284 TJu Book of Cats. 



out with great haste, in order to ensure shipment 

 by boats on the eve of departure. A sutler, with 

 a lot of stores, had made out a hasty list of his 

 stock, and gave it to one of the youngest clerks on 

 the boat to copy out in due form. The boy 

 worked away down the list, but suddenly he 

 stopped, and electrified the whole office by ex- 

 claiming, in a voice of undisguised amazement, — 

 ' What the dickens is that fellow going to do with 

 four boxes of Tom Cats.?' An incredulous laugh 

 from the other clerks was the reply, but the boy 

 pointed triumphantly to the list, exclaiming, 

 ' That's what it is — T-o-m C-a-t-s — Tom Cats, if I 

 know how to read !' The entrance of the sutler at 

 that moment explained the mystery. 



"'Why, confound it!' said he, 'that means four 

 boxes Tomato Catsup ! Don't you understand 

 abbreviations }' " 



Here is a bit of my own experience : — 

 I once had in my possession a very life-like 

 engraving of a remarkably ugly bulldog, which 

 hung in a frame over a piano in the drawing-room. 

 With some surprise I noticed, upon several occa- 

 sions, that a favourite cat would climb upon the 

 top of the piano, and sitting close underneath the 

 picture, fix its eyes upon the dog's face, and 



