Concerning Cats 



has evolved a way to get them to pose as models 

 Her plan is the simple one of keeping her models 

 prisoners in a glass box, enclosed in a wire cage, 

 while she is painting them. Inside the prison she 

 cannot always command their actions, but her knowl- 

 edge of cat character enables her to a certain extent 

 to persuade them to take the pose which she requires. 

 By placing a comfortable cushion in the cage she 

 can tempt her model to lie down; some object of 

 great interest, like a live mouse, for instance, exhib- 

 ited just outside the cage is sure to create the eager 

 look that she has shown so well on cat faces ; and to 

 induce her kittens to indulge in the leaps and bounds 

 which she has succeeded so wonderfully in transfer- 

 ring to canvas, she keeps hanging from the top of 

 the cage a most seductive "bob." 



Madame Ronner's favorite models are " Jem " and 

 " Monmouth," cats of rare sweetness of temper, 

 whose conduct in all relations of Ufe is above 

 reproach. The name of " Monmouth," as many will 

 recall, was made famous by the hero of Monsieur La 

 Bedolierre's classic, " Mother Michel and her Cat," ^ 

 and therefore has clustering about it traditions so 

 glorious that its wearers in modern times must be 

 upheld always by lofty hopes and high resolves. 

 Doubtless Monmouth Ronner feels the responsibility 

 entailed upon him by his name. 



In the European galleries are several noted paint- 



1 Translated into English by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. 

 178 



