272 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



make one reject Webster's derivations, and throw overboard 

 his new orthographies. 



4. As a member of the living household which man has 

 pleased himself in collecting, the cat is useful but not slav- 

 ish. The bargain which he struck with us was not submis- 

 sion, as was the case with the dog, but alliance. "House 

 me," he said, " smooth my back, give me a bed for my 

 morning naps, and I'll kill your rats and purr to you." 

 What right have we to demand slavishness ? We are too 

 ready to suppose that everything was made for man. Per- 

 haps the feline intellect and sense of justice have reached 

 the conclusion that cats were made for themselves. Have 

 they not a right to bo as egotistic as we ? 



5. It is estimated that the rats and mice of England 

 annually consume grain enough to feed three millions of 

 human beings ; and if it were not for the incessant exertions 

 of the cats, these rodents might root out the present pojiu- 

 lation of the island, as the Saxons rooted out the Celtic 

 Britons. Add to this salvation the innocent and home-like 

 pleasure furnished ; the amusing pranks of say one hun- 

 dred thousand kittens ; the multitudinous purrings and 

 rubbings, and grave trickeries and expositions of instinct ; 

 the old ladies and invalids and lonesome ones whose lives 

 are cheered ; the children who are provided with a living 

 doll. True, some birds suffer ; but may there not be birds 

 enough for all ? On the whole, there must be a large bal- 

 ance due the cats. 



6. In spite of slanders to the contrary, the animal is 

 capable of affection for persons. I had one that used to 

 walk up and down the room with me ; another that ran 

 about after me all over the house. A third, after a separa- 

 tion of five months, greeted me with extravagant demon- 

 strations of joy, leaping into my lap, down again, up again, 

 rolling over, tremulous from head to foot, and all the 

 while purring to split his throat. A cat belonging to a 



