THE CAT 
ooo NLY the student of history 
can fully appreciate the im- 
| portance of cats. If we could 
| know really the history of the civ- 
ilizations of the world, we should 
undoubtedly find that cats have 
played an important part in it. 
Wherever pioneers have planted 
their crops, there have followed 
rats and mice in plenty to reap their harvest; there- 
fore, no part of their household belongings was prized 
more by our forefathers than the domestic cat. 
Indeed, the cat is still a great factor in keeping in 
check rats and mice. Our government appropriates 
money every year to support cats in the postoffices 
and other public buildings; and now in Pittsburg our 
national government is attempting to develop a strain 
of cats that can endure life in cold storage ware- 
houses. Thus we can see that the story of Dick 
Whittington reveals to us, better than most written 
histories, the value of a cat in a country overrun with 
vermin. In Dick Whittington’s time a cat was 
indeed worth its weight in gold. 
There are in general, two kinds of cats,—the long- 
haired or Persians and the short-haired which includes 
our common household puss. 
Formerly the Angoras were supposed to be distinct 
from the Persians, but now they are regarded as 
indistinguishable. The Persian varieties are deter- 
mined by color. They are the Blacks, the Blues, 
21 
