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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20a1e9e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63168 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63168) diff --git a/old/63168-0.txt b/old/63168-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4150eb7..0000000 --- a/old/63168-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3333 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories, by Margaret Benson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories - -Author: Margaret Benson - -Release Date: September 10, 2020 [EBook #63168] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUL OF A CAT, OTHER STORIES *** - - - - -Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -[Illustration: _Photograph by Messrs. Kissack_ - -“The Incredible Blue.”] - - - - - THE SOUL OF A CAT - AND OTHER STORIES - - BY - MARGARET BENSON - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HENRIETTA - RONNER AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS - - LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN - 1901 - - - - -DEDICATION TO THOSE DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK - - - _Once on a time I used to dream - Strange spirits moved about my way, - And I might catch a vagrant gleam, - A glint of pixy or of fay; - Their lives were mingled with my own, - So far they roamed, so near they drew; - And when I from a child had grown, - I woke--and found my dream was true._ - - _For one is clad in coat of fur, - And one is decked with feathers gay; - Another, wiser, will prefer - A sober suit of Quaker grey; - This one’s your servant from his birth, - And that a Princess you must please, - And this one loves to wake your mirth, - And that one likes to share your ease._ - - _O gracious creatures, tiny souls! - You seem so near, so far away, - Yet while the cloudland round us rolls - We love you better every day._ - - - οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶν λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα;[1] - -[1] Greek--transliteration: ouchi pantes eisin leitourgika pneumata? - -Translation: “Are they not all ministering spirits?” (Hebrews -1:14)--_Transcriber._ - - - - -PREFACE - - _Prejudice is at first a Guide to Knowledge, but - afterwards a Gaoler of Thought._ - -The average Englishman prefers to have his knowledge well formulated -and well classified in what one may call a portable and handy form. To -such an one it seems desirable to have certain general propositions -about the animal creation which, regardless of small subtleties and -differences, he may use as a guide for practical action. As, for -instance, “that man is governed by reason but the brutes by instinct”; -“that the cat, though eminently domestic, is selfish, egotistic, and -luxurious; whereas the dog is generous, affectionate, and faithful”; -that “cats care for places and not for people.” - -Many more such maxims may be mentioned, some of which imply a certain -amount of observation, as, for instance, that the parrot possesses an -imitative instinct. - -Those who have this guide to knowledge will tell you that they like or -do not like “the character of the cat,” and will ask if you like cats -or dogs best. - -So some one once asked me whether I liked poetry, and when I asked -“whose poetry?” instanced that of the Marquis of Lorne. - -But in the first case, too, it would seem to be a relevant point to -ask which dog and which cat; and to those who profess not to like “the -character” of the cat one might put first the counter-question as to -whether they like “the character” of the human being. - -As it is well from time to time to compare the best established maxims -and formulæ with the results of recent experience and observation; so, -although the foregoing principles are extensive enough and fundamental -enough to satisfy the greediest grasp after truth, it may not be amiss -to compare them with observation of individuals; to compare the general -propositions concerning the character of the cat with observations -on certain individual cats; the common contempt of birds-wits with -observation of individual birds; and to find out the essential point -which makes us so certain that similar processes in the man and the -brute are in one case the work of reason and in the other case of -instinct. - -Perhaps we might even come to think that man has some share of -instinct, and the brute some dawnings of reason. - -Let us face this result boldly, even if it leads us to stammer a little -over the irrefragable proposition that, since animals have no souls, -this present life contains not only all that they must suffer, but all -that they may enjoy; even if it should make us doubt the perfectness -of our scientific grasp of spiritual things, and should seem to lead -back to such old doctrines as Peter’s belief in the restitution of -all things, and St. Paul’s hope of the deliverance of the suffering -creature into the glorious liberty of children of God. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Dedication to Those Described in This Book _Page_ v - Preface vii - Contents xi - Illustrations xiii - - The Soul of a Cat 1 - Joey and Matilda; or, Intellect and Emotion 17 - The Torpid and the Ill-Bred Cat 31 - Vanity of Vanities 45 - Taffy 55 - The Adopted Family 81 - The Mysterious Ra 91 - Mentu 103 - The Conscience of the Barn-Door Fowl 119 - Confucius 129 - A Paradise of Birds 137 - Epilogue 149 - - Transcriber’s Note - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - -_Portraits:_ - - _The Incredible Blue_ _Frontispiece_ - _Persis_ _To face p._ 4 - _Matilda_ " 20 - _Joey_ " 26 - _The Peacock_ " 50 - _Taffy_ " 62 - _Mentu_ " 112 - _Confucius_ " 132 - - -IN THE TEXT - -_Sketches of Cats and Kittens by Madame Ronner_ - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -THE SOUL OF A CAT - - _“If you choose to put up with such sufferings as - these, I have the power to help you.... But bethink - you well,” said the witch, “if once you obtain a - human form you can never be a mermaid again!”_ - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -Persis was a dainty lady, pure Persian, blue and white, silky haired. -When this story opens she was in middle age, the crisis of her life had -passed. She had had kittens, she had seen them grow up, and as they -grew she had grown to hate them, with a hatred founded on jealousy -and love. She was a cat of extreme sensibility, of passionate temper, -of a character attractive and lovable from its very intensity. We -had been forced to face Persis’ difficulty with her and make our -choice--should we let her go about with a sullen face to the world, -green eyes glooming wretchedly upon it, an intensity of wretchedness, -jealousy and hate consuming her little cat’s heart, or would we follow -Persis’ wishes about the kittens, and give them up, when they grew to -be a burden on her mind and heart? For while they were young she loved -them much. She chose favourites among them, usually the one most like -herself, lavished a wealth of care, with anxiety in a small, troubled, -motherly face, on their manners, their appearance, their amusements. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by S. A. McDowall_ - -“Persis was a dainty lady.”] - -I remember one pathetic scene on a rainy evening in late summer, when -the kittens of the time were playing about the room, and Persis came -in wet and draggled with something in her mouth. We thought it was a -dead bird, and though regretting the fact, did not hinder her when she -deposited it before her favourite kitten, a shy, grey creature, and -retired to the lap of a forbearing friend to make her toilet. But while -she was thus engaged we saw that the thing she had brought in was a -shivering little bird, a belated fledgling, alive and unhurt. The grey -kitten had not touched it, but with paws tucked under him was regarding -it with a cold, steady gaze. He was quite unmoved when we took it away -and restored it to a profitless liberty, with a few scathing remarks on -the cruelty of cats. It is so nice and affectionate of a father to -initiate his little son into the pleasures of sport and show him how -to play a fish, but quite another thing for a brutal cat to show her -kitten how to play with a live bird--a cat, indeed, from whom we should -have expected a sympathetic imagination! - -When Persis had washed and combed herself she came down to see how her -son was enjoying his first attempt at sport; but no affectionate father -sympathising with his boy for losing his fish would have been half as -much distressed as Persis to find her kitten robbed of his game. She -ran round the room crying as she went, searched for the bird under -chairs and tables, sprang on the knees of her friends to seek it, and -wailed for the loss of her present to her son. - -Again, there was no danger that she would not face in defence of her -kittens. My brother had a wire-haired terrier of horrid reputation as -a cat-killer. The name of the terrier, for an occult and complicated -reason, was Two-Timothy-Three-Ten, but it was generally abbreviated. -Tim, large and formidable even to those who had not heard of his -exploits, slipped into the room once where a placid domestic scene was -in process. Without a moment’s pause the cat was on him like a wild -beast. I caught Timothy and held him up, but the cat had dug her claws -so firmly into his foot that she, too, was lifted off the ground. - -But as the kittens grew older maternal tenderness and delights faded, -maternal cares ceased, and a dull, jealous misery settled down over -Persis. She had been left down in the country with a kitten once--alas! -a tabby kitten--which was growing old enough to leave her when I came -over for the day and went to see her. The kitten, unconscious of his -unfortunate appearance, was as happy as most kittens; he walked round -the cat and did not mind an occasional growl or cuff. But she, not -responding at all to my caresses, sat staring out before her with such -black, immovable despair on her face that I shall not easily forget it. - -Thus the cat’s life was a series of violent changes of mood. While her -kittens were young she was blissful with them, trustful to all human -beings; as they grew older she became sullen, suspicious, and filled -with jealous gloom. When they were gone she again became affectionate -and gentle; she decked herself with faded graces, was busied with -secret errands, and intent on æsthetic pleasure--the smell of fresh -air, each particular scent of ivy leaves round the trunk of the cedar. - -She caught influenza once in an interval of peace and came near dying, -and, they said, received attention seriously and gratefully like a sick -person; I was not surprised to hear that her friend sacrificed a pet -bantam to tempt the returning appetite of the invalid. - -While we were homeless for a year or more, Persis was lodged at the old -home farm, and lorded it over the animals. Two cats were there: one the -revered and hideous Tom, with whose white hair Persis had bestrewn a -room in a fit of passion. He had left the house at once for the farm -and wisely refused to return. Now he was a prop of the establishment. -He killed the rats, he sat serene in the sun, was able to ignore the -village dogs and cuff the boisterous collie puppies of the farm. -So he met Persis on secure and dignified terms. It was well, for he -had formed a tender attachment to her daughter; they drank milk out -of a saucer together, looking like the Princess and the Ploughboy; -and when the Ploughboy went out hunting (for he must vary his diet a -little--unmitigated rat is monotonous) he invariably brought back the -hind legs of the rabbit for the Princess. - -Strange to say, the Princess was the only one of the grown-up kittens -with whom Persis entered into terms of friendship; so while the -Princess ate the rabbits of the Ploughboy, Persis ate the sparrows -provided by the Princess, and they were all at peace. - -She rejoined us again when we settled in a country town. The house was -backed by a walled garden; exits and entrances were easier than in the -larger houses where Persis had lived with us before. She loved to get -up by the wistaria, climb across the conservatory roof, and get in -and out through bedroom windows. She found a black grandson already -established, it is true, but in a strictly subordinate position. -Justice was cast to the--cats, and they fought it out between them; -and when Persis threw herself into the fray there could be but one end. -Ra liked comfort, but his sensibilities were undeveloped. If he could -get the food he desired (and he invariably entered the room with fish -or pheasant) he did not care how or where it was given him; a plate of -fish-bones in the conservatory would be more grateful than a stalled -ox under his grandmother’s eye. But to the old cat the attention was -everything; she took the food not so much because she cared for it as -because it was offered individually to her. If Ra managed to establish -himself on the arm of a chair he would remind the owner of his desires -by the tap of a black paw, or by gently intercepting a fork. But -Persis’ sole desire was that she might be desired; the invitation was -the great point, not the feast; she lay purring with soft, intelligent -eyes, which grew hard and angry if the form of her dusky grandson -appeared in the open door. She would get down from the lap on which she -was lying, strike at the hand which tried to detain her, and--but by -this time Ra had been removed and peace restored. - -Her most blissful moments were when she could find her mistress in bed, -and curl up beside her, pouring out a volume of soft sound; or when she -was shown to company. Then she walked with dainty steps and waving tail -as in the old days, with something of the same grace, though not with -the old beauty, trampling a visitor’s dress with rhythmically moving -paws, and the graciously modest air of one who confers an honour. It -came near to pathos to see her play the great lady and the petted -kitten before the vet, who came to prescribe for her. Now she was all -gratitude for attentions, and whereas when she was young she would not -come to a call out of doors, but coquetted with us just beyond our -reach, now she would come running in from the garden when I called her, -loved to be taken up and lie with chin and paws resting on my shoulder, -looking down from it like a child. The old nurse carried her on one -arm like a baby, and the cat stretched out paws on each side round her -waist. - -She had more confidence in human dealings, too. I had to punish her -once, to her great surprise. She ran a few steps and waited for me -with such confidence that it was difficult to follow up the punishment, -more especially as Taffy watched exultant, and came up smiling to -insist on the fact that he was a good dog. - -Taffy’s relationship with the cat was anything but cordial. It was -her fault, for he had well learnt the household maxim “cats first and -pleasure afterwards.” But Persis can hardly be said to have treated him -like a lady; she did not actually show fight, but vented ill-temper by -pushing rudely in front of him with a disagreeable remark as she passed. - -All this time Persis was growing old and small. Her coat was thick, but -shorter than of old; her tail waved far less wealth of hair. She jumped -into the fountain one day by mistake, and as she stood still with -clinging hair under the double shock of the water and the laughter one -noticed what a little shrunken cat she had become; only her face was -young and vivid with conflicting passions. - -Then the last change of her life came. We went to a place which was -a paradise for cats, but a paradise ringed with death; a rambling -Elizabethan house, where mice ran and rattled behind the panels; -a garden with bushes to creep behind and strange country creatures -stirring in the grass; barns which were a preserve for rats and mice; -and finally the three most important elements of happiness, entire -freedom, no smuts, and no grandson. - -Persis was overwhelmed with pressure of affairs; one saw her crouching -near the farm in early morning; met her later on the stairs carrying -home game, and was greeted only by a quick look as of one intent on -business. - -The one drawback to this place was that it was surrounded by woods, -carefully preserved. - -By this time I had come to two clear resolves; the first, that I would -never again develop the sensibilities of an animal beyond certain -limits; for one creates claims that one has no power to satisfy. The -feelings of a sensitive animal are beyond our control, and beyond its -own also. - -And the second was this; since it is impossible to let an animal when -it is old and ill live among human beings as it may when it is healthy; -since it can by no possibility understand why sympathy is denied it and -demonstrations of affection checked; I would myself, as soon as such -signs of broken intercourse occurred, give Persis the lethal water. -I had been haunted by the pathos in the face of a dog who had been -and indeed still was a family pet; but he was deaf. Even when he was -fondled an indescribable depression hung about him; he had fallen into -silence, he knew not how or why. Dogs respond to nothing more quickly -than the tones of the human voice, but now no voice came through the -stillness. Despairingly he put himself, as they told us, in the way of -those who passed, lay on steps or in the doorways. Since we cannot find -means to alleviate such sufferings we can at least end them. - -But I never needed to put this determination into effect. The last -time I saw Persis was once when she came to greet me at the door, and -lifting her I noticed how light she