296 Life and Immortality. 



whose devotion to their young has been so strong that they 

 have hunted all day for their benefit, even when the latter 

 were full-grown, scarcely taking any nourishment for them- 

 selves. But such feelings are perfectly natural. When, 

 however, we see a Cat that is willing to share its food with 

 a stranger, one cannot resist the thought that here is a case 

 of real generosity. A friend once possessed a fine black 

 Cat. He was dainty in his eating, scrupulously exact in his 

 dress, and well-mannered in his deportment. No Cat ever 

 received better training. Unlike the average Cat, he could 

 be trusted in the presence of tempting viands, and was never 

 known to abuse the confidence reposed in him. Beauty, 

 for so he was called, was a model fellow, and well deserved 

 the name. The education he received, while it made him 

 gentle, kind and affectionate, and gave him reliability of 

 character, did still more, for it endowed him with a soul 

 that was not a stranger to the noblest impulses. Life had 

 few luxuries that he did not enjoy ; but a sprig of catnip was 

 more to him than the choicest steak or raciest tidbit, and to 

 this luxury he was weekly treated. Notwithstanding his 

 fondness for the herb, he was never reluctant to share it 

 with another, whom Fortune had less favored. 



Cats, at least such as are well circumstanced, possess some 

 knowledge of the uses of things. We once knew a Cat 

 that would, when out of doors, make its presence known by 

 a few loud raps upon the closed door, administered by its 

 right front paw. If the call was not immediately answered, 

 a few more raps, louder than before, would be given, and 

 then the Cat, unable to restrain its impatience, would spring 

 up to the latch, striking it a downward blow, as though 

 endeavoring, human-like, to effect an entrance. 



But quite as interesting as any of the foregoing cases is 

 that of a female Cat that had run a spine into one of her 

 hind feet. Limping upon three legs she made her way to 

 her mistress, and, raising her foot, implored with a piteous 

 look and sad, distressing cries the removal of the offensive 



