Concerning Cats 



sees the faces of many a suffering child whose hours 

 of pain have been shortened by the recital of his 

 tricks, and the pictures of himself arrayed in white 

 cravat, or gayly disporting himself on a ' see-saw ' ? 

 I feel inclined to wake him up, and whisper how, 

 one cold winter's night, I met a party of five little 

 children, hatless and bootless, hurrying along an East- 

 end slum, and saying encouragingly to the youngest, 

 who was crying with cold and hunger, ' Come along : 

 we'll get there soon.' I followed them down the 

 lighted street till they paused in front of a barber's 

 shop, and I heard their voices change to a shout of 

 merriment : for in the window was a crumpled Christ- 

 mas supplement, and Peter, in a frolicsome mood, 

 was represented entertaining at a large cats' tea- 

 party. Hunger, and cold, and misery were all dis- 

 pelled. Who would not be a cat of Louis Wain's, 

 capable of creating ten minutes' sunshine in a child- 

 ish heart ? " 



Mr. Wain announces a discovery in relation to cats 

 which corroborates a theory of my own, adopted from 

 long observation and experience. 



" I have found," he says, " as a result of many 

 years of inquiry and study, that people who keep 

 cats and are in the habit of petting them, do not 

 suffer from those petty ailments which all flesh is 

 heir to. Rheumatism and nervous complaints are 

 uncommon with them, and Pussy's lovers are of the 

 sweetest temperament. I have often felt the benefit, 



i86 



