CHAPTER IV. 



CAEE OF THE CAT. 



THE care of the cat is of very much more 

 importance in the close surroundings of 

 city life than it is in the country, where the 

 animal has as much freedom as the barefooted, 

 half-dressed boy who can be trusted to run the 

 farm over, and is supposed to be safe whether 

 rooting in the garden of vegetables, sunflowers, 

 and hollyhocks, playing in the calf -pen, or in- 

 vestigating the poultry or pigs. In the country 

 the cat has the opportunity of finding mice, 

 birds, and its feral prey, and can always fall 

 back on a goodly feed from the milk-pan of 

 the dairy and the rear of the kitchen. It 

 breeds as it pleases, and demands little care or 

 attention beyond the interest the children or 

 housewife take in the kittens which appear 

 from some corner, after they are able to run 

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