ANECDOTES ABOUT CATS 227 



station but hearing nothing of the cats, wired to the 

 manager of the show with reply paid. 



Back came a wire apologising for the delay and 

 saying : 



"Your cats leaving by next train, sorry they were 

 overlooked." 



The cart went to the station and returned triumphantly 

 with a lot of boxes and baskets. 



I may mention here, as it may be a wrinkle for some 

 of my readers who are exhibitors of rabbits, cats or 

 cavies, that I used boxes of my own design for sending 

 my stuff to shows. Each of these contained four compart- 

 ments, about two feet square each, with a separate hinged 

 lid to each, fastened by a leather strap and buckle so that 

 any one could be taken out by itself at a time. Battens 

 of wood were fastened to the bottom to keep it off wet 

 platforms, etc., and they were impervious to rain, etc. 



There was a strong handle like those on trunks and 

 boxes to the lid of each box to move it about with. My 

 initials, and the name of our local station were painted 

 plainly in white letters on a black ground to show where 

 it belonged. 



In the few cases where I used baskets, these were 

 covered with strong canvas at sides and top to avoid 

 draughts, and provided with open wickerwork inner lids 

 to prevent an animal jumping out when the basket was 

 opened. 



Of course the boxes had holes about the size of 

 a sixpence each bored all round the edges, just under the 

 lids, to give plenty of ventilation but no draught, and 1 



