Concerning Cats 



fittle head would project its profile on the page which 

 I was perusing, as though she were trying to dis- 

 cover what it was that thus absorbed me : doubtless, 

 she did not understand why I should look for my 

 happiness beyond the presence of a devoted heart. 

 Her solicitude was no less manifest when she brought 

 me rats or mice. She acted in this case exactly as if 

 I had been her son : dragging enormous rats, still in 

 the throes of death, to my feet : and she was evi- 

 dently guided by logic in offering me a prey com- 

 mensurate with my size, for she never presented any 

 such large game to her kittens. Her affectionate 

 attention invariably caused her a severe disappoint- 

 ment. Having laid the product of her hunting expe- 

 dition at my feet, she would appear to be greatly 

 hurt by my indifference to such delicious fare." 



That Tasso had a cat we know because he wrote 

 a sonnet to her. Alfred de Musset's cats are apos- 

 trophized in his verses. Dr. Johnson's Hodge 

 held a soft place for many years in the gruff old 

 scholar's breast. And has not every one heard how 

 the famous Dr. Johnson fetched oysters for his 

 beloved Hodge, lest the servants should object to 

 the trouble, and vent their displeasure on his favorite .' 



Nor can one forget Sir Isaac Newton and his cats : 

 for is it not alleged that the great man had two 

 holes cut in his barn door, one for the mother, and 

 a smaller one for the kitten ? 



Byron was fond of cats : in his establishment at 

 no 



