Concerning Cats 



Bobinette had another very pretty trick of playing 

 with the tape-measure. He used to bring it to us 

 and have it wound several times around his body; 

 then he would "chase himself" until he got it off, 

 when he would bring it back and ask plainly to have 

 it wound round him again. After a little we noticed 

 he was wearing the tape-measure out, and so we tried 

 to substitute it with an old ribbon or piece of cotton 

 tape. But Bobinette would have none of them. On 

 the contrary, he repeatedly climbed on to the table 

 and to the work-basket, and hunted patiently for his 

 tape-measure, and even if it were hidden in a pocket, 

 he kept up the search until he unearthed it ; and he 

 would invariably end by dragging forth that par- 

 ticular tape-measure and bringing it to us. I need 

 not say that his intelligence was rewarded. 



Speaking of colors, a friend has a cat that is 

 devoted to blue. When she puts on a particularly 

 pretty blue gown, the cat hastens to get into her lap, 

 put her face down to the material, purr, and manifest 

 the greatest delight ; but let the same lady put on a 

 black dress, and the cat will not come near her. 



" Pompanita," the second Pomp in our dynasty, is 

 a fat and billowy black fellow, now five years old and 

 weighing nineteen pounds. He was the last of the 

 Pretty Lady's ninety-three children. Only a few of 

 this vast progeny, however, grew to cat-hood, as she 

 was never allowed to keep more than one each 

 season. The Pretty Lady, in fact, came to regard 



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