IN SMALL GARDENS. 



13 



think of me were I to write for you a paper 

 in which I would state that the cat is occasion- 

 ally an animal that is very fond of bread ? 

 You cannot judge of the real habits of an 

 animal when it is in captivity. The want of 

 exercise, the change of economy, the change 

 of food, and the change of habit altogether, 

 tend wofully to change the very nature of 

 the stomach, and cause it to accommodate 

 itself to aliment which it would never touch 

 in a wild state. We see people out of health 

 eating chalk; and we see others again, who 

 spend their lives in sedentary employments, 

 loathing food which is very palatable to him 

 who passes the day in the open air. Thus, 

 the ploughman will bolt fat bacon by the 

 cubic inch, whilst the tender young milliner 

 will turn sick at the very taste of it. I myself 

 cannot bear melted butter ; but I can and do 

 often thrive, by preference, on a hard crust of 

 bread. Still this would not be the case with 

 one of your London aldermen, who would turn 

 up his nose at the gifts of Ceres, unless those 

 of Nimrod and Bacchus appeared on the same 

 festive board. 



The squirrel, in the state of liberty, lives on 



