CAT IMAGES. 221 



filled skins, adorned with glass eyes, being put in sportive 

 attitudes about portrait frames, and such like uses. It is 

 comical, and were it not for the stupid bad taste and 

 absurdity of the thing, one would feel inclined to laugh at 

 clauiberiiig kitten skins about, and supposed to be peeping 

 into the face of a languor-struck " beauty." Who buys such ? 

 Does any one? If so, where do they go? Over thirty 

 kittens in one shop window. What next, and — next ? 

 Truly frivolity is not dead ! 



From these, and such as these, turn to the models fair 

 and proper ; the china, the porcelain, the terra cotta, the 

 bronze, and the silver, both English, French, German, and 

 Japanese ; some exquisite, with all the character, elegance, 

 and grace of the living animals. In these there has been 

 a great advance of late years, Miss A. Chaplin taking the 

 lead. Then in bold point tracery on pottery Miss Barlow 

 tells of the animal's flowing lines and non-angular posing. 

 Art — true art — all of it ; and art to be coveted by the lover 

 of cats, or for art alone. 



But I have almost forgotten the old-time custom of, when 

 the young ladies came from school, bringing home a "sampler," 

 in the days before linen stamping was known or thought of. 

 On these in needlework were alphabets, numbers, trees (such 

 trees), dogs, and cats. Then, too, there were cats of silk and 

 satin, in needlework, and cats in various materials ; but the 

 most curious among the young people's accomplishments was 

 the making of tortoiseshell catsfrom a snail-shell, with a smaller 

 one for a head, with either wax or bread ears, fore-legs and 

 tail, and yellow or green beads for eyes. Droll-looking things 

 — very. I give a drawing of one. And last, not least often, 

 the edible cats — cats made of cheese, cats of sweet sponge- 

 cake, cats of sugar, and once I saw a cat of jelly. In the old 

 times of country pleasure fairs, when every one brought home 

 gingerbread nuts and cakes as " a fairing," the gingerbread 

 "cat in boots " was not forgotten nor left unappreciated ; 

 generally fairly good in form, and gilt over with Dutch metal, 

 it occupied a place of honour in many a country cottage 

 home, and, for the matter of that, also in the busy town. If 



