220 CAT IMAGES. 



black cats. But was any one ever taken in but — the 

 maker? Then there were cats, and cats and kittens, made 

 of silk, for selling at fancy fairs, not much like cats, but for 

 t\\Q purposes good. Cats sitting on pen-wipers ; clay cats of 

 burnt brick-earth. These were generally something to re- 

 member rather than possess. Wax cats also, with a cotton 

 wick coming out at the top of the head. It was a saddening 

 sight to see these beauties burning slowly away. Was this a 

 " remnant " of the burning of the live cats in the " good old 

 times"? And cats made of rabbits' skins were not un- 

 common, and far better to give children to play with than 

 the tiny^ lovable, patient, live kitten, which, if it submit to 

 be tortured, it is well, but if it resent pain and suffering, 

 then it is beaten. There is more ill done "from want of 

 thought than want of heart." 



But kittens have fallen upon evil times, ay, even in 

 these days of education and enlightenment. As long as the 

 world lasts probably there will be the foolish, the gay, 

 unthinking, and, in tastes, the ridiculous. But then there are, 

 and there ever will be, those that are always craving, thirsting, 

 longing, shall I say mad? — for something 7iew. Light-headed, 

 with softened intellects who must — they say they must — have 

 some excitement or some novelty, no matter what, to talk 

 of or possess, though all this is ephemeral, and the silliness 

 only lasts a few hours. Long or short, they are never con- 

 scious of these absurdities, and look forward with all the 

 eagerness of doll-pleased infancy for another — craze. The 

 world is being denuded of some of its brightest ornaments and 

 its heaven-taught music, in the slaughter of birds, to gratify 

 for scarcely a few hours the insane vanity, that is now rife 

 in the ball-room — fashion. 



What has all this to do with cats ? Why, this class of 

 people are not content, they never are so ; but are adding 

 to the evil by piling up a fresh one. It is the kitten now, 

 the small, about two or three weeks old kitten that is the 

 " fashion." Not long ago they were killed and stuffed for 

 children to play with — better so than alive, perhaps; but now 

 they are to please children of a larger growth^ their tightly 



