ANECDOTES ABOUT CATS 255 



" Soon she knew that it would please me if she would 

 go up, and up she started. When she got to the top, I 

 told her to open the basket and get in. 



" She understood what I meant, because she is accus- 

 tomed to open the lid and enter a basket, held in the 

 mouth of one of my performing dogs. 



" I let the parachute down very gently at first, but after 

 she had done the trick several times I could bring it 

 down as suddenly as I pleased. 



" The time required for learning a new trick depends, 

 both on the nature of the trick itself and upon the indi- 

 vidual intelligence of each one of the pupils. The things 

 which look hardest to the audience are often the simplest 

 of the whole performance. I never dare to punish the 

 cats at all, they are too contrary in their disposition ; I 

 believe if I struck one of them, it would never act again. 



" It takes a long time to get an idea into a cat's head. 

 When I was teaching my company the circus act, 1 almost 

 gave up in despair. The dogs act as horses and the cats 

 as riders. A dog trots round the ring, passing under a 

 chair on which sits a cat ; as the dog comes out from 

 under the chair, the cat springs on his back, and jumps 

 back on the chair when the circuit is completed. 



" It is very hard for the cat to get a good grip, especi- 

 ally on short-haired dogs, and they used their claws at first 

 to keep them from falling off. This, of course, hurt the 

 dogs, and they would shake the cats off. 



" It took me months of patient instruction to teach the 

 cats that they must hold on by the pressure of their legs 

 and feet, and not use their claws at all. These things 