was; and again I saw her coming -downstairs on some business of her own, with an air at once furtive and -arrogant, quaint in so small a creature. - -Then Persis vanished. - -She had been absent before for days at a time; had once disappeared -for three weeks and returned thin and exhausted. So at first we did -not trouble; then we called her in the garden, in the fields and the -coverts, wrote to find out if she had returned to some old home, and -offered a reward for her finding; but all was fruitless. I do not know -now whether she had gone away as some creatures do, to die alone, for -the signs of age were on her; or if she had met a speedy death at the -hands of a gamekeeper while she was following up some wild romance of -the woods. - -So vanished secretly from life that strange, troubled little soul of -a cat--a troubled soul, for it was not the animal loves and hates -which were too much for her--these she had ample spirit and courage -to endure, but she knew a jealous love for beings beyond her dim -power of comprehension, a passionate desire for praise and admiration -from creatures whom she did not understand, and these waked a strange -conflict and turmoil in the vivid and limited nature, troubling her -relations with her kind, filling her now with black despairs, and -painful passions, and now with serene, half understood content. - -Who shall say whether a creature like this can ever utterly perish? How -shall we who know so little of their nature profess to know so much of -their future? - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -JOEY AND MATILDA; OR, INTELLECT AND EMOTION - - “_A thousand little shafts of flame - Were shivered in my narrow frame._” - - “_But what a tongue, and O what brains - Were in that parrot’s head; - It took two men to understand - One half the things she said._” - - -The two princesses in the story of Riquet with the Tuft were not more -unlike than Joey and Matilda. - -The appearance of Matilda is Quakerish, and even shabby. She has an eye -like a piece of dull green marble. She is affectionate and polite, but -cold and passionless. To judge by the perfect and consistent propriety -of her demeanour she might have been a favourite pupil of Mrs. General. -Even if she swears or blows her nose she does it with an air of such -intense superiority that it seems like an answer in the Catechism. - -It is small wonder that Matilda feels superior, for her intellect -is supreme. She is not proud of this, for she is too well-bred to -wish to dazzle strangers with her brilliance, and her chief flow of -conversation is reserved for the circle of her intimates. She came to -pay me a visit the other day and was very reticent. “She is too much -of a lady to talk to us,” my old nurse said; but though she would not -hastily confide, she tried to keep up our spirits by a little innocent -amusement; and after bleating like a lamb for a quarter of an hour on -end, she gave us A flat on the tuning-fork till tea time. - -Now, Joey is all green and gold to the eye. He recollects the Valley -of the Amazon, and “bright and fierce and fickle is the south.” His -topaz iris waxes and wanes as the pupil grows large and onyx-like or -dwindles to a mere pin’s head. He loves passionately, and his hate, -deep as the Black Sea, is vindictive and remorseless. Music works in -him a frenzy of delight; the sight of friend or foe fills him with an -emotion which chokes utterance. Jealousy runs like swift poison in his -veins, swiftest and most poisonous when he thinks of Matilda, finished, -feminine, and intellectual, a perfect lady. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by S. A. McDowall_ - -“The appearance of Matilda is Quakerish and even shabby.”] - -Once, in time long past, there were passages between Joey and Matilda. -They were placed side by side, and as Joey looked on that demure -Quakeress, her dove colour unrelieved except by two plumes of sober -crimson; as he gazed on that marble eye while Matilda huskily and -rapidly repeated the name of the kitchen-maid, Joey was aware of an -emotion beautiful and strange. Self-control is a foreigner to that hot -southern nature, and without a pause for thought he extended a claw--it -was all he could do--to the lady. - -In a moment Matilda stooped and bit it; and as he screamed with pain -and anger she dropped it and burst into a hoarse fit of laughter. - -Joey never offended in this way again, but this repulse is the reason -of his deep, revengeful jealousy of Matilda. - -Another simple scene recurs to my mind. Joey was in the drawing-room, -Matilda in a room just above; the doors of both were open. Joey could -therefore hear when a passing friend engaged Matilda in conversation. -His angry excitement burst all bounds at last, and “Pop goes the -Weasel,” sung with agonised fervour, came floating up the stairs. -Matilda listened with her head on one side, and then sang slowly and -impressively a few bars of a species of Gregorian chant. Silence fell -below. - -Now when they sit side by side they are leagues apart. Joey is -viciously watching for any mark of preference given to Matilda, more -ready than usual to drive his beak like a sledge-hammer at the finger -of the unwary. And Matilda is calmly occupied in observing Joey. Some -time in the course of the next seventy years or so she will begin to -reproduce Joey; to indicate the way in which he spreads his tail like -a fan and grubs in seed and sand, uttering half-audible exhortations -to himself, which a stranger would take for imprecations on things in -general. How satisfying it would be to an angry man if he could say, -“Come on, Joey” in such a tone. - -But they do not often sit side by side, for, though you would not -think it, Matilda occupies a lower social station than Joey. While -his home is in the drawing-room Matilda is the life and soul of the -kitchen. Does this humble Matilda? On the contrary; she knows that -the true gentlewoman is at home everywhere. If she is brought into the -drawing-room she is neither embarrassed nor elate; only a pleasant and -discreet reserve takes the place of a free flow of conversation. When -she returns to the kitchen she talks rapidly for a long time, and is -believed to be describing the things she has seen and commenting on the -conversation.[2] - -[2] It must not be imagined that Matilda always confines herself to -generalities. She asked a housemaid kindly, “When are you going for -your holidays?” And on a rapid entrance and exit of the cook inquired -so politely, “And who was that?” that her companion immediately -replied, “That was Mrs. ----.” - -Alas for the sterner sex! When Joey undergoes an enforced eclipse -in the pantry he abandons himself to the situation. He may be heard -whistling “Pop goes the Weasel” line by line with his attendant. -But this is no honest geniality; for if he is carried back to the -drawing-room, and finds waiting for him a friend of higher social -station, he turns and bites, if he can, the hand that late has fed -him. Perhaps it is Matilda’s intellectual interests that preserve -her from such vulgarity. She devotes herself to observation for the -education of her mind, and when she is not observing she is recording -the results of observation. The reproduction of simple sounds comes -quickly, for she is a slave to realism. The screams of the peacock, the -failing note of the cuckoo, cuck-cuck-oo, the angry mew of the cat, are -rapidly and all too accurately reproduced. So, too, the kitchen-maid, -before she had served her apprenticeship, was wont to hear her own -sad name in corners cried in tones of growing exasperation. We were -then living in a town; Matilda’s apartment gave on the street, and the -errand boys helped her out with the performance. - -But, according to the law of her kind, this was a little precipitate -of Matilda. She should have let the kitchen-maid grow into a cook; she -should have let her live a long and honoured life, and should then have -tenderly renewed memories of old days when her name would echo upstairs -and down to hurry laggard steps. I cannot decide if this is a want of -tact or a supreme instance of tact in Matilda. It cannot, at any rate, -be a want of memory, for Matilda has just begun swearing; and as she -has been with us for some years, and none of us habitually swear, this -must be a sudden revival of memory. It is said to be a very clear and -life-like revival. - -Probably as for Lovelace, so for Matilda, stone walls would not a -prison make, for iron bars do not make any thing like a cage. She -drags the door upwards with her beak, and holds it with her claw while -she squeezes through like an egg sucked through a bottle-neck. This -performance drives Joey to the verge of mania. He, too, pulls up his -door, but he does not know how to hold it, and it bangs down again and -leaves him voiceless with rage, while Matilda is running about as gay -as a lark. - -But the other day I found Matilda securely imprisoned. Her door was -bound with red tape. As mere knots can present no difficulty to an -intellect like hers, it was certainly the symbolism which she respected. - -Yet with all these qualities of mind and character, there are one or -two points in which Joey excels. Joey wets his sugar. He deliberately -dips first one end and then the other into his drinking-trough, and -when it is half dissolved he eats it. He tried to soften a piece of -wood in the same way the other day--how fruitlessly Matilda knows. -Joey has a perch made out of the branch of a tree, and from his perch -his toys depend on pieces of string and tape; he owns a cardboard -matchbox, and an old tin pencil, and such-like treasures. One by one he -ruthlessly destroys these, so some strings are always hanging empty. -But sitting above them, Joey can test which are empty by their weight, -and pulls up only the heavy strings. It is not, however, in practical -matters that Joey is seen to the best advantage. His is the artist’s -temperament; he has a soul for music. Given a braying harmonium and -Joey loose, his foes are scattered; but the piano is, so to speak, -his forte. “I am convinced,” as Lady Catherine de Burgh says, that -Joey would have been a delightful performer had his health allowed him -to apply. As it is, he attends chiefly to the cultivation of the -voice. He seats himself on the shoulder of the meanest performer, or -marches up and down from shoulder to wrist; he spreads his tail like -a fan; he swells to twice his usual size; his eye goes in and out -like the magic-lantern star which sends happy little children to bed -with the nightmare. Then the performer plays a weird Scotch air, such -as the “Lyke-wake dirge” (one of Joey’s favourite pieces), whistling -the while, and Joey bursts into song. He does not whistle as when he -is performing “Pop goes the Weasel,” but he sings with a piercing, -strident voice, high and low, pitching with singular skill somewhere -near the note, grace notes thrown in according to taste. After Scotch -songs give him Wagner hot and loud. In the middle of a performance of -the Preislied a stranger once called; but he was happily a reticent -man.... - -[Illustration: _Photograph by S. A. McDowall_ - -“Joey has a perch made out of the branch of a tree.”] - -But above all there is this: Joey has a heart. It is not a very -admirable heart. Its fickleness is beyond description; he hates -more hotly than he loves; but the heart is there. He will hear his -friend’s voice in the house and get mad with anticipation, piping -broken fragments of indescribable song. He will follow such an one -with low, skimming flight, and will bite any hand except the dearest -that tries to bring him back. He is easily deceived--a lovable -fault--and a deep voice or a rough sleeve will make him tolerate a -woman under the impression that homespun means a man. But where his -heart is concerned pretence is vain, and I can imagine Joey dying of -a broken heart, though I can imagine him more easily still dying of a -bad temper. But Matilda’s heart is warranted unbreakable, and is as -cold and hard as her marble eye. And I sometimes fear that Matilda is -growing a little coarse: a new cook came the other day, and was taken -to the cage because the parrot “generally has something to say to a -stranger.” She burst into a long harangue, of which the only word that -could be distinguished was “forget” (it is thought she was declaring -her unalterable devotion to the predecessor); but she ended all too -plainly, “I don’t care for you.” Her new hostess firmly replied, “And I -don’t care for you,” upon which Matilda screamed loudly. - -If there is any truth in re-incarnation, it must be that cynics revisit -this world as parrots. The punishment would be horribly appropriate. -The man who has disbelieved in the reality of the higher emotions shall -have these emotions, but be able to express them only in broad farce. -An artist, ardent, vindictive, and cynical has been travestied with the -form of Joey. He is animated with the passion which made him plunge -his stiletto into an enemy’s heart, as in his re-incarnation he tries -to drive his beak into a hand. He is met by iron bars and a mocking -laugh. Dusk gathers over the sky, that mysterious, familiar beauty -stirs his heart; forgetting and forgiving, and he hopes forgiven, he -would say good-night to his friends. But the whisper comes in cockney -intonation, “Jowey, well, Jowey.” He hears the voice of a friend, and -would hail him, but “Pop goes the Weasel” rises to his beak. He is -kindled as of old by the Pilgrim’s March, and bursts into song. But the -voice comes hoarse and comic, and laughter greets the kindling eye. All -the highest, the best, the strongest feelings of his nature turn in -expression into broad comedy, and the reason is that when he was a man -he felt these emotions and profaned them by cynicism. - -I once met a decrepit old woman who lived on 7_s._ 6_d._ a week. She -took a rapid review of the Universe and Life, and closed it by telling -me that “things was just about coming to a Grand Pitch.” _She_ will -never be a parrot. - - - - -THE TORPID AND THE ILL-BRED CAT - - “_Cold eyes, sleek skin, and velvet paws, - You win my indolent applause, - You cannot win my heart._” - - _They_ “_divided the time into small alternate - allotments of eating and sleeping_.” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -The torpid cat is really a kitten, but it is of enormous size, and -a lively orange in colour. If it lies on the largest footstool it -completely covers it, if it occupies an armchair it occupies the whole -of it, if it honours the lap of a friend its head must be supported by -one arm, while its tail hangs down on the other side, otherwise the -centre of gravity could not be preserved and the torpid cat would slide -slowly on to the floor and fall like a soft and heavy sofa cushion. -It has been lying on a green velvet armchair all afternoon; being -temporarily displaced at tea time it fell asleep with its head on the -fender; when the chair was relinquished it went back on to it, and it -will lie there now till nightfall. - -If you catch the torpid cat awake you will find that it has pleasant -and intelligent hazel eyes, and a rose-coloured mouth carried half open -to be ready for a yawn, as you carry a gun at half-cock waiting for a -shot. If you stroke the torpid cat it stretches quietly, but not too -far, for fear of waking up. - -The ill-bred cat is a small neat English tabby, regularly marked. We -made its acquaintance first when it was about six inches long and had -come to take charge of the farm. It was sitting on a heap of coals -cheerlessly surveying the prospect; when it saw us it sped towards us, -crying loud for sympathy and companionship. Then it spied Taffy and -went back to the fence to sharpen its claws. - -The torpid cat, who was at that time a lively young kitten, and the -ill-bred cat made great friends. - -In the evening the tabby kitten left the farm to take care of itself, -and came up to play with the yellow kitten. They played at being tigers -in a jungle. The tabby kitten hid between the asparagus bed and the -yew hedge; the yellow kitten sat by the scullery door and pretended -that he wasn’t looking. Then he began a swaggering walk towards the -asparagus bed; the walk quickened as he got nearer, until he was -suddenly clawed by the tabby kitten, and the shock of surprise sent him -flying into the air like a rocket. Then in the twilight they fled about -the garden, crouched in the rough grass beyond the lawn, rushed up the -cherry-tree and peered down, all with light, agile movements, until as -the light died you could hardly catch the quick rippling of the tabby’s -stripes, and the yellow coat of the other grew wan. - -One morning the tabby came limping and crying from the farm holding -out a wounded, swollen paw. She was taken into the house and -doctored, but when the paw was well she refused to go home. The two -were inconveniently fond of human companionship--the yellow kitten -for its own sake, the tabby for a variety of reasons. She grew more -emphatically affectionate at meal times. - -The yellow kitten used to accompany his mistress to feed the hens; she -thought he had an eye for young chickens, but found she slandered him. -He was not looking at the chickens; his ear was open for the rustle of -mice in the grass, and from time to time he dashed in and despatched -one. He took special pleasure in doing this in company; it was always -open to him to hunt in the garden, but he used his privilege when some -one was taking the air and inhaling the breath of flowers. He seemed to -think it added a point to evening meditation to hear the squeak of the -dying shrew or to see an innocent field-mouse untimely cut off while it -was peacefully nibbling a blade of grass. - -Just