Concerning Some Historic Cats 



She would sit on a cushion for hours together, quite 

 motionless, not asleep, and following with her eyes, 

 in a rapture of attention, sights invisible to mere 

 mortals. Caresses were agreeable to her, but she 

 returned them in a very reserved manner, and only 

 in the case of persons whom she favored with her 

 rarely accorded esteem. She was fond of luxury, 

 and it was always upon the handsomest easy-chair, 

 or the rug that would best show off her snowy fur, 

 that she would surely be found. She devoted a 

 great deal of time to her toilet, her glossy coat was 

 carefully smoothed every morning. She washed 

 herself with her paw, and licked every atom of her 

 fur with her pink tongue until it shone like new 

 silver. When any one touched her, she instantly 

 effaced all trace of the contact; she could not 

 endure to be tumbled. An idea of aristocracy was 

 suggested by her elegance and distinction, and among 

 her own people she was a duchess at least. She 

 delighted in perfumes, would stick her nose into 

 bouquets, bite scented handkerchiefs with little spasms 

 of pleasure, and walk about among the scent bottles 

 on the toilet table, smelling at their stoppers; no 

 doubt, she would have used the powder puff if she 

 had been permitted. Such was Seraphita, and never 

 did cat more amply justify a poetic name. I must 

 mention here that, in the days of the White Dynasty, 

 I was also the happy possessor of a family of white 

 rats, and that the cats, always supposed to be their 



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