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" TOBEY," A MAINE TRICK CAT. 

 OWNED BY Miss CHAPLE. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



MAINE CATS. 



FROM my earliest recollection I have had 

 from one to several long-haired cats of 

 that variety often called Maine cats. As 

 to how and when they came, I would say, like 

 Topsy, they just " growed," for their advent 

 reaches far back beyond the memory of the 

 oldest inhabitant. 



Our own family circle was never complete 

 without one or more cats not always long- 

 haired, but that variety always held the place 

 of honour. 



As early as 1861 my younger brother and 

 myself owned jointly a beautiful long-haired 

 black, pointed with white ; he bore up for 

 several years under the remarkable name of 

 " Captain Jenks of the Horse Marines." I 

 have no recollection of his earlier history or 

 advent. I fancy, however, that these cats 

 came into Maine much in the same way and 

 about the same time that they did in England. 



The Maine people having had them so long, 

 it is difficult to arouse any great enthusiasm 

 21* 



about them there. They are much like other 

 people they go into heroics over things they 

 know less about. 



Not until the craze for long-haired cats 

 struck the West did they think much about 

 selling cats ; their very best would be given 

 to their dearest friends. When I think of 

 the number of beauties that I have had given 

 me on my return visits because I would be 

 good to them, it makes me wish for the good 

 old times when the little dears were beyond 

 price in " filthy lucre." 



I think the first really important develop- 

 ment of the cat fancy that took deep and 

 lasting root in me occurred in 1869, when I 

 saw for the first time a pair of blue-eyed white 

 Persian kittens that landed, to say the least, 

 free of duty, in a sailmaker's pocket, from a 

 foreign vessel, which put into a seaport town 

 for repairs after a severe storm. 



This Mr. P , being a great lover of 



cats, while on board the vessel making repairs, 