so both kittens, with the real self-consciousness of cats, played -their games in public; they seemed to have no thought of anything but -the mock combat, but the scene of the combat shifted so as to be always -under the eye of a spectator. The explanation is simple: the life of a -cat is a continuous drama, whether actual or imagined; and what actor -will play to an empty house? The cat hunts not for food, but for sport, -and the torpid cat, who refused yesterday to look at a mouse let out -from the trap, spent the whole of this morning waiting behind the piano -with his ear bent to listen to sundry little scratchings. - -The cat eats the mouse, it is true; and the sportsman eats venison, but -he does not stalk for food. - -“Animals,” says Mr. Balfour,[3] “as a rule, trouble themselves little -about anything unless they want either to eat it or to run away from -it. Interest in and wonder at the works of nature and the doings of man -are products of civilisation.” - -[3] “Essays and Addresses.” - -But does this explain why the yellow kitten, as it followed me about -the garden, spent some minutes in quarrelling with a pansy? The pansy -lifted an inane, purple face towards the sky, and its head waggled -helplessly on its stalk. The yellow kitten sat down beside it, and -regarded it severely for awhile. Then he slapped its silly face. - -A change fell upon the kittens as they grew older. The root of the -difficulty was that one had no ancestors at all, and the other only -half the proper number. Their voices were too loud, their manners -were bad. The yellow cat never mewed, but his purr was like a -thrashing-machine; the other was clamorous in pleasure and complaint, -her appetite unquenchable, her demands for affection, for comfort, for -food, insistent and unabashed. She would try to drink from the milk-jug -while her saucer was being filled; she would run her claws into a hand -to get firm hold while she ate the scraps offered her. - -If you put her out of the door she reappeared like a conjuring trick -through the window; she would jump again and again on the lap of some -one who did not want her; she would never take offence. One tithe of -the rebuffs she met with would have sent a well-bred cat stalking -with dignity from the room; the first of the refusals would have made -him turn his back on the company and fall into deep and abstracted -meditation. But when her desire was accomplished and the hand weary of -hurling her on to the floor, there was something disarming in the bliss -on the little impudent face as she nestled in utter confidence and -licked the hand that had rebuffed her. - -The yellow kitten was less pressing; he had just so much refinement -of spirit as to make him refuse to stay in any place where he was -forcibly put. He kept his muscles tense, like a coiled spring, and so -soon as the grasp slackened quite slowly and deliberately he carried -out his first intention. - -The two began steadily to deteriorate. Now that the pressure of -necessity was removed they were fast losing the stamina of the working -cat; and having no sensibilities, natural or cultivated, luxury -would never make them aristocratic; they had no education and little -discipline, and they gave themselves up to revel in ungraceful comfort -greedily and confidently demanded. - -Yet their affection for each other, their utter confidence in human -nature, lends them a certain grace. You may come into the drawing-room -and find the farm cat and the kitchen cat (for such are their real -positions) settled in the best armchair. He is lying at luxurious -length, sunk in deep slumber. Behind him, squeezed into a corner, sits -the tabby; her anxious eyes peer out over his head, her soft little -body is crushed by his weight, one tabby paw is round his orange neck. -You rouse them and he half awakes; a long paw goes up to draw down the -kitten’s face to his own; and his rosy tongue comes out and licks her -from nose to forehead, then he subsides again into slumber, and her -eyes beam out blissful and honoured with the somewhat uncomfortable -attention. - -Or the little cat has been turned out of the dining-room because of her -unceasing demands, and looks in forlornly through the window. Sandy -awakes, sees her, gets on the window sill and kisses her through the -glass. - -Both kittens are entirely fearless with Taffy. Sandy’s is a mere -absence of fear, greatly due to sleep, and Taffy may wag a tail in his -face, just as a friend may flap a handkerchief in it, and yet only -induce a flutter of an eyelid. The little cat, on the other hand, is -a friend of his, will rub against his paws, and force him to take an -ashamed interest in her. - -But these are surface tendernesses; the position is fundamentally -untenable. A cat must either have beauty and breeding, or it must have -a profession. - -If it is well-bred it will take a hint; it cannot be disciplined, for a -cat is a wild animal, but its very aptness to take offence will bring -to it a certain self-control; if it is a working cat it has its own -profession, which occupies it very closely, it has its proper sphere -and its own apartments. - -There is no help for it. Kindly but firmly the tabby kitten must be -induced to return to the farm: kindly, for the mistake is ours. We -turned its head, we set it among temptations which its nature could not -meet, and we gave it no early discipline. Therefore it must be, like -the Cornish nation, led and not driven back. At this age, to coerce is -to terrify; and there is something truly heartrending in looking at the -shrinking, furtive air that punishments produce, and thinking of the -happy, courageous little beast who sharpened its claws for an attack on -Taffy, and gave itself up to the human being in blissful confidence of -kind dealing. - -Sandy is more of an enigma. One could tell his possibilities better if -he would wake up. As he sleeps he grows larger and larger, though few -have seen him eat, and he never asks for food. When a teaspoonful of -cream is offered him his nose has to be buried in it before he can -be roused to drink. He never scratches, he is never angry; when his -hazel eyes open he looks with kindness on the company and falls to -sleep again. There is only one time in the day when one can be sure of -seeing him awake, and that is at prayers. The presence of so many quiet -people makes him feel it a good opportunity of amusing them by a little -lively play with the bell-rope. If he is put out of the room he seeks -an open door or window, and finds a chance of making a fine dramatic -rush across the scene, accompanied by the stable cat. Prayers over, his -vivacity subsides. - -He has a name waiting for him when he wakes, for Sandy is to be -glorified into Alexander. But what is the good of naming a cat who -cannot hear you through his dreams? - -Sometimes I see visions of the future for the two. The first vision -is peaceful and prosaic: the tabby is instructing a rustic brood in -the art of mouse-catching. She thinks no more of velvet armchairs, -of porridge for breakfast and pheasant bones for lunch. Spruce and -well-favoured, the very type of an English cat, guardian of the -granary and terror of the mice, she licks her kittens’ faces and brings -them up to an honest, industrial career. - -But there is something nightmare-like in the other vision: Alexander -grown to panther size suddenly waking from sleep; his coat is a -tigerish orange, his tail like a magnified fox’s brush. What will he -do? Is it torpor only that restrained the heavy paw from striking, and -sleep that made the hazel eyes seem kindly? I find myself looking with -a troubled wonder at Alexander as he fills the largest armchair. He is -but eight months old--a kitten still. - - -POSTSCRIPT. - -Alas for Alexander of the pleasant hazel eyes; for he, too, has fallen -a victim to the signors of the night. He was never known to poach, he -never brought in a rabbit even, but it is spring, and pheasants are -young, and keepers cruel. - -So silently Alexander, too, has vanished away, and there is no -redress. [Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -VANITY OF VANITIES - - “_Kind hearts are more than coronets._” - - -I have no clue at all to what the real grievance of the peacock is, -though his history, so far as one can piece together fragmentary -records, contains all the materials of a tragedy. - -Down in the orchard is a great cage made of galvanised wire; a high -perch runs across it, and it stands in a sunny, sheltered corner, where -it was prepared for the peacock and his hen. Now the galvanised wire -is rusty and torn, the woodwork is broken, the cage is patched up now -and again to seclude a nesting hen or scratching brood of chickens, or -to give temporary lodging to a dainty pair of bantams, and a vegetable -marrow ripens its striped gourds in the sunshine. But all alone the -peacock, lame on one foot, limps through the farmyard, and haunts -the pigeon tower on the hill; while tradition tells of a day when he -alighted on the engine of a moving train, and rumour hints at dark -deeds in the past, the scared and blighted life of pea-hen, and a -holocaust of young pheasants. - -Yet he seems harmless enough, this limping fellow, harmless but -embittered. Sometimes evening after evening he will follow me to the -fowl-yard and wait for his own portion, drumming out an odd hard note, -like the tap of a wooden mallet. Again he disappears, and for days we -do not see him. Sometimes he comes to be fed under the windows or at -the kitchen door, and will take food even from our hands, but with the -distrustful air of one over-persuaded by raisins and lemon-peel. - -Sometimes he seems but a mean, faint-hearted creature, running from -us with the doubly mincing motion of the lame foot and the horizontal -tail, as each separate feather beats upon the air; and again he -appears, as when I first saw him, posed for a Japanese picture, high -in a flowering cherry with his train, bronze, emerald and indigo, -flowing down out of fairy-like clusters of flowers. - -But to a peacock “all the world’s a stage.” If he does but sit -meditating at evening on the low garden wall, the flowers below, the -dark shrub to the left, the hedgerow elms beyond, with the slope of -a field against a primrose sky, all these at once become a fitting -background to the crested head and trailing tail. As he stands so, the -silhouetted outline shows curves strangely like those of some great -cat. Just so Ra’s head erects itself; so slope his neck and back, and -so the tail lies out in a free curve over the hind leg stretched back. -Is there such a thing as a protective outline, and does the silly -peacock owe his safety partly to this? - -If his very pose is dramatic, much more so is his sudden entrance on -the scene. All round the house in summer nights comes the whirring -of the owls. Now there seems to be a heavy sleeper under one’s very -window, now the sound purrs out from the walnut tree across the lawn, -now from the bell tower or the ivy on the chimney stack. - -So one night we went exploring in the moonlight. Shadows of elms -flecked the road where the White Lady is said to ride on November -nights. A fir tree stood up in dark masses; thick shadows lay on the -grass under the walnut tree. Round the side of the farm buildings an -unexpected pool flashed into whiteness; the imagination was on the -stretch to see an old owl flap out from under the eaves, and shoot by -with silent wing; when suddenly from overhead came a flutter and crash -of branches, and a great creature swooped down and fled by with train -streaming behind. - -It is but seldom he can cause so much sensation; and for the most part -he walks alone behind the hedge, peering through at the barn-door -fowls, as an anxious exhibitor at a fair peers out from his van to -count the sordid crowd collecting. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by S. A. McDowall_ - -“For the most part he walks alone.”] - -Towards feeding time, when the fowls begin to gather, the peacock, if -he can, pens a few hens into a corner by the woodshed and begins to -posture before them, making a harmony of green and gold against the -greening lichened wood behind. And the dance, _Il Pavone_[4], is a -stately affair. He lifts the tail, separating each layer of feathers -from the next; each feather of each layer from its neighbour, and the -whole train flashes sapphire and emerald. Then with another sibilant -shake, feather striking against feather, it is raised upright; the -wings showing chocolate wing feathers are drooped almost to the ground, -raised and drooped two or three times with a quick flutter, and he -begins to turn, conscious that he has an audience behind as well as -before. As he turns full face the beauty of outline of the eyeless -feathers is made clear; one is apt to think when one finds them, -that these are eyed-feathers spoilt; but now they are seen to fringe -the entire tail, each ending like a shallow crescent with the horns -outwards, so that, instead of the scalloped edging which the eyed -patterns would give, these show a fine outline, airy and regular. So -raised, too, the fringe up each feather is copper-coloured, the eyes -stand out separately in long curved rows, the tail falls away from each -side below him in convex curve, and it is here that the feathers with -metallic green fringe grow, forming completely a shining curve away -from the body. The tail is raised so high that the definite scales of -the emerald feathers on the back flow into it; in the front view the -wings are hidden. As a single note to a melody, so is the beauty of a -peacock’s feather to the beauty of a peacock’s tail. - -[4] It appears that the author is making a play on words. La Pavane was -a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. -Pavone is Italian for Peacock.--_Transcriber._ - -Then he turns again towards the fowls, showing to us behind his -drooping wings and the skeleton white rays of the feathers on the back. -He curves this over his head until it looks like an umbrella turned -inside out, and advances upon them with dainty steps; but the fowls -dully preen their feathers and run away. - -What we call the tail is only the tail covert, and the back view shows -the real tail is of stiff feathers, arranged, when these are spread, in -an inverted heart shape. Then comes a sudden noise like a loud sneeze, -repeated again and again before one can see that it is caused by the -sharp striking of the tail feathers against each other and the tail -covert--and again he turns and paces. - -He made a long solitary parade the other day on the grass, and finally -crept through the hedge and into the poultry yard, where we followed -him to discover that the whole elaborate proceeding had been carried on -for the sake of one dull black hen, in a flurry about the egg she had -left behind her. - -He was waiting for these fowls the other day while, pending dinner, -they had come to dig up a tulip bed. They were routed with ignominy and -rushed home past him, indifferent to his presence; and as the pursuer -turned he sent out after her an angry, discordant, mocking scream. - -The bird is but a false prophet. He screams like a cheap trumpet out -of tune when the dog barks, or children shout; and when all is still -he fills the air with shrieks, till the superstitious tremble and the -scientific say there will be rain to-morrow. - -But the morrow rises with cloudless sky and fortunes, and the bird is -again discredited. We impute his mistake to the fact that he revels in -pessimism. - -All of which shows the peacock seen _sub specie humanitatis_ and -brings us not a whit nearer to what he is thinking, or rather is not -thinking, in the small emptiness of his coroneted head. After all, -there is very little head, and the tale of a peacock is mainly the -story of his tail. - - - - -TAFFY - - - “_The flower of collie aristocracy, - Yet, from his traits, how absent that reserve, - That stillness on a base of power, which marks - In men and mastiffs the selectly sprung._” - - -I - -HIS EDUCATION - -Taffy has had an education as many sided as that of a Jesuit. If he -was to be sent for at once to Windsor Castle we should not have a -qualm about his behaviour, unless, indeed, he should fall, like Guy -Heavystone, into “the old reckless mood,” in which case he would -loaf about the Royal stables when he should be in attendance on the -Sovereign. - -Taffy entered on the scene as an absurd speckled puppy of three months -old. His hair was like tow, and of so strange a hue that when we -presented only his back to a stranger he was rarely guessed to be a -dog. Some said a rabbit and some a cat; some suggested a lemur, as -no one knew what that was like; and some darkly hinted that we were -harbouring a young hyæna. - -Taffy was brought up in the stables, and early exhibited a lively -intelligence. In the gates of the stable-yard there was a little door -which opened with a push from the outside. With a spring and a scramble -Taffy could get over the gates and would push the little door open for -a less agile companion. - -With this intelligence Taffy developed an unpleasant temper. “Strange -fits of passion” has he known. The first time he saw a bicycle it -was being ridden by a harmless little boy. Without hesitation, Taffy -knocked down the bicycle and bit the bicyclist. - -We all know that intelligence is developed by education, and character -controlled by discipline, so Taffy was sent for schooling to a shepherd -and coupled with an old, discreet dog. And with regard to this a -pleasanter side of his character came to the fore. He had no vulgar -pride; for if in later days when he was running with his own horse and -carriage he met his monitor, he greeted him with genuine pleasure and -respect, and