male. There are, no doubt, particular Toms, 

 but the general cat is of the feminine gender, 

 and it is by the feminine pronoun that I shall 

 refer to her. And on the main point the 

 judgment is monstrously wild and violent. 

 As a first step in the process of disproof I 

 submitted this painful passage to Fluffy, who 

 has shared my home for seventeen years, still 

 keeping a gallant bearing against the attacks 

 of time and producing kittens with regularity 

 and dispatch. " Fluffy," I said, "are you fero- 

 cious ? " She opened her pink mouth, but 

 made no sound, and then (being on a gravel 

 path) turned over on her back and asked 

 for a caress. " Fluffy," I continued, " where 

 is your oblique disdain ? " She drew my 

 hand down gently and clawlessly with her 

 front paws. " Fluffy," I concluded, " why 

 do you think of us as encumbering para- 

 sites and curse us in your mysterious 

 heart ? " She rose, arched her back, and 

 rubbed herself, smiling and purring, against 

 my leg. The answer was complete, a 

 37 S delicate 



