268 THE FIRESIDE SPHINX 



" The cats of the army," confesses this report, " are 

 very slow to accustom themselves to the diet pre- 

 scribed by the government circular ; " and, with 

 lamentable lack of patriotism, they desert their 

 posts in favour of ' more liberal accommodation. 

 Vienna has its official cats, supported in affluence by 

 the municipality. When too old for service, they 

 are placed on the retired list, and honourably pen- 

 sioned, as becomes a city which leads the world in 

 the wisdom and humanity of its laws, drawing a 

 sharp line of distinction between the idle vagabond 

 and the aged poor whose day for work is over. 



The Midland Railway in England has eight cat's 

 among its employees. Their headquarters are at 

 Trent, and they have under their care the corn- 

 sacks — some four hundred thousand in number — 

 which hold the grain carried by the road to its 

 markets. Other railways are as well provided ; and 

 the pussies that work in the London dock-yards seem 

 to be among the most useful members of a busy 

 community. It is even said that they assume airs 

 of ridiculous importance, swaggering around the 

 docks in off hours, and giving idlers to understand 

 that the shipping industries of London depend 

 largely upon their intelligence and activity. They 

 are a closely organized body, and no one who knows 

 them would feel surprised at hearing any day of a 

 strike among the dock-yard cats. The same as- 



