222 CAT IMAGES. 



good gingerbread, it was saved for many a day, or until the 

 holiday time was ended and feasting over, and the next fair 

 talked of. 



But, after all " said and done," what a little respect, 

 regard, and reverence is there in our mode to that of the 

 Egyptians ! They had three varieties of cats, but they were all 

 the same to them; as their pets, as useful, beautiful, and 

 typical, they were individually and nationally regarded, their 

 bodies embalmed, and verses chaunted in their praise ; and 

 the image of the cat then — a thousand years ago— was a deity. 

 What do they think of the cat now, these same though 

 modern Egyptians ? Scarcely anything. And we, who in 

 bygone ages persecuted it, to-day give it a growing recog- 

 nition as an animal both useful, beautiful, and worthy of 

 culture. 



