CATS OF TO-DAY. 



quite in a different mould from that of the 

 dog. I may mention that the household cat 

 outnumbers, it is said, the household dog in 

 London by the proportion of four to one. This 

 fact may be accounted for by the non-taxation 

 of cats. The question of the taxation of cats 

 has very often been raised, and I do not think 

 that anyone who really values his cat would 

 object to pay a yearly tax ; but the proposal 

 is as unpractical as it is ridiculous, and it is 

 certain that taxation would not help in 

 exterminating the poor, disreputable, half- 

 starved members of the feline tribe, who have 

 no fixed abode and whose only means of exist- 

 ence is by plunder. 



The figure and number nine seems to be 

 an important one in connection with cats. 

 There is a popular saying that a cat has nine 

 lives. The expostulating tabby in Gay's 

 Fables says to the old beldame : 



" 'Tis infamy to serve a hag, 

 Cats are thought imps, her broom a nag ; 

 And boys against our lives combine, 

 Because, 'tis said, your cats have nine." 



Cats probably owe this reputation to their 

 extraordinary powers of endurance, and cer- 

 tain it is that they have a greater tenacity 

 to life than any other animal. At the Batter- 



sea Home a dog and a cat have been placed 

 in the lethal chamber, and it was observed 

 that the dog died in five minutes, whereas 

 the cat breathed for forty minutes longer. A 

 short time ago I received the following letter 

 from a cat fancier : 



" At ii p.m. two kittens, a few hours old, were 

 placed in a pail of water, and left there for rather 

 over ten minutes. Seeing them at the bottom 

 with their months open, it was taken for granted 

 they were dead ; the bodies were then trans- 

 ferred to the ashpit, and early next morning they 

 were discovered to be alive and quite chirpy. 

 Restoring them to the mother, they have grown 

 nice, strong, healthy little kits, and have just- 

 left for comfortable homes." 



In Thistleton Dyer's interesting book on 

 " English Folk-lore," reference is made to- 

 this subject. " Cats," he says, " from their 

 great suppleness and aptitude to fall on their 

 feet, are commonly said to have nine lives ; 

 hence Ben Johnson, in ' Every Man in his 

 Humour,' says, ' 'Tis a pity you had not ten 

 lives a cat's and your own.' ' 



" In the Middle Ages a witch was empow- 

 ered to take cat's body nine times," so writes 

 an eminent old zoologist. 



The "cat-o'-wme-tails" is a dreaded object 

 to some light-fingered and heavy-handed 

 miscreants. I have heard a magistrate 

 remark that he considers this form of pun- 

 ishment the best way in which to give hints 



" AT WORK AND PLAY 

 (Photo: C. Reui, Wis 



