THE CAT= 



Oliver 



I wish you would write seriously to M . 



She is not behaving well to Oliver. I have seen 

 handsomer kittens, but few more lively and ener- 

 getically destructive. Just now he scratched away 



at something that M says cost 13s. 6d. a 



yard, and reduced more or less of it to combings. 



M therefore excludes him from the dining- 

 room, and from all those opportunities of higher 

 education which he would naturally have in my 

 house. 



I have argued that it is as immoral to place 13s. 

 6d. a yardnesses within reach of kittens as to hang 

 bracelets and diamond rings in the front garden. 

 But in vain. Oliver is banished, and the protector 

 (not Oliver) is sat upon. In truth and justice 

 aid your Pa. 



Thomas Huxley to his youngest daughter. 



113 



