Concerning Cats 



being kept in his new house for a couple of days, he 

 was allowed to go out and become familiar with his 

 surroundings — not without fear and trepidation on 

 the part of his doting mistress that he might make 

 a bold strike for his former home. But Thomas 

 Erastus felt he had a mission to perform for his race. 

 He would disprove that mistaken theory that a cat, 

 no matter how kindly he is treated, cares more for 

 places than for people. Consequently he would not 

 dream of going back to his old haunts. 



No ; he sat down in the front yard and took a long 

 look at his surroundings, the neighboring lots, a field 

 of grass, a waving corn-field. He had already con- 

 vinced himself that the new house was home, because 

 in it were all the old familiar things, and he had 

 been allowed to investigate every bit of it and to 

 realize what had happened. So after looking well 

 about him he made a series of tours of investigation. 

 First, he took a bee-line for the farthest end of the 

 nearest vacant lot ; then he chose the corn-field ; then 

 the beautiful broad grounds of the neighbor below ; 

 then across the street ; but between each of these 

 little journeys he took a bee-line back to his starting- 

 point, sat down in front of the new house, and " got 

 his bearings," just as evidently as though he could 

 have said out loud, " This is my home and I mustn't 

 lose it." In this way he convinced himself that where 

 he lives is the centre of the universe, and that the 

 world revolves around him. And he has since been 



42 