without a touch of patronage. Taffy is a prig, but he is -not a snob. - -He came home from school, having laid the foundation of his education -and learnt to keep his temper. A certain superstructure of cultivation -was built upon this, and having (probably) known the pains of the -stick, he was now initiated into its pleasures. He learnt to fetch and -carry, and retrieve; and such enthusiasm did he show that he began to -break branches off trees and uproot tender saplings in the shrubberies. - -The next great landmark of Taffy’s life was a round of visits. In -strict accuracy the round consisted of two visits, and the first visit -lasted for eight months; but this acted as a finishing school for -Taffy’s manners and the turning point of his career. For in this first -visit he was taken into the house, and took part in family life. It -was a real, independent visit, and Taffy was practically alone, for -although Matilda was staying in the same house she was in the kitchen, -and could not from the height of her gentility keep a watchful eye on -him. - -Taffy was so frank and free, so anxious to please and to be pleased, -that he was beloved from attic to basement. There was a little boy of -his own age for him to play with, and the friends he stayed with knew -well how to make a dog feel at home. Indeed, it must be confessed that -he still awakes a certain jealousy in the bosoms of his own family -by the ear-piercing welcome with which he greets these friends. He -still considers their house a preserve of his own; when he went there -subsequently with his mistress he gave her a cordial welcome at the -front door, and there was something blatant in the way he showed -himself at home. He considered it all too literally as a preserve of -his own; for, though he was never pressed to join a shooting party, he -brought back his bag. - -At the next house Taffy rejoined his family, who were proud and pleased -to mark the improvement in his manners and deportment. He had fine -social qualities, for finding a Dandie Dinmont in jealous possession, -he endeavoured to make friends by helping him to the afternoon tea, -which had been left on the lawn. Dandie was not tall enough to reach -the table, so Taffy handed down a few jam sandwiches on to the grass. -This pleasant little incident did not hinder Taffy from knocking down -the terrier when he grew quarrelsome, but, having done so, he stood -four-square above him, and smiled over the grizzled head snapping -helplessly between his feet. - - -II - -HIS COMING-OUT - -In the words of the felicitous marriage ode, we may say that for Taffy-- - - “Youth’s romance was done and over, - Hail the dawn of serious life!” - -But we know that education can never truly be considered as finished, -and that when a young lady dismisses her governess she must devote half -an hour in the morning to reading Motley’s “Dutch Republics,” and Mrs. -Jamieson’s “Italian Painters.” Even so when we settled down at last it -was unanimously agreed that Taffy must not be allowed to consider his -education complete, but must come in every evening to share dessert and -enjoy the cultivation of his mind. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by S. A. McDowall_ - -“Taffy.”] - -As Taffy has “come out,” it is time surely to attempt something of a -personal description. He may be described as distinguished in the -true sense of the word, for England and Wales have combined to produce -a somewhat remarkable blend of colour; luckily they have not quarrelled -about the eyes, which are both of the same pleasant brown. His grey, -curly back is blotched with black, his legs, cheeks, and eyebrows are -a yellow tan. But however opinion may differ about this hyæna-like -colouring, all collie lovers would be agreed in admiring his excellent -figure, his lithe, agile action, and his well-bred, intelligent head. -His family swell with pride as they hear passing remarks on his -appearance in the street; they were, in fact, a little disturbed by the -glances cast at the rear of their party until they realised that in all -the district there was no dog the least like Taffy. - -But Taffy is taught to preserve a modest demeanour; he is well snubbed -if in excitement over a piece of paper he postures too much, like a dog -in a chromo-lithograph--crouching forepaws, a plumy tail wagging, ears -raised, and mouth open to show a healthy crimson tongue. - -Although Taffy had come out, a strict eye had to be kept on his manners -for a time. It was all very well to object to the dustman entering at -the garden door. I do not altogether wonder at his entertaining such -suspicions of an honest mechanic, who was mending the bells, that he -had to be provided with an escort across the garden; it was perhaps -even pardonable to give “what for” to a guest who had peevishly -declared that he hated dogs. But it was _not_ right to bite our -landlord, nor to growl at a perfectly amiable visitor at afternoon tea; -it was not fair to smell people’s boots merely because they were timid, -nor proper to close his teeth on the leg of my brother’s best friend -simply because he had not seen him before. A dog should not growl at -housemaids because they want to sweep under the mat he is sitting on, -nor should he take offence at being asked to leave the room while -furniture is arranged. - -But all these things are long past, and it is not well to recall them. -Let us only remember that Taffy was always pleasant to ladies, and that -if he had to receive a caller he often thought of bringing a pebble -from the garden, or a lump of coal from the scuttle to amuse her while -she waited. Guests who were staying in the house he would keep happy -for hours together by letting them throw sticks for him. - -There are a few blacker shadows in Taffy’s life, and it will not do to -blink them. - -It was only the natural, impulsive haste of youth which made him jump -through the cucumber frame in pursuit of the sandy cat; but it was a -more deliberate indiscretion, a more sinister motive, that moved him -to jump in through the garden-room window when he thought no one was -indoors. - -The old cat had meals served in her own apartment, opening out of the -garden-room. This apartment, in which she also slept, was in appearance -like a large cupboard, with an easy latch. The garden-room windows were -open all the day, and it was not infrequently observed that the cat’s -plate was polished as by a large wet tongue. Taffy was more than once -caught springing lightly into the room; he assumed a surprised and -guilty expression if he found any one there, and hastily withdrew. -He was also marked from time to time coming down the passage with the -same air of secret satisfaction, mingled with slight apprehension, as -on the day when he stole the coachman’s beefsteak. So far we could only -register suspicious circumstances. - -But one evening at lesson time he was missing. We called him all over -the house, and heard no strangled whine or scratching paw. At last I -went to the cat’s cupboard, where a thrilling silence seemed to weigh -upon the air. I turned the handle, and, as if shot from a gun, cat and -dog burst out together. Oh, the tension of those hours since they had -got shut up, and the miracle by which they had both kept their heads! -No doubt Taffy, curling through the door with a sinuous, guilty motion, -had pulled it after him, and the easy latch had shut, and there they -were together, with nerves strained and tense. Taffy, however, to do -him justice, had kept cool enough to clean the plate. - -Let us turn to a lighter, brighter side. - -Taffy, as I said, had no vulgar pride, but he had to be taught the -subtleties of social relations. If he had had a truer instinct on this -point he would have saved us from the indignity of seeing him prefer -to follow an empty cab with which he was acquainted, to continuing his -walk in our company. But he soon learnt discrimination; and though he -was very fond of the cab itself, and attached to both horse and driver, -he found it better to preserve a certain standard in these matters. -Thus with all those whom he did not suspect of base ulterior motives -Taffy soon became a mighty favourite. He was known and welcomed on -the golf links, at least until his presence became, with his growing -ease of manner, a slight embarrassment; he was known in the school, -and hailed Sunday with delight, when “Winchester men” came to lunch in -order to throw sticks for him and give him catalogues to tear up. He -was known in the street, where he would wait outside shops if he were -particularly asked to do so; if he was not informed of our intention, -he either entered the shop rather rudely or went home. Once he came -into the Cathedral, and was so terrified by the vast spaces, the gloom, -and the silence, that when his agitated mistress rose from her seat to -expel him he fled abruptly to the door and never again entered. For the -future he lounged about the Close when we went in, and congratulated us -when we emerged from the mysterious, gloomy emptiness. - -Once a policeman had to ring his own front-door bell for him; we, -cheerfully lunching inside, had not missed him, and did not understand -at first why he came in in such a wild bustle of self-importance, -crying out, in a high voice, apology and congratulation. He was like -a little boy who felt that he had had quite an adventure. It may have -been the ready comprehension of this man which gave Taffy so strong -an affection for the force. I had to wait at the gaol once when he -managed, by repeated blandishments, to scrape acquaintance with the -constable on duty. Out of the corner of an eye I watched him laying -small offerings of pebbles and sticks at the policeman’s feet. As these -could not tempt, he sought out a small battered tin toy, which the -policeman solemnly picked up and laid aside. Finally Taffy rummaged in -the bushes and returned triumphant, bearing an offering that could not -fail to please--a tramp’s boot. The man was utterly melted, and with a -furtive foot jerked pebbles out of the gravel for the dog to fetch. - -The progress of Taffy’s lessons was beset with few drawbacks. He learnt -the English “Shake-hand” in one lesson, and will give the other paw, -or both together, when required. No dog likes to be asked to die for -any cause whatever, but Taffy consented to do it, with a sidelong eye -and much protest. He jumped with only too much vigour, and was seized -with wild desire to lick one’s face in passing. He liked to shut the -door and sit in a chair, but his energetic performance scratched them -both so much that he had to stop. He could hold a piece of ginger-bread -in his mouth till he was assured it was paid for, when he swallowed -it whole, with a deep sigh and snore. But his supreme performance, -requiring an exhausting amount of concentration, is to distinguish -between _played for_ and _prayed for_ and _paved for_ and _paid for_. -It is at this last only that he eats it, but _paved for_ makes him turn -his head until he distinguishes the “_v_.” No change of tone affects -this; _trust_ may be whispered, _paid for_ threatened. It requires -merely an undivided attention and an unprejudiced mind. If he makes up -his mind that _paid_ for is coming fourth in the list he stares with -stupid eyes at the sound of it; or he eats it gaily at _prayed for_ if -he is not attending. If people laugh he thinks it funny to eat it at -“_parochial_” or “_pantechnicon_.” But if he looks at the ground, so as -not to catch the eye of light-minded friends; if he turns away his head -so as not to be disturbed by the delights of ginger-bread, and if he -listens very attentively, he can think. - -This is the great value of tricks to the dog, as of mathematics to the -man. And Taffy does think; he pauses at an emergency and carries out a -plan, simple no doubt, but sufficiently intelligent. - -Taffy had a stick too long for convenient throwing, tough and hard. -His companion tried to break it, putting her foot upon it and bending -it up. When she was tired Taffy pounced upon it, put his paw on it in -the same manner, and bent it likewise. Thus they took turns at it till -the stick broke. Another long stick was thrown across a gate; he tried -to go through the gate holding the stick horizontally, but the bars -prevented it; so he took it by one end and dragged it through. - -He was accustomed to drop on the ground sticks that were to be thrown -for him; but finding that a bicyclist could not reach them, held them -of his own accord high up, so that they could be taken from him. - -Once in swimming across a stream he was carried down some way by the -current before he could land on the opposite bank. He was called -back but was afraid to attempt recrossing, and after a pause for -thought darted away and crossed a bridge quite out of sight, which -his companion had forgotten. Once we had been rolling a ball for him -in the conservatory, and it lodged under the plant stands where the -tiers were too low to let him through. After trying unsuccessfully to -get it he lay down, but when every one else had forgotten the matter, -got up quietly and going to a place where the tiers were broken away, -walked round under them until he could reach the ball. It is amusing -to watch his triumph at having discovered a short cut, hidden from -sight, across a loop of road; or his pride in carrying out such a -simple stratagem as the following: In the town there lived a gang of -five dogs, against whom, of course, no single dog had any chance. We -met them while we were driving one day. Taffy saw them first, and, -knowing them of old, paused a moment to think. Then he turned and -ran, apparently homewards, all five dogs in full cry after him. But -it was a gate a little way behind he was making for; he crossed it -first and headed off across a field at right angles to the road; he -was the fastest runner, and the dogs panted and fell back. When one -terrier only remained he turned again, made a long line to catch us up, -squeezing through a gap which it would have been madness to attempt -with the pack behind him, and rejoined us with cocked tail, looking for -applause. - -It is this quick intelligence of Taffy’s which renders daily -intercourse so easy and so pleasant. If he knows you drive daily, the -sound of the front door bell at the accustomed time will bring him to -the door, to lie gently whining till it is opened. If you have no habit -of driving, but tell him the carriage is there, he rushes off to find -it; or you explain to him that it is coming after a time, and he haunts -you till the promise is fulfilled. You tell him that he cannot come to -church, and he remains behind with downcast, puzzled face; or you tell -him to fetch his hat for a walk (the term has quite reconciled him to -his muzzle), and he runs to bring it. It is true that if the muzzle -is not in place he may bring any small handy object instead--some one -else’s hat, the clothes brush, a Bible, or a hand bag, for he seems to -regard the action as symbolic. If you feel dull, Taffy will turn out -the waste-paper basket and find you a crumpled envelope; if you are -inclined for affection he overwhelms you with demonstration. - -In almost every mood or occupation Taffy is delighted to bear you -company. There are only two things he cannot stand--one is golf and one -is gardening. - - -III - -AN ATTACK OF CYNICISM - -Now we took Taffy away from his club life, his beloved cabs, his large -circle of friends who threw sticks and catalogues on Sunday, his large -circle of enemies with whom he exchanged stimulating defiances in the -streets; and we buried him in the country. - -He enjoyed the journey, because he knows so well how to behave in the -train; he keeps an eye fixed on his mistress, and stays in the carriage -or gets out as he is told; he is open to blandishments from respectable -strangers, and will lie obligingly on their dresses or rest his head -on a knee; he keeps close to one’s side on the platform, and gets into -a cab as obediently as a child. He liked the new house, too, for the -front door was always open, and he needed no kind policeman to ring the -bell. - -Thus it was a few days before he began to realise the disadvantages. -His family was arranging the house, and when he lay genially in the -middle of a room he was instantly asked to move. He took offence and -went away by himself, but no one had time to call him and rally him -on his bad temper. Then he found there were few dogs in the benighted -place, and three despicable cats. - -But worst of all, an inexplicable change came over the habits of his -family; they did not go for drives, and comparatively seldom for walks; -but they did foolish things in the garden with rakes, and they fed -idiotic hens. They would not even allow him to go into the hen-house to -see what was talking so loud inside; worst of all, they played croquet, -and his greatest friend putted in the garden. - -Taffy loathed the sight of a hoe, of a rake, of a mallet, and of a golf -club. - -He allowed no ambiguity about the situation; if he saw any one begin -to play croquet he turned his back on them and lay down; he refused -to go out with a golf club; and if his mistress took the turn towards -the poultry yard he went back to the house and lay with a sickened -expression outside the front door. - -A bored expression began to be characteristic of Taffy. He lay sulkily -in front of the house, accompanying for a few steps every one who went -out, and turning back as they went straight to some detested occupation. - -He got up a fine quarrel with the milkman’s dog, but this had only -the effect of curtailing his walk, for when two parasols had been -fruitlessly broken over the backs of the combatants after morning -church, every one felt a little