88 ANIMAL REPUTATION. 



quarters. Absurd stories are told as to its sucking children's 

 breath. 



We speak of a scandal-propagating, unamiable, sour old 

 maid as being ' spiteful as a cat,' and we associate the so 

 frequently beautiful animal with ideas of stealthiness and 

 treachery, of the enjoyment of the torture of its captives, of 

 calculating cruelty. And yet Wood tells us, 'Instead of 

 being a greedy, selfish animal .... it is really a very un- 

 selfish and generous one, capable of great self- sacrifice.' Jesse 

 mentions one that fed a jay twice a day with mice. Another 

 cat always brought and laid at her master's feet the mice 

 she had caught before she would eat them ; she made use of 

 them as food only when they were given back to her by her 

 master. The attachment of the cat is frequently as great to 

 person as to place, such attachment, however, depending 

 usually on how far she is understood, sympathised with, and 

 kindly treated. Cases have been given of cats following 

 their masters from house to house, place to place, accom- 

 panying them, on visits to other people's residences as 

 unconcernedly as the dog (Wood, Broderip). They may be 

 trained even to guard and defend like a dog. 



In the East ' dog ' is a term of profoundest contempt 

 used by man towards his brother man ; and in many parts 

 of the East, where the poor animal is either utterly neglected 

 or cruelly ill-used, or both, it possesses many evil qualities 

 that are not developed in happier circumstances. In our 

 own country we use the term * dogged ' in a contemptuous 

 sense, usually as synonymous with a stupid, hopeless obsti- 

 nacy. But such self-willedness or perversity is no more a 

 feature of the natural character of the dog than it is that of 

 the ass, mule, or pig. When it really exists, it is usually the 

 fruit of man's training or usage (Walsh). 



In the bull-dog, for instance, there is a remarkable te- 

 nacity or pertinacity of purpose, this purpose being the 

 * holding on ' through thick and thin, even to the death, to 

 an enemy. Blaine tells us that 'no sufferings short of ex- 

 tinction can make him forego his purpose,' whether it be a 

 right or a wrong one. But this is a direct result of man's 

 training ; and what we call, with singular impropriety, its 



