Concerning Cats 



to the door. But a shred of blue ribbon was clinging 

 to her neck, and she was so pretty, and silky, and win- 

 some that we children at once called her Beauty, and 

 fancied she had strayed from some elegant home 

 where she had been the pet of the household, lap- 

 ping her milk from finest china and sleeping on a 

 cushion of down. When we had warmed, and fed, 

 and caressed her, we made her bed in a flannel-lined 

 box among our dolls, and the next morning were up 

 before the sun to see her, fearing her owners would 

 appear and carry her away. But no one arrived to 

 claim her, and she soon became an important mem- 

 ber of the family, and grew handsomer, we thought, 

 day by day. Her coat was gray with tiger markings, 

 but paws and throat and nose were snowy white, and 

 in spite of her excursions to bams and cellars her 

 constant care kept them spotless — indeed, she was 

 the very Venus of cats for daintiness and grace of 

 pose and movement. To my grandmother her vari- 

 ous attitudes had an undoubted meaning. If in a 

 rainy day Beauty washed her face toward the west, 

 her observant mistress would exclaim : ' See, kitty 

 is washing her face to the west. It will clear.' Or, 

 even when the sky was blue, if Beauty turned east- 

 ward for her toilet, the comment would be : ' Kitty 

 is washing her face to the east. The wind must be 

 getting "out" (from the sea), and a storm brewing.' 

 And when in the dusk of autumn or winter evenings 

 Beauty ran about the room, chasing her tail or frol- 



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