shy of taking him where he might meet -the milkman’s dog. - -The cats were a fresh insult. Two of them were kittens, and not in the -least afraid of Taffy, and it seemed to amuse his family to see them -rout him; to ask him to look at them, which he could not do for fear -of catching their eye; to ask him to kiss them, which he would have -scorned to do even if their claws had been less sharp and their tempers -more serene. - -With these new occupations Taffy’s lessons ran risk of being forgotten, -so he did not come to the dining-room for dessert. Demonstrations -of affection lessened, and Taffy restrained his own outpourings of -emotion; in fact he was in danger of becoming a reckless loafer of a -dog. - -When his family suddenly woke up to the existence of these tendencies -in him they tried to mend matters. They paid more attention to his -feelings and poured out upon him expressions of affection. Taffy -responded with fervour; lessons were begun again, and Taffy presented -himself nightly at the dining-room door, singing in a loud, excited -tone, greeting the family as if they were a circle of long-lost -friends, jerking his head under each arm so as to make it fall round -his neck. His best friend took Taffy to sleep in his room, which made -Taffy very happy, and he slept nine hours every night and snored most -of the time. When the room was unoccupied he slept on the bed and did -his best to make it comfortable. - -Then a delightful event took the sting from the glorious memory of -cabs. Two horses came to the stable, and Taffy could again run down to -meet the carriage and place himself underneath, so close to the heels -of the horse that he ran considerable risk of having his brains kicked -out. There were even advantages in the new arrangement: carriages -seemed to go faster than cabs, and there was a stall for him to lounge -about. No longer need he repair when he was muddy to a dreary hole, -peopled with empty bottles, but to a stall full of crackling straw, to -refresh himself by a little horsey society after the insults of the -kittens. - -And with this change and refreshment of spirits he found himself -able to take an interest even in the little tabby cat; he has been -seen to lick her face and smell her in a patronising manner. These -blandishments generally take place in the garden, and he is embarrassed -if they are noticed. - -Finally, Taffy resolved to take his part in these restored relations -and to try to sympathise with our pursuits. He joined us in a genial -frame of mind when we were hoeing a garden path. Every time a weed -came up Taffy smelt the place, until his nose was covered with gravel. -Finally, when he saw he had grasped the idea of the thing he dug a nice -large hole in the middle of the path. So we praised him very much for -his kindness and intelligence. - -There is no romance about Taffy, and no mystery; we know exactly what -he is feeling, and his very secrets are above board. If he has been -naughty, guilt is written on his countenance; if he is bored by us, he -expresses it as clearly; if he has done well, he goes round the circle -to collect applause. He lives his life in the full light of day--there -are no “silent silver lights and darks undreamed of” about Taffy. - -Of course he has his nerves like the rest of us: after a display of -affection he seeks a relief from the strain of emotion and repairs -quickly to the waste-paper basket; if he is ill it is death to pity -him. He becomes unable to raise his head from the ground, unable to -swallow; a profound woe is on his face. The wholesome tonic of a few -tricks, cheerful conversation, and a little bustle is necessary to -restore him. He is now beginning to listen to conversation even when -it is not addressed to himself, but he prefers it to have a healthy, -objective tone. Talk about good dogs and bad dogs will bring him, -self-complacent or apologetic, to your side; but conversation about -walks, about carriages and horses he finds far more stimulating. For -he is a martyr to self-consciousness; if one tries to draw him he -falls helplessly on one side, or moves uneasily, and finally reclines -with his head under the sofa. His photographs, too, are apt to wear a -deprecating, uneasy expression. - -Such is Taffy, intelligent, responsive, lovable, ready to impart his -joys and sorrows, thoroughly companionable, entering indeed far more -into one’s life than is possible for any other kind of animal. - -But with all this he is essentially dependent; he is but part of the -Red King’s dream, and has no thread of existence which is not rooted -and twined with human lives; his independent actions are isolated, and -the memory of them makes him ashamed and guilty. It is well said that -there is no forlorner thing than an ownerless dog; and no unwilling -prisoner could love his freedom with such wholeness of spirit as Taffy -loves his servitude. - - - - -THE ADOPTED FAMILY - - - “God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, - To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here.” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -It was quite natural for the peacock to adopt us, for he had been left -to his own resources at the farm; and he preferred bread and cake and -poultry food to the pickings of the farmyard. He would come quite close -for the bread or the Indian corn, but he would take cake from the hand, -thus giving an exact estimate of the value of risk. He paid for these -little attentions with his own tail, which he deposited in the course -of three days close to the poultry yard. - -It was very natural too that the farm kitten should adopt us, her -reason being partly real sociable qualities and partly greed and -luxury. She liked our company and our cat’s company; she also liked our -armchairs and our cat’s meals. - -But the adoption by the robins was on altogether a grander scale. They -sacrificed family affection and personal safety for the honour and -pleasure of domesticating a family of human beings. - -We are apt to think of ourselves as occupying this unique position in -creation that we alone have the power and inclination to annex other -races of creatures for supplies, for service, and for pleasure. If this -egotism is at all a matter of congratulation, at any rate we flatter -ourselves falsely. The ant keeps its dairy establishment and its staff -of domestic servants, or, as we invidiously choose to call them, its -slaves. Pumas seem to show a distinct tendency to make pets of human -beings, and I strongly suspect that cats take up the same position. We -think we have domesticated the cat. What if the cat thinks it has tamed -us? It induces us to give it board and lodging, and it surely thinks we -look up to it with admiration and affection--as we do. - -But, above all, robins have a perfect passion for taming mankind. - -As far as we know, robins may have tried to tame other creatures. They -may have paid court to cows and horses, but found that they could not -catch the eye of a cart-horse, or arrest the attention of the bull. -After repeated disappointments (like our own with the zebra) they may -have learnt that the only animal really capable of domestication is man. - -The decision of the point whether we were taming the robins or they us -rests upon this: which side made the first advances. - -There was no real question here--the robins began it all. - -The robins had been brought up in the ivy of the garden wall. We had -played croquet close to them, and gardened beneath them all the summer. -They had escaped being raided by the prowling Persian or the orange -Angora. Towards the end of the summer the great door into the hall -stood open all day, and we used to pull chairs outside into the strip -of shade. Then the robins began to take notice of us. - -By this time they had grown up and pegged out their own “claims.” The -baby robin, who had not yet changed his waistcoat, lived in the ivy and -sat upon the left gate-post. - -As we camped opposite in basket chairs he drew nearer, hoop by hoop, -across the croquet ground. At last he hopped upon the back of the chair -I sat in. - -Then we thought it time to return his call, which was most effectively -done by the distribution of breadcrumbs. - -This caused immediately the descent of the second robin, who lived in a -holly tree on the right hand of the door; and at once the feud began. -While the baby robin’s disinterested attachment had been tolerated, no -sooner did he begin to reap a reward than his father swooped on him. -We gathered that it was the father, for he was full-fledged, an older -bird, neat and smart. - -There were altogether four of these robins, and as they adopted the -Benson family, what is more natural than to call them by Mrs. Trimmer’s -beloved names of Robin, Dicksy, Pecksy, and Flapsy. I am convinced that -the baby resembled Dicksy; the smart formidable father shall be called -Robin; Pecksy and Flapsy have still to emerge. - -Now as Dicksy skimmed across the lawn, halted nervously, and advanced -to pick up a breadcrumb, like a bolt from the blue Robin fell upon him -from the holly tree. Dicksy fled back to shelter, but was received by -Pecksy, who, emerging from the arbutus bush, chased him back with a -few hard pecks. Pecksy also was half-fledged, and had a queer tuft of -light feathers on her head. Although she lived in the arbutus bush, the -right-hand gate-post was her watch-tower. - -Now since Dicksy had been our first and earliest friend, and could -alone be held disinterested, we threw crumbs after him; on these Robin -and Pecksy descended; and a crumb happening to fall considerably to the -left, out of the left-hand wall came shyly a fourth robin--evidently -Flapsy. - -The next day witnessed a gourd-like growth of intimacy with Robin. He -was always in the near holly tree; he descended for crumbs and came -nearer boldly; he even followed us into the house. - -But meanwhile Dicksy’s life was being made a burden to him. He alone -was not allowed to approach us. Pecksy drew nearer, half across the -lawn; Flapsy settled on the croquet stump and took short flights -towards us for crumbs; none interfered with Robin, but Dicksy’s -appearance was like the trumpet for battle; each habitat became -forthwith an ambush. - -Dicksy reconnoitred on the left-hand gate-post--not a robin in sight. -He ventured half across the lawn and not a wing stirred. He drew -nearer to the tempting crumb, now he was close, and at that moment -Robin swooped upon him. Dicksy swerved to the left trying to escape, -and Flapsy received him with open beak; he headed off to the right and -Pecksy flew out from her arbutus bush. Finally, he was driven back to -cover under ivy leaves with an empty stomach and an unsatisfied heart. - -Dicksy must somehow have offended against all codes and conventions of -robins, but in what way we grosser mortals cannot conceive. - -Later as the winter came on, when Robin came round to the lilac bush -at the dining-room window, when he and Flapsy came in to inspect the -tables before and after meals, when he entered the bedroom above to -inquire after a late riser, and partook of light refreshment, Dicksy -still seemed disconsolately to haunt his gate-post. - -But now with the coming of spring, and all the new fashions, one cannot -be sure of any one’s identity. Dicksy, I know, was changing his sombre -waistcoat for scarlet; so I can but hope it may be he who is uttering -the quaint little crack of a voice to announce his presence in the next -room. - -But I tremble for the prospects of next summer if we are going to prove -so attractive a family. If Robin and Flapsy nest again in the ivied -wall; if Dicksy brings a mate to the left hand gate-post; and Pecksy -sets up an establishment in the arbutus bush, the war of the worlds -will be nothing to the war of the robins. - -And at this moment we have undergone a new adoption, for a milk -white jackdaw without a tail flew into the garden yesterday, and the -household was scattered, uttering endearments, among the cabbages, and -scraps of raw meat adorned the lawn. Towards evening he was persuaded -to enter the kitchen. Matilda was asked to lend her cage for a time, -but when she saw a new centre of attraction she burst into screams so -terrific that every one who was not already occupied in housing the -jackdaw ran into the kitchen to see who was being murdered. So they -provided temporary accommodation for Jack under a basket chair. - -He liked it so well that this evening he was found sitting on the chair -waiting for some friendly mortal to bestow him inside. - - - - -THE MYSTERIOUS RA - - “_Reposeful, patient, undemonstrative, - Luxurious, enigmatically sage, - Dispassionately cruel._” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -Ra had three periods of development. In the first, he showed himself -cowardly and colourless; in the second, he sowed his wild oats with -a mild and sparing paw; and in the third period it was borne in on -us that whatever qualities of heart and head he displayed were but -superficial manifestations, while the inner being of Ra, the why and -wherefore of his actions, must for ever remain shrouded in mystery. - -We might have guessed this, had we been wise enough, from his -appearance. His very colour was uncertain. His mistress could see -that he was blue--a very dark, handsome blue Persian. Those who knew -less than she did about cats called him black. One, as rash as she -was ignorant, said he was brown; but as there are no brown cats Ra -could not have been brown. Finally, a so-called friend named him “The -Incredible Blue.” - -When the Incredible Blue sat at a little distance two large green eyes -were all that could be discerned of his features. The blue hair was so -extremely dark that it could be hardly distinguished from his black -nose and mouth. This gave him an inexpressibly serious appearance. - -The solemnity of his aspect was well borne out by the stolidity of -his behaviour. There is little to record during his youth except -an unrequited attachment to a fox-terrier. In earlier days Ra’s -grandmother had been devoted to the same dog--a devotion as little -desired and as entirely unreciprocated. - -But it was necessary that Ra should leave the object of his devotion -and come with us to live in a town; and now it became apparent that his -affections had been somehow nipped in the bud. Whether it was the loss -of the fox-terrier, the new fear of Taffy’s boisterous pursuits, or the -severity of his grandmother’s treatment--for the first time he came -into close contact with that formidable lady--whatever the reason may -have been, it was plain that Ra’s heart was a guarded fortress. He set -himself with steady appetite to rid the house of mice, but he neither -gave nor wanted affection. - -He would accept a momentary caress delicately offered; but if one -stroked him an instant too long, sharp, needle-like teeth took a firm -hold of the hand. We apologised once to a cat lover for the sharpness -of Ra’s teeth. “I think the claws are worse,” was all he said. - -Ra was an arrant coward. If a wild scuffle of feet was heard overhead -we were certain that it was the small agile grandmother in pursuit of -Ra. If Taffy were seen careering over the lawn, and leaping into the -first fork of the mulberry-tree, it was because Ra had not faced him -out for a moment, but was peering with dusky face and wide emerald eyes -between the leaves. - -Once or twice there was an atmosphere of tension in the house, no -movement of cat or dog, and it was found that the three were fixed on -the staircase unable to move. Taffy looking up from below with gleaming -eyes; Granny malevolently scowling from above; and Ra in sight like -Bagheera, in heart like a frightened mouse protected by the very fact -that he was between the devil and the deep sea. Taffy did not dare to -chase Ra for fear of the claws of the cat above; Granny did not care -to begin a scrimmage downstairs, which would land them both under the -dog’s nose. So they sat, free but enthralled, till human hands carried -them simultaneously away. - -But the general tension of feeling grew too great. Ra’s life was -a burden through fear, Granny’s through jealousy, Taffy’s through -scolding. Ra was sent off to a little house in London, and here his -second stage of development began. - -He had always been pompous, now he grew grand. It took ten minutes to -get him through the door, so measured were his steps, so ceremonious -the waving of his tail. He sat in the drawing-room in the largest -armchair. Then it irked him that there was no garden, so he searched -the street until he discovered a house with a garden, and he went to -stay there for days together. A house opposite was being rebuilt, and -Ra surveyed the premises and overlooked the workmen, sliding through -empty window-frames and prowling along scaffolding with a weight of -disapproval in his expression. - -Thus Ra, who had hitherto caused no anxiety to his family, now became -a growing responsibility; visions of cat stealers, of skin-dealers, of -cat’s-meat men, of policemen and lethal chambers began to flit through -the imagination whenever Ra was missing--which was almost always. So to -save the nerves and sanity of his friends Ra left London. - -We had now removed to the country, and greatly to our regret, though -little to that of Ra, his ancient foe had passed from the scene; and -although he felt it better to decline the challenges of the sandy -kitten, yet he no longer believed his safety and his life to be in -the balance; it was plain that he had realised his freedom, and would -assume for himself a certain position in the household. - -The house was a very old one; but Ra had been not long employed before -the scurrying of feet over the ceiling was perceptibly lessened, and -behind