KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



209 



all society,* and they have only to bo made ac- 

 quainted with the ills that surround the weak 

 and dependent, to give them all their sweet and 

 ennobling sympathy. I would ask them less to 

 aid by the purse than by their counsel. I would 

 ask of them an individual exertion in a holy 

 cause, which will harmonise with their natures, 

 and produce a greater effect than mere liberality 

 founded upon principle, without an accompanying 

 feeling of the heart. An immense moral edifice 

 of utility may be erected, by remembering how 

 much mankind is guided by gentle precepts from 

 those he loves. And if he be reminded of the 

 calls upon his common humanity in behalf of the 

 brute creation, in the soft tones of affectionate 

 expostulation, Ave may venture to predict not 

 only a renewed support of this society, but a new- 

 born perception of our responsibility, as rational 

 creatures, in relation to the charge over the dumb 

 creation which has been assigned us by an all- 

 wise Creator, who showers down blessings upon 

 the land to be shared by all. 



Need we say how very cordially we respond 

 to this appeal? Nay, it becomes almost 

 criminal to remain passive, when so great a 

 principle is at stake. 



* Unfortunately, they do so. And hence the 

 great danger to morality and good-feeling, when 

 their hearts are not in their right places. — Ed. 

 K. J. 



ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



An Amiable Cat. — Dear Mr. Editor, — let me 

 say " my " dear Mr. Editor, because, in your 

 leader of Oct. 23, you have said you love to hear 

 the " purr " of a cat. [We are fairly caught, 

 Fanny. Litera scripta manet. Our sign-manual 

 stands against us.] Well, and why should you 

 not like a cat ? There are amiable cats, as I shall 

 prove 5 so please to listen whilst I tell my little 

 story. This cat, whose praises I sing, is of 

 Persian extraction, and has always the good 

 sense to appreciate kindness whenever and by 

 whomsoever shown. She is now the happy 

 mother of a wayward kitten, some nine weeks 

 old. Well, this kitten, kitten-like, would persist 

 in poking her little nose into the closet where 

 the culinary artiste keeps her stores. To prevent 

 this intrusion (you know, Mr. Editor, cats really 

 have no business to interfere with cooks), the 

 closet door was made fast by a peg. One day, 

 however, Kitty (I call her " Kitty ") artfully 

 contrived to remove the peg, and thus gained 

 entrance to the closet, as she thought unnoticed. 

 Not a bit of it. The cook indeed might have 

 been deceived; but it was her own mother that 

 detected her routing among the stores ! Now for 

 the " point " of my little story — true is it, to the 

 very letter. No sooner did the discreet mother 

 discover her child's weakness, than she at once 

 removed her from the house. To see her drive 

 her erring child before her, was as good as — how 

 much better than, a play ! To use the expressive 

 words of the cook, " One would almost imagine 

 they heard the words ' Come along ! come 

 along!"' Well, the kitten was, by its own 



mother— excellent monitrcss! — forbidden to re- 

 enter the house for more than a week. This is 

 the more remarkable, seeing that " Kitty" was 

 such a favorite with the domestics, who had 

 vainly endeavored to have the offender brought 

 back. No! no ! Mr. Editor; the wise old mother 

 insisted — and i" say she was right — that her 

 child should be punished for the offence she had 

 knowingly committed. It is not the first time 

 she has thus acted. Now, my dear Sir, may I 

 (I think I may) ask you to pronounce my cat an 

 " honorable exception " to the race against 

 whom you sometimes appear so highly incensed ? 

 — "Fanny A. 



[Oh, Fanny! when argument and proof are so 

 arranged before us, and urged by such a kind 

 and affectionate advocate — what can we say! 

 Yes ! yes! Your cat is a prodigy. Have a seal 

 engraved with her portrait on it, and the fol- 

 lowing motto:— 



" Mi-cat inter omnes ! " 

 This, whilst it astonishes the natives, will serve 

 your cause nobly ; for when your friends ask the 

 meaning of it, you can refer them at once to the 

 original. For your own private information, we 

 will give you the free translation of it ; — " My 

 cat ' takes the shine ' out of all the rest." It is 

 classically neat in Latin, and being interpreted, 

 it reads well in English.] 



Curious Instance of Revenge exhibited by a 

 Horse. — A very curious circumstance has just 

 come to my memory, Mr. Editor, connected with 

 the revengeful disposition of a horse. It oc- 

 curred more than fifty years since, on the border 

 of Ditton Marsh, opposite the Marquis of 

 Granby. It was just where the road turns off to 

 Claygate Well; here a man named Hitchiner, 

 kept a farm. One day, he had occasion to send 

 one of his men to Esher. The horse he rode 

 was a fine, black, active animal, famous for 

 lasting speed. This last is a very requisite qua- 

 lification, when a heavy Aveight of anchors of 

 smuggled spirits is behind, and when the dra- 

 goons are in pursuit ! The rider wanted to go 

 to Esher ; the horse, however, had other views. 

 A favorite " female friend" of his, to whom he 

 had before paid a visit, lived at Claygate; and 

 here Ms heart lay. However, though his horse 

 reared and plunged, the rider whipped and 

 spurred; and eventually triumphed, Well for 

 him had it been otherwise! Several weeks after 

 this, the same man entered the field, where the 

 horse was feeding, with a view to catch him. 

 He held in his hand a sieve filled with corn. The 

 moment the horse recognised him, he rushed 

 furiously at him ; and seizing his arm between 

 his teeth, carried him bodily to the hedge. 

 On the other side, ran the river Rye ; and 

 at this point it was both wide and deep. 

 Into this river did the infuriated animal drop his 

 victim. He was not drowned, fortunately; but 

 the arm was so severely bitten as to require sur- 

 gical aid; and this, my father supplied. — Vekax. 



Victoria JRegia. — In the course of the present 

 year, there were aquariums built for the Royal 

 water lily, and the other kinds of aquatic plants, 

 in the following places on the Continent : In the 

 Royal Garden at Rosenthal, near Stockholm ; in 



