door. He was the best reason we ever had.
— Bert Jessop, Saltgrass
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AUG 5 1999
I grew up with Paperback. He was there for every summer reading program from when I was six until I graduated, and in fourth grade
I did my animal report on him and got an A, mostly for the drawings. I'm a senior at KU this fall and when Mom called to tell me, I
went and sat in the library here for an hour, in the stacks, just to be near books. It helped. Give the new-books shelf a pat for me,
Mrs. Melvin.
— Rebecca Newson, Lawrence, Kansas
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AUG 9 1999
I took care of Paperback for his last eleven years. Library cats are a special breed: they belong to everybody, so everybody worries
about them, and I had more phone calls about that cat than about some herds of cattle. Florence did everything right for him at the
end. Kidney disease is common in older cats, and he had good months he wouldn't have had otherwise because she was willing to learn
the fluids. Fifteen is a fine long life for a cat. He was a gentleman on the exam table, too, which I can't say for every patient.
— Patrick Downing, DVM
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AUG 12 1999
He sat on my newspaper every morning for fourteen years. Usually on the sports. I read the box scores through his fur. I didn't know
I'd miss a thing like that.
— Raymond Rankin, Saltgrass
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AUG 14 1999
dear paperback, i am sorry you died. you were a good cat and you were soft. i liked when you sat in the chair at story time. the
new cat books have your name in them. i checked one out.
— Alec, age 8
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AUG 20 1999
As treasurer of the Friends of the Library, I can report that the coffee can on the circulation desk took in $1,212.48 in its
fourteen years as the Paperback Food Fund, mostly in quarters, and has taken in $286.15 since July 20 for the cat books. Somebody put
in a twenty last week with a note that said "for the shelf." That's the most we've ever had in it at once. He's still bringing people
in the door.
— Dorothy Nino, Saltgrass
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AUG 23 1999
I brought my third graders to the library every October for eleven years, and the first thing every one of them asked when we walked
in was "where's Paperback?" Not "where are the books." I used to pretend to be offended. I'm moving my class visit up to September
this year, and I've asked Florence to read Millions of Cats.
— Irene Rickman, Saltgrass
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AUG 30 1999
I moved to Denver in 1991, and I'm a little embarrassed to say that Paperback is one of the first things I think of when I think of
home. That and the elevator and the wind. My daughter found this page for me, and she wants to confess that she's the one who put him in the doll's
bonnet in 1987. She's sorry, Florence. He forgave her by lunchtime.
— Linda Winchell, Denver, Colorado
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SEP 2 1999
I used to come in after school and do my homework at the big table and he would lie on my math book so I couldn't do it. That was the
best excuse I ever had. My mom says the library might get another cat someday. I think it should, but not yet.
— Karina, age 9
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SEP 8 1999
I volunteered at the desk on Tuesday afternoons from 1986 until my hip, and I want to tell people a thing they may not know. On the
day my husband died, in 1993, I came in anyway, because I didn't know where else to go, and I sat in the window seat, and that cat got up
from the new-books shelf, which he never did before three o'clock, and came and lay down beside me for the whole afternoon. Animals
know. Florence, you gave this town a great gift when you shared your sandwich.
— Letha Leblanc, Saltgrass
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SEP 14 1999
He was there my whole life. I'm eleven and I don't remember the library without him. I made a bookmark with his picture on it on
the computer in the library and Mrs. Melvin is going to put one in every cat book. That is all I wanted to say.
— April, age 11
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Thank you all. I read every one of these at least twice, usually with the door to the workroom shut. If you have a memory of Paperback,
write to me and I'll add it here.
Back to Paperback
   
Last updated September 19, 1999
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