the mouldering wainscot the mouse no longer shrieked. That, -indeed, is a lame, conventional way of describing the previous doings -of the mice. Rather let us say that the mice no longer danced in the -washing basins at night, nor ran races over the beds, nor bit the -unsheltered finger of the sleeper, nor left the row of jam-pots clean -and empty. - -If Ra had confined himself to this small game all would have been well, -but he proceeded to clear the garden of rabbits. Day by day he went -out and fetched a rabbit, plump and tender, and ate it for his dinner. -It must at least be recorded that at this time he was practically -self-supporting. - -Three he brought to me. The first was dead, and I let him eat it; the -second showed the brightness of a patient brown eye, and while I held -Ra an instant from his prey, the little thing had cleared the lawn -like a duck-and-drake shot from a skilful hand, and disappeared in the -hedgerow. - -The third was dead. I took it and shut up Ra. We “devilled” the rabbit -hot and strong; we positively filled it with mustard, and returned it. -Ra ate half with the utmost enjoyment and the sandy kitten finished the -rest. - -Then came Ra’s final aspiration. Unwitting of strings of cats’ tails, -dead stoats, and the gay feathers of the jay, with which the woodland -was adorned, he took to the preserves. We have no reason to think he -hunted anything but the innocent field mouse or a plump rabbit for us -to season; but with a deadly confidence he crossed the fields evening -by evening in sight of the keeper’s cottage. - -If we had all been Ancient Egyptians we should have developed his -talent. The keeper would have trained him to retrieve, and he would -gaily have accompanied the shooting parties. If I had even been the -Marchioness of Carabbas I should have turned the talent to account, and -Ra, clad in a neat pair of Wellingtons, would have left my compliments -and a pair of rabbits on all the principal houses in the neighbourhood. - -Prejudice was too strong for us. I won a truce for Ra until we could -find a new home for him, and he departed in safety. I heard, to my -relief, that he seemed quite happy and settled, and had bitten and -scratched a large number of Eton boys. - -Now up to his departure we had at once admired and despised Ra, but -no one understood him. His appearance was so dignified, his spirit -seemed so mean. He lent a silky head to be caressed, and while you -still stroked him, without a sign of warning except the heavy thud of -the last joint of his tail, he turned and bit. He addressed one in a -small, delicate voice of complaint, yet wanted nothing. He followed me -up and down in the garden with a sedate step; there were no foolish -games in bushes, pretence of escape, hope of chase and capture. Happy -or fearful, sociable or solitary, Ra was utterly self-contained. - -Now hear the last act. - -Ra began paying calls from his new home, and was established on -a footing of intimacy at a neighbouring house. As he sat in the -drawing-room window there one morning, he watched the gardener planting -bulbs. The gardener planted a hundred crocus bulbs and went home to -dinner. No sooner was he gone than Ra descended, went to the bed, -and dug up the bulbs from first to last. Then he returned to the -drawing-room window. - -The gardener came back, and lo! his hundred bulbs lay exposed. Nothing -moved; no creature was to be seen but a cat with solemn face and green, -disapproving eyes, who glared at him from the window. - -The gardener replanted half his bulbs and went to fetch some tool; when -he returned he seemed to himself to be toiling in a weird dream, for -the bulbs he had replanted lay again exposed and the cat still sat like -an image in the window. - -Again he toiled at his replanting, and finally left the garden. - -In a moment Ra descended upon it; with hasty paws he disinterred the -crocuses, and laid the hundred on the earth. Then, shrouded still in -impenetrable mystery, Ra returned home. - -History does not relate whether or no the gardener consulted a brain -specialist the following day. [Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -MENTU - - - “A little lion, dainty, sweet,-- - (For such there be)-- - With sea-grey eyes and softly stepping feet.” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -Out of the basket there stepped a forlorn little figure, dusky grey, -pathetically wailing, cold, hungry, and tired. He was not eight weeks -old, every relation and friend in the world was left far behind him; -but he was in entire possession of himself and his manners. The ruffled -coat was a uniform tint; the little pointed head gave evidence of the -long pedigree he trailed behind him. In these weary and destitute -circumstances the true air of _noblesse oblige_ was on him. - -His very appetite had deserted him, and for days he had to be forcibly -fed with warm milk in a teaspoon. He remonstrated about this, but it -impaired not the least his confidence in human nature. - -Then he grew better, and became an elf-like creature, playing rather -seriously with his own tail, but venturing not far from the skirts of -his mistress. Once he saw the old cat, and would have run to her, but -she turned on him a look so malevolent that we snatched him out of -harm’s way, and still scowling she proceeded to take possession of his -sleeping basket. She used it for a day or two, but finding that it had -been given up to her she abandoned it. - -When I joined Mentu and his mistress on a tour in Cornwall some weeks -later he had become a different creature. He was still very polite, but -had grown in size and in confidence, and he was fast developing the -drama of the cat and the madness of the kitten’s spirits. He whirled -round the room to catch the crackling paper hanging on a string; he -played the clown with a cardboard paper-basket, hurling himself into -it with such force that it upset and poured him out like water on the -other side; he retrieved paper balls, and hanging over the bars of -chairs and tables beat them with the tips of his paws; he hid them -under corners of carpets and expended an immense amount of time and -strategy in finding them again. The paper flew into the air, and sped -across the room so fast that only a very clever and agile kitten could -ever have caught it. Then Mentu discovered the Shadow Dance. - -One evening while the paper was swinging on a string in the lamplight, -Mentu suddenly saw the shadow. Thenceforward he renounced the substance -and deliberately pursued the shadow. If the actual paper came in his -way he hit it with a pettish gesture, and searched the carpet for the -shadow. And he knew the two were connected, for at sight of the paper -he began to look about for the shadow. Then he rushed after it, and -through it; he spread himself out on the carpet to catch it, and it -was gone; he fled round and round in a circle after it, and cared for -nothing so much as the pursuit of nothingness. - -We went to an empty hotel, hidden in a little bay near the Lizard. -Green slopes, covered even in March with flowering gorse, fall quickly -to the pillared basalt coves. Here you may sit on slabs of rock -sheltered from east and north wind, scenting the sweet, pungent incense -breath of the gorse, and watching the gulls at play beneath. You can -see the great liners pass, signalling at Lloyd’s station, and branching -off below the Lizard Lights to cross the ocean; or you can watch the -gallant ships come in, corn laden, with men crowding to the side for -their first glimpse of English shores. But, except on Sunday, when -Lizard Town walks two and two on the cliff, you see no man there and -hardly a stray beast. - -So here Mentu became the companion of our strolls, scudding across open -stretches of green, rushing into shelter from imagined foes under gorse -and heather, dancing with sidelong steps and waving tail down little -grassy slopes, or lying on ledges of rock as grey as himself, starred -with lichen as yellow as his eyes. - -Once we went out along the cliff to return by the road, but here -Mentu’s faith in us deserted him. He set out to go home alone, but -dared not; he wished to come with us, but was tired; he would not be -carried for he saw children in the distance, and a cat prefers to trust -its own sense and agility in danger. So in despair of his wavering -decision we walked on, until, turning, we caught sight of a pathetic -figure silhouetted against the dusty road--a silky kitten with wide -mouth opened in a despairing outcry against fate. - -Once Mentu met a cow grazing on the cliff. Here was terror, but that he -realised the compelling power of the feline eye. He fixed on her two -yellow orbs with fear-distended pupils, prepared to make himself very -large and terrible by an arched back if she so much as turned towards -him, and thus holding her paralysed with terror (though she appeared -to graze unconcernedly the while) he walked by with tiptoe dignity and -scudded to shelter. - -But Mentu himself was once nearly petrified by a very awful kind of -Gorgon. He was tripping and smelling, and coming to the edge of a -little stone well he looked in. Suddenly we saw him turn rigid, with a -face of inexpressible horror. He stood statue-like for a moment, then -lifting silent paws retired backwards noiselessly, imperceptibly, step -by step from the edge. Once out of sight of the pool he turned and -fled. I went to look in. A frog sat there. - -Sometimes we went down a stony winding path to the cove beneath; a -wren was building here, for the cock-wren sat on a bush and girded -at Mentu as he passed. One day I heard from far below the sharp note -whirring like a tiny watchman’s rattle, and returned to find Mentu -lying on the path with swishing tail cruelly eyeing the atom which -scolded him from above. - -When the time came to go home Mentu had undergone another -transformation. He had trebled in size; he had lost the rough, reddish -“kitten hair”; his coat was shining, silky, ashen-grey; his eyes were -the colour of hock. Blue Persians were not plentiful in Cornwall, and a -little crowd followed us up and down the platform, for Mentu travelled -no longer in a basket. - -In the train he was perfectly calm; looked out of the window at -stations, and regarded railway officials with an impartial and critical -eye. A fellow traveller pronounced him “a kind of dog-cat,” alluding, -we supposed, to his intelligent and self-possessed demeanour as he sat -upright on his mistress’ lap. - -We parted again, and from time to time I had accounts of Mentu. In -spring time he relinquished the pursuits of shadows in favour of -less innocuous sport. He was found curled up in a blackbird’s nest, -meditating on the capital dinner he had made of the inhabitants. He -laid little offerings of dead, unfledged birds on his mistress’ chair -or footstool. He was seen trotting across the lawn, his head thrown -proudly back, so that the nest he was bringing her should clear the -ground. Saddest of all, she hung up a cocoanut for the tits outside her -window, and a dead blue-tit was soon laid at her feet. - -Again, it was said that he appeared suddenly, like the Cheshire cat, -on a tree miles from home; and in early autumn, in the morning, he was -seen crossing the lawn with a train of seventeen angry pheasants behind -him. - -We renewed acquaintance when I came to stay at Mentu’s home. He was out -when I arrived, and as we sat with open windows in the growing dusk -there was a sudden soft leap, and a presence on the window--a wild -creature, with shining eyes, the very incarnation of the dusk. Even as -he jumped down and came to our feet the mood changed. He purred to -us, and went to his dinner plate. Finding there a satisfactory mess he -began to eat, turning round to throw rapid, grateful glances towards -his mistress, purring the while. - -Like the Dean who gave thanks for an excellent dinner, or a moderately -good dinner, so Mentu is wont to graduate his grace according to his -meat. A fish’s head, or the bones of a partridge (it was long before -his mistress could be persuaded that he would not prefer a nicely -filleted sole) will produce the most grateful glances and the loudest -purrs. - -As I was occupying the sofa, Mentu took his after-dinner nap on my feet. - -It is odd that cats show an intense dislike to anything destined and -set apart for them. Mentu has a basket of his own, and a cushion made -by a fond mistress, but to put him into it is to make him bound out -like an india-rubber ball. He likes to occupy proper chairs and sofas, -or even proper hearthrugs. In the same way, the well-bred cat has an -inconvenient but æsthetic preference for eating its food in pleasant -places, even as we consume chilly tea and dusty bread and butter -in a summer glade. A plate is distasteful to a cat, a newspaper still -worse; they like to eat sticky pieces of meat sitting on a cushioned -chair or a nice Persian rug. Yet if these were dedicated to this use -they would remove elsewhere. Hence the controversy is interminable. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by H. R. Gourlay_ - -“Mentu.”] - -The next few days Mentu was determined to devote to family life. He -came to the drawing-room in the evening and was very affable and -polite. He went readily to any one who invited him, and dug his claws -encouragingly into their best evening dresses. We had taught him a -trick in Cornwall which he still remembered. He lies on his back, two -hands are put under him, and he is gently raised. A touch on elbows and -knees makes him shoot forelegs and hindlegs outwards and downwards; so -that head and forelegs hang down at one end, hindlegs and tail at the -other, and the great grey cat lies curved into crescent shape, purring -serenely. - -In the course of the evening my collie, a visitor with me, came -genially into the room. Mentu did not know him; he sat upright, with -eyes fixed upon the dog, shaking with terror, but making no attempt to -escape. - -I heard Mentu calling on his mistress early next morning in a querulous -tone. As her door was shut I invited him into my room, but he found -it not to his mind, and soon left me. He sat all the morning with us, -but was easily _ennuyé_, and walked about uttering short bored cries -until he could find some one to play with him. He delighted in a game -of hide and seek which he had instituted for himself. He hid and called -out, lay still till he was seen, and then sprang up to scud across the -room. When we went into the garden he followed, and the scolding of a -blackbird made us look up to see him on a branch overhead staring down -at us. He walked with us, too, or rather when we walked he plunged -rustling through the bushes bordering the path, and flashed out to -stand a moment in the open. - -Withal one felt that a thinking being moved with us, whether bored or -childishly excited, gently affectionate or suddenly grateful; a being -thoroughly self-conscious, greedy of admiration, regarding himself -and us, and taking his life into his own hands. And close beneath the -surface of his civilisation lay the wild beast nature. One could wake -it in an instant, for if I caught his eye the surface flashed sapphire -for a moment, then the eye with distended pupils was fixed upon me, -and silently, holding me by the eye, he believed, he stole across the -room, and jumped up suddenly almost in my face. There was something -uncanny about it, and even possibly dangerous, for if I looked up from -a book sometimes I found that topaz eye trying to catch and arrest my -own, while the great cat stole silently nearer. I think if we had not -relinquished the game Mentu’s claws would have blinded me. - -For the wild nature in Mentu is as strong as his inbred civilisation; -and the two are at strife together. His heart and his appetite lead him -back and back to the house; keep him there for days together--a dainty -fine gentleman, warm-hearted, capricious. But the spirit of the wild -creature rises in him, and the night comes when at bed-time no Mentu -is waiting at the door to be let in; or in the evening, as he hears -the wind rise and stir the branches, even while the rain beats on the -window pane, the compelling power of out-of-doors is on him, and he -must go; and when the window is lifted and the night air streams in, -there is but one leap into the darkness. - -He will return early in the morning tired and satiate, or spring in -some evening as the dusk gathers, with gleaming eyes where the light of -the wild woods flickers and dies down in the comfortable firelight of -an English home. - -This is the true cat, the real Mentu, this wild creature who must go -on his mysterious errands; or who, I rather believe it, plunges out to -revel in the intoxication of innumerable scents, unaccounted sounds -and the half revealed forms of wood and field in twilight, in darkness -or in dawn. In his soul he is a dramatist, an artist in sensation. -He lives with human beings, he loves them, as we live with children -and love them, and play their games. But the great world calls us and -we must go; and Mentu’s business in life is elsewhere. He lives in -the half-lights, in secret places, free and alone, this mysterious -little-great being whom his mistress calls “My cat.” