303 



" THE STORM KING." 



OWNED BY Miss C. WALLACE. 



(Photo : Lewis Studio, East Brady, Pa,) 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



CATS IN AMERICA. 



A 



W 



REVIEW of 



the cat fancy 

 in America 

 carries us over so 

 vast an expanse of 

 territory, that it is 

 not easy at one 

 fell swoop really 

 to do it justice. 

 The only way that 

 seems feasible is to 

 take the fancy by 

 districts ; and as the 

 cat fancy exempli- 

 fied by shows may 

 be said to have 



arisen in the east, this district should, I think, 

 have the pride of place, though it has for a 

 time to give way to the reign of the cat further 

 towards the setting of the sun. 



On referring to Mrs. Pierce's notes, it will 

 be seen that Maine had its cat shows long 

 before we had some of us come to America. 

 The cat fancy as it is now in America may 

 have been said to have sprung into a steady 

 existence with the first show held in the 



"RADO. 



BLUE, OWNED BY MRS. KRESS. 

 (Photo: Branch, Minneapolis.) 



Madison Square Garden, New York, on May 

 8th, 1895. This show was organised by Mr. 

 James T. Hyde, an Englishman, who has been 

 closely identified with the horse shows at the 

 Garden for many years, and the idea of hold- 

 ing a cat show came to him suddenly, from 

 having attended the Crystal Palace show. 



The first cat show in New York was a great 

 success from the time the doors opened till its 

 close, though the temperature which was for 

 part of the time as high as 96 degrees was 

 hard upon the cats, especially those that had 

 just come from England. When we returned 

 home the morning after the show there was a 

 white frost ! Part of the judging was done 

 and well done by the late Dr. Huide- 

 koper, who had picked up a good deal of his 

 cat lore while a medical student at Paris and 

 Edinburgh and in London. Miss Hurlburt and 

 Mr. T. Farrer Rackham were the other judges. 



In regard to this show which marks the 

 beginning of the cat fever in America, that spread 

 outside of the State of Maine I think I ought 

 to point out what was chiefly remarkable, and 

 the parts of the show that were destined to bear 

 upon the future. In the first place, the prize 



