Introduction 
H 
Ladysmith, in the war with the Boers. The 
animal had been his constant companion. 
“ The cat,” as Harrison Weir says, “ is not only 
a very useful animal about the house and premises, 
but is also ornamental. It is lithe and beautiful in 
form, and graceful in action.” 
Another well-known English writer says, “ There 
is no animal in existence more sensitive and ca- 
pable of attachment than the domestic cat, or any 
of her progeny.” 
Cats have often saved life ; also houses from 
burning. At Geneva, N. Y., a child of three at- 
tempted to take a rattlesnake. A pet Maltese cat 
killed it, and saved the child. A similar thing 
happened in Pennsylvania. 
A woman in New York City took into her house 
a stray and hungry cat. A year later by the ex- 
plosion of a lamp, the house was set on fire. The 
cries of the cat aroused the owner, and thus all the 
inmates of the tenement house were saved. 
On the Pacific Coast, the steamer Wildwood 
went to the bottom of the bay. There was but 
one man asleep on board at the time of sinking. 
Phe boat’s cat scratched the face of the sleeper, 
who threw her away from him. Again she 
