THE CAT QUESTION 297 



sometimes when liis moutli opens no sound 

 issues from it — lie is too feeble even to mew. 

 His fur has a harsher appearance than in other 

 cats, the hairs stand up like the pufFed-out 

 feathers of an owl, and hide his body's excessive 

 leanness ; but when you lift him up you are 

 astonished at his lightness — he is like a wisp of 

 straw in your hand. The marvel is that when 

 he has ^'ot to this pass he can still keep alive 

 from day to da}' ; for in the bleak streets there 

 is no food for him, and the people of the houses 

 he hangs about have hardened their hearts 

 against him on account of his thieving, or 

 because if they give him an occasional scrap of 

 food he will never go away, and their only wish 

 is to see the last of him. Many of these stray 

 cats get most of their food in dust-bins, into 

 which they slink whenever the door is left open 

 for a few minutes. They find a few scraps to 

 keep them alive, and at rare intervals capture a 

 mouse. Sometimes they jump out when ashes 

 are shot into their hiding-place ; but the cat who 

 has got hardened merely shuts his eyes against 

 the stinging cloud, crouching in his corner, 

 and is satisfied to remain for days shut up in his 

 dreary cell, finding it more tolerable than the 



