THE CAT TO-DAY 293 



ceased to be surprised when its place was found 

 empty." 



"C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." 

 Mr. Rule, who succeeded in crossing a domestic 

 cat of the tortoise-shell variety with a young wild 

 cat, found that the male kitten of this strangely as- 

 sorted pair was beyond measure quarrelsome and 

 fierce. Had he lived, he might have scaled heights 

 of wickedness unknown generally to his race, and 

 have rivalled that animal whom De Ouincey re- 

 spected as a veritable assassin, not a mere slayer of 

 robins and rats. He died, however, in his lusty 

 youth, and his sister was as gentle and playful as 

 he had been sullen and violent. Both inherited 

 the beauty of their mother, and the superb activity 

 of their free-born sire. 



"The human race," says an acute thinker, "may 

 be divided into people who love cats and people 

 who hate them ; the neutrals being few in numbers, 

 and, for intellectual and moral reasons, not worth 

 considering." This is true, even in our day of fee- 

 ble passions and lukewarm antagonisms. The old 

 inheritance of fear, the old association with evil, 

 still darken Pussy's pathway. That sick abhor- 

 rence w r hich shook poor Ronsard's soul if a cat 

 but crossed his path, is not unknown in the twen- 

 tieth century ; and there are many who — strange 

 though it may appear — prefer their chimney cor- 