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -THE CONSCIENCE OF THE BARN-DOOR FOWL - - “_The trivial round, the common task._” - - -Few people recognise how strong an element the sense of duty is in the -lives of cocks and hens. - -I have a Minorca cock of superb appearance and excellent principles. -I had to cut his wings once, and I felt as if I had hit a Member of -Parliament in the face. It is from him I take my standard. - -He receives new hens into his flock with an impressive ceremony. When -they are turned into the yard in the approved condition of screaming -hysterics, he assembles his old flock about him, and proceeds in a -kind of agitated procession towards the newcomers. Then the cock comes -a few paces in advance, and with ruffled neck struts and scrapes in -front of them. Finally he goes off to the farmyard, the hens following -respectfully behind him, the newcomers last of all, pecked and hustled -by the rest to make them feel at home. - -To his flock of hens the cock stands in much the same position as a hen -towards her chickens. It is only the roughness of the instruments they -have at hand which misleads us about the particular duty which each is -fulfilling. - -If a chicken falls on its back it must be remembered that the only -instruments by which the hen can help it to regain its feet are a beak -and a claw. This is like helping a newborn infant with a sword and a -gun. With the full use of ten fingers I feel some anxiety about picking -up a chicken. I should quite refuse to do it with a beak and a claw. -The hen is braver. She first pecks the chicken to stimulate it to -exertion, and then she turns and kicks it. This latter plan is usually -the more successful. - -But in case of hostilities it must be remembered the hen has only the -same two instruments at command. She first pecks her foe and then kicks -him. Thus the thoughtless are apt to confound the different intentions -in the similarity of method. - -In the same way if a hen, called suddenly from an orgie of herring -heads in the farmyard to a meal of corn in her own enclosure, forgets -where the gate is and tries to get in through the wiring, the cock has -only one possible method of helping her. He flies at her from the other -side and pecks her. This is not hostile, but protective; he is helping -her to recover her self-control. When he has succeeded in reminding her -that she cannot hope to get through galvanised wire netting he will -accompany her politely round to the gate, and bring her to her food. - -The range of duties is large. To help thirteen hens to keep their -heads in the various emergencies of life is a heavy responsibility; -add to this that the cock keeps time for them, assembles them to their -meals, separates fighters, keeps a sick hen away from the flock, or -bears a shy one company while she eats; it will be evident that the -self-control of the cock in the matter of food is well matched by his -organising ability. - -There is only one thing which clashes with the imperative sense of duty -of the barn-door fowl, and that is its tendency to romantic attachments. - -I had two hens sitting side by side in their first experience of -nesting. Daily they were found with dazed faces, ruffled and pecked as -we took them out; woke from their angry trance as they felt the earth -beneath, took their dust baths, ate, drank, and returned, to fall again -into a condition half comatose and half savage. - -Thus they spent but twenty minutes daily in the enjoyment of each -other’s society. - -One brood came out five days before the other. The hen was found with -an expression of scared surprise on her face, as instead of nine smooth -silent eggs, she felt the downy creatures move and heard them cry. She -and her brood were removed, and the other sat on with glazed eye till -her turn came. - -Then we took her also and lodged her next to the first; they had -separate dwelling-houses and a common yard. We were only afraid that -maternal tenderness would lead to a little pecking of the alien brood. - -But it appeared that we had wholly miscalculated. While they sat -dreaming side by side or took the refreshing dust bath, those hens had -sworn eternal friendship. Although like a Boarding-Out Committee under -the Local Government Act, the two hens were individually responsible -for both broods, the chickens (unlike the children) were quite a -secondary consideration. The hens’ main object in life was to sit as -close to each other as they could, and the chickens squeezed themselves -into corners, roosted on the hens’ backs, or moped in isolation. - -When one chicken had nearly died of exposure, and three had been -flattened under the combined weight of the hens, we removed the worst -mother. On this she lost all the little wits she had ever possessed, -and haunted the chicken enclosure like an unquiet spirit. It took the -cock a long time to restore her self-control. - -But I have a far darker tale to tell. There lived in a neat little -house on a lawn a gold and red bantam cock with two golden brown hens. -The darker was his favourite wife, but the three lived harmoniously, -and the hens laid an egg daily. - -Fifteen of these eggs were hatched out under a common barn-door fowl. -She had no breeding and no tail; her colour was an undertone of black, -irregularly sprinked with grey. She was cooped with the chickens about -a hundred yards from the bantams, and screened from them by a shrubbery. - -About this time the favourite bantam hen found an attractive heap of -faggots: thither she repaired daily to lay an egg. When she had laid a -dozen she sat down to hatch them. She had chosen her place well, for -her golden brown feathers showed hardly at all against the wrinkled, -russet leaves. - -While she sat peacefully hidden the cock had heard the hen and chickens -call; and, strolling to the other side of the shrubbery, discovered his -fifteen children with their foster-mother. Thenceforward, from morning -till night, he squatted near the coop, leaving the little favourite -wife in her æsthetic bower, and the paler little wife to her own neat -house. - -It might be thought that paternal instinct kept him there, the joy of -seeing his young family grow daily more like their mothers and himself; -the dawning hope of the time when he should scratch for the young hens -and pull the tail feathers out of the little cocks. - -Not so; he was enchained by the attractions of that large, common, -tailless fowl. Doubtless he thought her a fine large hen; so she was, -quite four times his size. Perhaps he admired her figure, and thought -her colouring a unique beauty. - -Certain it is that just when the little hen was leading out a tiny -family, the bantam cock, deserting his two wives and his twenty-seven -children, fled with the common hen into the woods. - -There they lived in a wild and wicked romance. People passing through -the wood at evening might see a very small gold cock and a very large -speckled hen sitting side by side on the branch of a tree; or in -the morning might catch sight of the pair digging for a precarious -livelihood in the grass at the covert edge; glancing round with guilty -eyes and fleeing for safety into the bushes. - -At last disillusionment came; it was sure to come. The cock went home. - -He returned to find that _all the first family were dead and that eight -of the second family were cocks_. - -This is tragedy, but it is also history. - - - - -CONFUCIUS - - “_Lord! what fools these mortals be._” - - -The Chow Dog was living in a house on the shores of Loch Lomond; and -the first time I saw him was when he came with his mistress to call at -the hotel. For reasons which will presently appear, I shall call him -Confucius, though this is not his real name. - -When his mistress came in to see us Confucius stopped outside, and I -saw him through the window. He was of the shape of a neat little pig; -he was soft and furry, and in colour like a golden fox; he had black -eyes, and a bluish-black tongue. As soon as you saw that tongue you -realised how inartistic, how unfinished, a red tongue is; one might as -well have pink boots. By as much as a black Berkshire is more proper -and neater than a pink pig, so is a bluish-black tongue better than a -red one. - -We were so much ravished by the appearance of the Chow Dog that we went -out at once to be introduced to him. As soon as he saw us coming he -began to trot steadily homewards. We had to leave him to his mistress -and retire indoors, and after some conflict of wills and clash of -temperaments she appeared victorious with the dog tucked under her arm. - -We found that he was at this time only four months old, and absolutely -the most self-confident creature living. He thought he knew everything, -and scorn was the very breath of his nostrils. Though his personal -experience, compared to ours, was short, he felt behind him the -centuries of Chinese civilisation. When his empire was elderly, our -civilisation was in the cradle. This more than redressed the personal -balance and left him to the good. - -Confucius clearly did not care to make our acquaintance, but we felt it -a privilege to be admitted to a greater intimacy with him. - -[Illustration: _Photograph by Messrs. Fall_ - -“Scorn was the very breath of his nostrils.”] - -He comported himself at home with dignity, though not always with -civility; he had none of the puppy _abandon_ natural at his age. I -tried to teach him to retrieve a piece of paper. He was bored, but he -would not be taken at a disadvantage; so he walked slowly after the -paper and gravely returned it to me. After I had persisted in this -exercise for some time, he saw that it was meant for a game, and as he -would not appear deficient in a sense of humour, he gambolled a little -as he went after it. - -Confucius never gave himself up to a passing emotion. I saw him once -on the rocks with a real puppy, a spaniel puppy bigger than the Chow -and probably older. It crouched before him sinuous and silly; it sprang -up, gambolled round him and crouched again; it flew at a gallop past -his nose and lay down on the other side of him. It exhausted itself -in futilities, and gasped and panted with its efforts; and all this -time the Chow surveyed it with a bright, contemptuous eye. When it was -utterly worn out he got up and went away. - -At last Confucius made a mistake. We saw him on the edge of the lake -one day with something in his mouth which he swung and tossed from -side to side. We called him, and with exultant pride he came towards -us. The thing was soft and furry, and so long that it hindered him -as he ran. He laid it down before us with jaunty tail and conceited -eye--it was his first rabbit. - -I had so often smarted under the sense of Confucius’ contempt that I -was not prepared to be tender to his humiliation. I had not known what -it would be like. He took corporal punishment with a fair amount of -self-control, but he strained and howled at the indignity of a chain, -and the shame of looking at that furry thing of which but just now he -had been so proud. When he found that he could not get free, he sat -down and thought over the situation until his tail uncurled. - -In our walk that evening we were not preceded by a triumphant golden -dog, with well-cocked tail and exalted nose, for Confucius followed -behind, lost in thought. He did not stray for a moment into the bushes; -no rustle of wild creatures could attract him. He was dreeing his -weird. - -He had finished dreeing it by next morning, however, and his opinion of -himself was quite restored--more than restored--as he had laid up a new -piece of experience. - -The last time I saw the Chow was when we left Loch Lomond. He came with -his party to see us off, but it was wet and the boat was late. They had -to return home, while we waited sheltering in the pierman’s hut. - -The party must have fallen out by the way, for we had not waited -long before Confucius came trotting back alone, quite cheerful and -self-possessed. He went round to the further side of the hut so as to -interpose it between himself and the homeward path. Then he sat down -very comfortably. If either a dog or a philosopher could have winked, -Confucius would have winked at us. - -The steamer drew away until the shed grew small against the fir-tree -stems, and we could only see a tiny golden speck beside it. But we -knew that was Confucius sitting Jacques-like to mock at the world, at -our superficial brains, our simple wiles and our infant civilisation. -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - - -A PARADISE OF BIRDS - - “_Oh! the land of the rustling of wings._” - - -“‘God made the country and man made the town;’ I prefer the latter,” -wrote a child. Man also made the Suez Canal and the ships upon it, and -God made the Salt Lakes and their navies, and most people still agree -with the child and prefer the former. - -I had heard much about the first, and little about the second, when I -landed in Egypt one November and went by train to Ismailia. On the left -lay the famous little ditch, and the great ships looking incredibly -tiny crept along it; and on the right lay out the great shallow lakes, -and from the edge to the horizon they were as full of feathered fowl as -Mother Carey’s Peace Pool. - -Here in front all over the water were crowds of little birds, wild -ducks maybe, dotted singly, fishing for themselves, and right away lay -the flocks of flamingoes, flushing rose as they stood, flashing scarlet -as they wheeled, till the flocks on the horizon looked like a sunset -cloud. Late in the spring I passed again, and saw not the birds but the -reason of the birds. The first time it had been a brilliant, sparkling -morning, the second time it was a scarlet sunset. Where the rose-tinted -flocks had touched the sky the sun now set behind bars, and where the -little birds had floated singly the Arabs were drawing a net--the dark -figures, each with his fisher’s coat girt round him, stood out against -the crimsoned water; as they drew in round after round the silver fish -leaped against the meshes, and the sound of their rustling came up to -our ears as the train halted. - -It is but the lean kine that the Israelites have left in the land of -Goshen; yet if I was a tethered beast with scanty pasture I should feel -some little comfort in having for company such a vision of whiteness as -the paddy bird. To unaccustomed eyes it seems the image of the ibis, -though it is not really the same; and it runs in and out over the -parched fields, among the heads of the cattle. - -There is peace in Cairo now among the Easterns and the Westerns, but -there never can be peace between the kites and crows. The feud is -carried on in the tops of the palm trees of the gardens. In one fierce -contest the bone of contention fell to the ground and I went to find -the cause of this eternal feud. It was no more and no less than a dead -rat. At the river side they have ample material for contention, and I -have seen as many as fifty great hawks or kites together hovering about -the masts of the boats. - -The kites are seen at their best in a little desert city near. There -is not so much noise but that you can hear their musical whistle, -and watch their great stately quadrilles in the air, three or four -wheeling, poising, passing with swoops and curves against the blue. - -A lovelier, more peaceful little bird haunts the palm gardens--the -cinnamon and ashen dove which seeks the woods of England in the summer. -Ten of them came home by our own boat one spring. They crept on behind -it on wearied wing till we pitied them, and hoped they would alight -and rest. Suddenly we all saw a sailing ship a mile or two away. With -one accord the doves turned and made towards it, but not liking it on -nearer view they turned again, caught us up without the least trouble, -and again limped along on the wing beside us. But we were comforted for -their fatigue. - -In November the waters round Cairo had only just gone down, and the -fields near Gizeh were all mud. When evening fell there used to come a -wedge-shaped flock of pelicans from the desert. The great birds wheeled -round the top of Chufu’s pyramid, and went off to their fishing. - -Each little village up the Nile has its own pigeon tower built -four-square, and bristling with sticks for the birds to perch. All the -village owns these towers, and round them the pretty flocks clap their -wings and take their brisk flights, merry and quick as Arab boys. - -The long lines of herons in the water are more typical of the -meditative side of Oriental character. They stand out in long grey -lines, on long yellow spits of sands in the slow, great curves of the -river. But no bird can boast one half the resolute patience of the -Griffin Vulture. Round some long curves of the Nile I saw the great -grey birds stand; as we drew slowly nearer we could distinguish five, -of which two were standing opposite to one another with immense wings -spread, ready to fight. When we came opposite it was seen that they -were quarrelling about a dead sheep; as we drew away they were still -exchanging the _retort courteous, the quip modest, the reply churlish, -the reproof valiant and the countercheck quarrelsome;_ and we were out -of sight again before either gave _the lie direct_. Indeed, for all I -know, they may still be typifying the _Concert of Europe_. - -The Egyptian vulture is much smaller and much more attractive than -this abhorred great bird. _Rachen_, white with black-edged wings, has -a beauty of his own as he circles luminously against the sky; there -is even a horrid grandeur about him as he springs into sight from the -blue, and beats steadily up the wind, allured by carrion scent among -the sandhills. - -But of all the birds at Luxor the bee-eater is perhaps the loveliest -and the pied kingfisher the most lovable. This kingfisher is dappled -white and grey, he poises over water in the position of the dove in -stained-glass windows; his wings are lifted fluttering, his head bent -down. So he hovers intent and busy, careless of those who pass, till he -has perfectly found his aim. Then he drops as a stone falls, the waters -close above his head, and in a moment he emerges with a fish curving -silver from his bill. If “our loves remain” my spirit will sometimes -seek a little horseshoe