THE CAMERA 



38: 



in your ideas between wondering how 

 the cat happened to be so studious and 

 how Mr. Breen came to be so successful. 

 We who are amateur astronomers soon 

 advance beyond the field glass stage. It 

 is our dream, perhaps, for years to own 

 a telescope, even a small one, and at last 

 comes the happy day. From your own 

 experience imagine the cat's joy when 

 she takes the instrument to the beach 

 and gazes, not at the ocean of water, but 

 at the ocean of space. At first the tele- 



even a cat friend, if you do not utilize 

 him? What is the use of a friend, asks 

 Cowper, if he can't earn- <>nc end of the 

 bag? We all are selfish and get friends 

 for our own use the same a> we get any- 

 thing else that gives us pleasure and com- 

 fort. There is no sense in having 

 friendly cats to assist you at the telescope 

 unless they give you joy. 



Perhaps in some future number we 

 will tell you more of these cats because 

 they still live, still take sips from the 



'HOW EASY FOR HER TO BRING A STOOL 

 FROM THE SITTING ROOM." 



A FRIENDLY CAT BECOMES THE BALANC- 

 ING WEIGHT. 



scope is beyond her powers. She needs 

 to exercise patience and ingenuity to be- 

 come skillful. She thinks that the tripod 

 is a little too tall, but how easy for her 

 to bring a stool from the sitting room and 

 lift herself so high that she may see the 

 rings of Saturn ! 



But what is the use of gazing only at 

 the stars. Invite a friendly cat to assist 

 in these astronomical investigations, and 

 if you are skillful and the cat wise you 

 will see how the astronomical cat will 

 utilize her friend. The telescope may 

 need a balancing weight, and this defect 

 is easily remedied when the cat friend 

 mounts the tripod and sways to and fro 

 to get an even and steady balance just 

 as you are looking at the four moons of 

 Jupiter. For what is the use of a friend, 



bottle of catnip tea, still study the pass- 

 ing boats on Long Island Sound by the 

 aid of a field glass, still gaze into ethereal 

 depths, and, what is more than all that, 

 still puzzle our photographers to know 

 how the thing is done. 



One of my friends to whom I have 

 shown these pictures, and who helps me 

 by carrying one end of the bag, says that, 

 although he is not a photographer, he 

 can explain. The late Dr. Elliot Coues, 

 when asked with what he stuffed his 

 birds, said, "With anything except brick- 

 bats." Mr. Breen's cats are stuffed, 

 maybe not with brickbats, but surely with 

 cotton batting and excelsior. 



But he's wrong ; the cats are alive, and 

 — well, how did they do it? 



