THE CAT. 



after them : bo that for cat's meat antt the keeper's salary no 

 little expense is annually incurred; sufficient in fact to form 

 a special item in the national expenditure. Of these animals 

 a somewhat interesting anecdote is related. 



It appears that near to the Imperial Printing Office is 

 situated the office of the Director ol Ihe Archives, and the 

 gardens of the two establishments are adjacent. In that be- 

 longing to the latter gentleman, were kept a number of choice 

 aquatic birds, for whose convenience a small artificial river had 

 been constructed. Their owner suddenly discovered one day 

 that his favourites were diminishing in a mysterious manner, 

 and set a watch to ascertain the reason. Soon it was discovered 

 who were the marauders — ^the cats ! The enraged Director, 

 acting in the spirit of the law, thought he had a perfect right 

 to shoot and otherwise destroy these feline burglars whenever 

 he found them on his grounds, aad accordingly did so. Traps 

 were set, and soon half-a-dozen cats paid the penalty of their 

 crimes. 



.The keeper of the cats also, by this time, found that the 

 muster at meal times was much scantier than usual, and re- 

 ported to his superior, the Director of the Printing Office. At 

 first, the workmen were suspected of killing them; but the 

 appearance, one day, of a cat with a broken snare round its 

 neck, put the keeper on a fresh scent, and ultimately led to 

 the discovery of the truth. The Director thereupon complained 

 to his brother official, who only replied by pointing to the thinly 

 tenanted pond, and saying tiiat he would not have his birds 

 destroyed if he could help it. The result vas that a fierce hostility 

 reigned between the two establishments, until an arrangement 

 was made by their respective heads. By this treaty it was stipu- 

 lated that the Director of the Imperial Printing Office should, 

 on his part, cause every outlet by which the cats gained access 

 to the gardens of the Director of the Archives to be carefully 

 closed, and every means taken to prevent such a contingency ; 

 while on the other hand, Monsieur, the Director of the Archives, 

 agreed never to molest any cat belonging to the Imperial Print- 

 ing Office, who should, by some unforeseen accident, obtain 

 admittance into his garden. And thus, by this famous treaty, 

 the horrors of civil war were averted ! 



A curious instance of the attachment of animals totally dis- 

 similar in habits, is related in the Leisure Hcmr as follows : — 



"A lady of the writer's acquaintance was once walking 

 amid the scenery of the Isle of Wight, when she observed a 



