148 DOGS AND CATS. 



all a cat is good for is to catch rats, and that if well fed 

 they will not do this, and so they starve them. This is 

 a mistake in fact. Cats are hunting animals, and have the 

 natural instinct to pursue and catch prey, and a cat that is 

 a good mouser will do this whether well or ill fed. To live 

 only upon rats is said to injure the health of the cat, and 

 bring on convulsions. 



The most beautiful and best trained cat I ever knew was 

 named Juno, and was brought up by a lady who was so 

 wise in all that related to the care and management of 

 animals, that she might be quoted as authority on all 

 points of their nurture and breeding ; and Juno, carefully 

 trained by such a mistress, was a standing example of the 

 virtyes which may be formed in a cat by careful education. 



Never was Juno known to be out of place, to take her 

 nap elsewhere than on her own appointed cushion, to be 

 absent at meal-times, or, when the most tempting dainties 

 were in her power, to anticipate the proper time by jump- 

 ing on the table to help herself. 



In all her personal habits Juno was of a neatness unpar- 

 alleled in cat history. The parlor of her mistress was 

 always of a waxen and spotless cleanness, and Juno would 

 have died sooner than violate its sanctity by any impro- 

 priety. She was a skilful mouser, and her sleek, glossy 

 sides were a sufficient refutation of the absurd notion that 

 a cat must be starved into a display of her accomplish- 



