THE CAT= 



always interested him, and, until he understood it, 

 he wanted to hold the pen. 



He always held himself in a kind of reserve with 

 his friend, as if he had said, " Let us respect our 

 personality, and not make a * mess ' of friendship." 

 He saw, with Emerson, the risk of degrading it to 

 trivial conveniency. " Why insist on rash per- 

 sonal relations with your friend? Leave this 

 touching and clawing.'' Yet I would not give an 

 unfair notion of his aloofness, his fine sense of the 

 sacredness of the me and the not-me. And, at 

 the risk of not being believed, I will relate an inci- 

 dent which was often repeated. Calvin had the 

 practice of passing a portion of the night in the 

 contemplation of its beauties, and would come into 

 our chamber over the roof of the conservatory 

 through the open window, summer and winter, and 

 go to sleep on the foot of my bed. He would do 

 this always exactly in the same way ; he never was 

 content to stay in the chamber if we compelled him 

 to go upstairs and through the door. He had the 

 obstinacy of General Grant. In the morning, he 

 performed his toilet, and went down to breakfast 

 with the rest of the family. Now, when the mis- 

 tress was absent from home, and at no other time, 

 Calvin would come in the morning, when the bell 

 rang, to the head of the bed, put up his forepaws 

 107 



