192 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



upon such a subject. Is it possible that she did 

 not know in what manner cats catch mice, and 

 needed M. Raton's careful explanation ? Was she 

 educating little kittens as well as little girls in that 

 particular Visitation convent, and did she feel the 

 necessity for this manual of feline accomplishments, 

 this Young Cat's Guide to Learning ? Above all, 

 why should the author have chosen the ear of a 

 religious in which to pour the scandalous details 

 of Pussy's moonlight courtship ? The chapter en- 

 titled " Des Amours des Chats " appears hardly 

 fit for cloistered readers. " I venture to say," 

 writes the Frenchman blithely, " that this is not 

 the least pleasant part of my narrative ; " and one 

 blushes at his temerity. What was Madame la 

 Superieure du Couvent des Visitandines thinking 

 about, when she permitted such unseemly particu- 

 lars to receive the sanction of her name ! 



Neither Buffon, however, nor M. Raton — fee- 

 bler exponent of a fast dying antagonism — could 

 destroy the natural affinity between men of letters 

 and their cats, an affinity strengthened by mutual 

 understanding, and hours of silent companionship. 

 Sainte-Beuve's cat was perhaps the finest type of 

 his thoughtful race, — a studious animal, disinclined 

 alike to careless dalliance or to gladiatorial joys. His 

 pleasures were all of a meditative, sedentary char- 

 acter. He would sit for hours on bis master's table, 



