206 Life and Immortality. 
whose devotion to their young has been so strong that they 
have hunted all day for their benefit, even when the latter 
were full-grown, scarcely taking any nourishment for them- 
selves. But such feelings are perfectly natural. When, 
however, we see a Cat that is willing to share its food with 
a stranger, one cannot resist the thought that here is a case 
of real generosity. A friend once possessed a fine black 
Cat. He was dainty in his eating, scrupulously exact in his 
dress, and well-mannered in his deportment. No Cat ever 
received better training. Unlike the average Cat, he could 
be trusted in the presence of tempting viands. and was never 
known to abuse the confidence reposed in him. Beauty, 
for so he was called, was a model fellow, and well deserved 
the name. The education he received, while it made him 
gentle, kind and affectionate, and gave him reliability of 
character, did still more, for it endowed him with a soul 
that was not a stranger to the noblest impulses. Life had 
few luxuries that he did not enjoy; but a sprig of catnip was 
more to him than the choicest steak or raciest tidbit, and to 
this luxury he was weekly treated. Notwithstanding his 
fondness for the herb, he was never reluctant to share it 
with another, whom Fortune had less favored. 
Cats, at least such as are well circumstanced, possess some 
knowledge of the uses of things. We once knew a Cat 
that would, when out of doors, make its presence known by 
a few loud raps upon the closed door, administered by its 
right front paw. If the call was not immediately answered, 
a few more raps, louder than before, would be given, and 
then the Cat, unable to restrain its impatience, would spring 
up to the latch, striking it a downward blow, as though 
endeavoring, human-like, to effect an entrance. 
But quite as interesting as any of the foregoing cases is 
that of a female Cat that had run a spine into one of her 
hind feet. Limping upon three legs she made her way to 
her mistress, and, raising her foot, implored with a piteous 
look and sad, distressing cries the removal of the offensive 
