298 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



for live sparrows with which to feed her favourite. 

 More absurd, but far less repulsive, is this really 

 delightful notice which appeared some years ago 

 in a Berlin newspaper : — 



" Wanted, by a lady of rank, for adequate re- 

 muneration, a few well-behaved and respectably 

 dressed children, to amuse a cat in delicate health 

 two or three hours a day." 



One fears this to have been mistaken kind- 

 ness. Cats, even when robust, have scant liking 

 for the boisterous society of children, and are apt 

 to exert their utmost ingenuity to escape it. Nor 

 are they without adult sympathy in their prejudice. 

 " Augustus detested above all things going to bed 

 with little boys," writes Mr. Kenneth Grahame, 

 and who shall blame Augustus ? The poor Ber- 

 lin invalid, so strenuously entertained, might have 

 sympathized — had he but known — with the court 

 of Versailles, when it heard the formal announce- 

 ment which preluded " Athalie : " " Mesdames and 

 Messieurs, the King graciously requests you to be 

 amused." 



A gentleman, living alone in one of our Southern 

 cities, recently brought suit against his next-door 

 neighbour for alienating the affections of his cat. 

 It was set forth in the testimony that the plaintiff 

 had — and desired — no other companionship save 

 that of a beautiful Maltese pussy, who, being of a 