lake with thick green water, above which sit -a parliament of lion-headed goddesses, and there it will watch this -kingfisher hover and poise and fall. At this place I once saw our own -kingfisher, but he is a travelled fellow and has lost the fearless, -busy confidence of the grey native; he does his fishing on the sly, and -went by like a blue flash to hide behind some carven stone. And I do -not know how soon the pied fisher will learn to follow his example. A -German, who thought himself a sportsman, also loved these kingfishers, -but, as Browning says, it was “another way of love.” He came home one -day with a bunch hanging from his hand. I do not know if he took them -home and stuffed them to look like nature; more probably he tired of -the little grey bodies and threw them away. They would not be so pretty -when the soul was gone. - -And some men, Englishmen too, have been known to shoot the bee-eater. -This is a small light-green bird, as green as growing corn. From its -tail hang two long dark feathers; it has a long black beak, with a -stripe passing by the eye across paler cheeks. There are some kinds -more brilliantly coloured than this; the beauty of it is most manifest -when it is bee-eating. Then it spreads bronze wings, turns and flutters -like a butterfly, and as it turns a gold sheen ripples over the green. -These are sociable birds, and they sit by half-dozens on a branch of -carob, taking turns to flutter and catch. - -Compared to this bird the crowned hoopoe himself seems almost gross. -He is at ease again, since Solomon took back his gift, and the crown -of feathers is raised and lowered with a jaunty, self-sufficient air. -Where the market road of Luxor ran out into the fields, close by the -hole dug by an Arab weaver in the middle of the way to set his loom -in, was a favourite place for the hoopoes, and here you might see two -or three together, as large as thrushes, with bodies coloured like the -russet jay, fine curving bills, and the gay crest. But if you wish to -love a hoopoe do not watch it when it eats a thick-bodied moth. - -Over the plain of Thebes the swallow plays, glancing by; you hail him -as a fellow countryman, but foreign travel would seem to have altered -his customs and driven away his dear domestic habits. The old Egyptians -carved on stone two little birds like swallows, but one had a wing -curled upwards, and one had a straighter wing; and whereas the latter -symbolised greatness, the former portended evil. One would need all the -wisdom of Egypt to know what mystery lies behind the curling of the -wing. - -Through the fields another merry bird comes into sight--the crested -lark, which is so bold that it will hardly move from the path your -donkey takes; or it sits among the corn blades as you go by, and -runs but a few steps as you canter past. The birds are tame, because -the Arabs do not kill them; Mohammed took a very narrow view of -the subject, and it is left to Englishmen and Germans to check the -excessive familiarity of birds and men, and to try to make nature more -normal. - -If these rarer birds are tame, our own bold sparrows are a hundred -times more impudent. As the Arab waiters clear away the breakfast they -chase the sparrows out through the doors; if you sleep with shutters -open you may expect to find a sparrow or two sitting on your bed when -you wake; they pry into your cupboard if the doors are left open; they -pull a thread out of the mat near your feet to make a nest behind the -electric bell wires in the hall; and one determined pair set themselves -to build behind the books in our bookcase. We pulled the nest to pieces -many times, but they had us at last, and we found two eggs laid upon a -wisp of hay. - -There is another bedroom visitor with better manners--namely, the -little grey owl who mews high up in the palm tree; he does not make -himself so common as the sparrow, but in my bedroom one evening he -appeared on the window-sill, bowed about a dozen times and went out -again. - -The wagtails do not come indoors, but outside they will follow and -wait for crumbs; will stand with pulsing tail while one lunches at the -corner of some temple, running after the scraps of bread thrown to them -and waiting to clear the remnants of the feast. The grey wagtail is the -commoner, and the plump yellow wagtail is a rare shy visitor. On board -ship he catches something more of the spirit of comradeship. - -What more can one tell of the cuckoo with spangled crest, whose -spangles can be stroked off and come back again; of the chat with rosy -breast, of the oriole of golden plumage. The air is still in this -country so that you may hear the voices of the past speak silently; and -the very song of the birds is hushed in the land of the rustling of -wings. - - - - -EPILOGUE - - “_Imperfect qualities throughout creation, - Suggesting some one creature yet to make._” - -[Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - -I - - -It is time that the old question of the superiority of cat or dog -should be discussed on some other ground than that of British feeling -or human egotism. - -The case of the cat is prejudged if we are to weigh his merits on -practical grounds, for the cat is a dreamer and a dramatist; or if -we are to estimate his character from the point of view of Western -civilisation, for the cat, as William Watson says, is the type of the -Orient; or, finally, if we are to consider the moral qualities of the -cat solely in relation to the desires of the human being. If these are -our premisses then the vulgar estimate of the cat is the true one. - -According to this estimate the cat is a domestic comfortable -creature, usually found curled up like the ammonite, and in a state of -semi-torpor; it is essentially selfish and essentially cruel, but apart -from these two drawbacks, essentially feminine. “The cat is selfish, -and the dog is faithful.” This sums up a judgment founded on wilful -ignorance and gross egotism. - -In respect to what is the dog faithful and the cat selfish? Simply in -this regard, that the dog takes the vainest man on something better -than his own estimate, while of the cat’s life and world the human -being forms but a little part. - -Here plainly Greek meets Greek, and we had better let the accusation -of egotism alone. But apart from this point, the above summary of -the cat’s nature is about as true as the following summary of the -sportsman’s nature from the cat’s point of view. - -“The sportsman is a quiet, domestic creature, fond of his comforts -and his meals; he is generally found smoking in an armchair before -the fire. The only thing which interferes with his domesticity is -his tendency to absent himself from the house for hours together; -this appears to be the result of a curious mania quite foreign to his -nature; and it will cause him even to miss his meals. If you come -upon him at such times he is engaged in a prosaic kind of wholesale -slaughter; he has no exciting chases after his prey, no display of -ability, no well-planned ambushes; but he kills at a distance through -an unpleasantly noisy instrument. The sportsman, too, is absolutely -dangerous to life at such time, and I have known cats fall victims -to his rage; whereas, if you meet him in his normal condition, he is -usually quite tame; you can safely leave kittens in the room with him, -and I have never known him kill a caged bird. The keeper is a very -dangerous sort of sportsman, and must be regarded as radically unsafe. -The difference between sportsmen and keepers is much the same as that -between capricious bulls and mad bulls.” - -The fact is, that the usual judgment of cats rests on a total -misapprehension of the scope of a cat’s life; and the root of the -misunderstanding goes wider and deeper than this. The average human -being takes account only of those qualities of animals which have -some practical bearing on human life; even the animal lover is wont -to take account only of animal qualities, physical, mental, and, at -a stretch, moral; whereas that which is the pivot of human life and -human relations; that which, rudimentary as it is in animals, is still -the pivot of animal qualities--namely, the force of personality--is -altogether left out of account. - -No judgment of animals can be adequate, or in any sense true, which -does not take account of personality, more or less developed, and of -the scope of the creature’s life as determined by it. - -The more intimately one knows animals, the more one is struck by their -individuality, and the varying force of their personality. - -Persis had the most intense personality of any animal I have ever -known. Mentu’s, less vivid, was still as individual and distinct; -Ra had a little narrow nature, Alexander was undeveloped, and the -tabby is frankly common; but all are as distinct from one another, as -essentially personal, as five human beings. - -And it is greatly through this personality that the scope of an -animal’s life, as of the life of the human being, is determined; we -are all more or less at the mercy of what we, in our blindness, call -“blind forces;” but in all of us there is something which out of the -“manifold” of the world seeks and selects a consistent experience, some -principle which determines the scope of life. - -Out of the many chemicals of the soil each plant draws those which are -appropriate to its own life, each plant transforms them into a living -thing, a definite beauty of leaf and bud. - -And the alchemy of the higher creature does not only transform the -material particles of the world, now into the ashen silky hair and -yellow eyes of Mentu, now into the curly grizzled coat of Taffy; but -through the intelligence and sensibilities, through the desire for -approbation and of admiration, through the protective love of the -offspring, and the pure straining after the affection of the human -being, dimly understood, these dawning consciousnesses gather from the -world of sensation, of intelligence, of emotion, such material as they -can assimilate and transform, defining it into a life and world of -their own. - -If we cannot from the point of more developed moral consciousness, and -higher intelligence, even seek to understand the dawnings in the lower -creatures of that which makes us what we are, then to us animals are -mere playthings or mere slaves, and we can have no least perception -of what is meant by that earnest, if unrealised, “expectation of the -creature.” - - -II - - “_All instincts immature, - All purposes unsure._” - -The difference between different races of animals appears to lie very -greatly in the different scope of their lives. - -The cat’s life, as distinguished from the dog’s, is essentially -independent; and this, combined with finer sensibilities and a less -facile intelligence, give a predominance in the cat of these elements -of character which as developed in the human being we call the artistic -temperament. - -The cat is, above all things, a dramatist; its life is lived in an -endless romance though the drama is played out on quite another stage -than our own, and we only enter into it as subordinate characters, as -stage managers, or rather stage carpenters. - -We realise this with kittens; we see that the greater part of their -life, of the sights and sounds of it, are the material of a drama -half consciously played; they are determined to make mysteries, and -as a child will seize upon the passing light or shadow to help him to -transform some well-known object into the semblance of living creature, -so you may see the kitten reach a paw again and again to touch a -reflection on a polished floor, or conjure the shadows of evening into -the forms of enemies. - -We cannot but see this, and our mistake comes later when the kitten -passes partly out of our ken to reappear from time to time, a serious, -furtive creature with the weight of the world on its shoulders. We -think then that the romance has ceased, when it has in reality gone -deeper; the stage has widened out of sight, and if the cat no longer -plays before us it is because we have lost sympathy with this side of -its life; if we encourage it, it will play like a kitten up to old -age. This same fact possibly explains the reason of the theory that -cats care for places and not for people--it may be because these same -people care for kittens and not for cats; thus the cat transfers the -affection it might have felt for the human being to the scene of its -romances and the places where it has experienced the surprise and joy -of its kittens. - -Corresponding to the dramatic instinct the cat appears to have its -sensibilities more developed in the direction of æsthetic enjoyment -than the dog’s, which are almost purely utilitarian. But it is a -strange fact that the most universal kind of æsthetic enjoyment -among animals--namely, the pleasures of music--seem to be keenest -among those races which comparatively we rank low in respect of -intelligence--namely, reptiles and birds. - -I whistled “God Save the Queen” once to two green lizards in an Italian -garden; they drew by little runs and jerks out of their holes, and -their paths converged. Suddenly when their nerves were tense with -excitement of the air (rendered slightly out of tune) they saw each -other, sprang with one impulse together, bit until I saw the green skin -wrinkle, rolled over and disappeared. I have never seen either cat or -dog show anything approaching to the emotion which music produces in -Joey, though Persis showed some pleasurable excitement in whistling, -and some desire to try the notes of a piano for herself. Dogs for the -most part take the pleasures of music with extreme seriousness almost -amounting to gloom. It is not uncommon to find dogs who will “sing,” -following to some small extent the air as it rises or falls. But they -do this with an aspect of extreme melancholy, and a thrill sometimes -seems to run through the whole body before the sound is produced; that -they do not absolutely dislike it can only be judged from the fact that -they do not try to go away. - -Both dogs and cats appear to be unconscious of the sounds they utter -until experience has taught them the result or until their attention -has been specially directed to it. I have indeed met a Scotch terrier -who would “sing” to order, but his face expressed a painful tension -of will. To do him justice he sang a strain or two with apparent ease -under my window in the middle of the night. Frequently, too, a dog -who wishes to make his presence realised has his voice strangulated -by nervousness like a shy girl at a music lesson; and a well-bred cat -anxious to attract attention sometimes opens its mouth silently. - -All such facts seem to point to the conclusion that many animals do -not produce their voices voluntarily, but solely on physical impulse; -that even imitative utterance may often be based on some such physical -sensation, as many people feel a tremble in the throat when a Bourdon -stop is on the organ. If this be so we are on the wrong tack in -comparing the sounds of animals, however varied and specified they -may be, to language, and we should rather compare them to weeping, -groaning, sighing, yawning, and laughter, which in the same way produce -an imitative response, which are by nature involuntary, and have no -tendency to develop into definite language. - -If cats and dogs have, compared with other creatures, little feeling -for music, they seem to have still less for pleasures of sight. I have -known a mare which again and again at the same place seemed to look -out with pleasure over a view, when no definite object was moving to -catch her eye, but I have never known a dog do this, and though a -cat often takes up this attitude, the focus of her eyes seems to be -more definitely fixed, and she is probably attracted by some movement -too minute to arrest our attention. To colour they seem still more -indifferent, not sharing even the susceptibility of the mad bull. I -have heard indeed of a dog preferring scarlet to light blue; but it is -impossible with a single instance to eliminate individual association. -Cats, however, though showing no susceptibility to colour, show a very -clear perception of texture. It is not necessarily the most strictly -comfortable textures that are preferred; velvet may do to sleep on, but -it is on thin crackling paper or stiff silk that a cat would choose to -sit, and, above all, to eat. And contrary to all expectation, woolly -textures are chosen to lick. A cat has been known to go round the -garden in order to lick the soft underside of foxglove leaves; and will -even tear a paper wrapper in order to be able to stroke flannelette -with his tongue. As flannelette is prepared with a poisonous chemical -this pleasure is hazardous. - -But the real region of æsthetic pleasure for a cat is the region of -smell. The dog uses smell as a medium of information; the cat revels -in it. The dog smells the ground to trace friend or foe, food or prey, -but the cat will linger near a tree-trunk, smelling each separate -aromatic leaf. If the window of a close room is opened the cat goes to -it, and puts her head out to sniff the air; she will smell the dress -of a friend, partly for recognition no doubt, but apparently partly -for pleasure also. An aromatic smell is pleasant; a strong spirituous -smell not only disagreeable but absolutely painful. Lavender water or -eau-de-cologne may please a tiger but will put a cat to flight. - -The cat’s drama is a drama of the twilight, when the earth refreshed -gives up her secret, subtle scents. It is not to be played in broad -daylight; it is a mystery play of things half revealed, subtly -transformed, hardly understood, secretly suggestive. - - -III - - “_But when she came back the dog was laughing._” - -Counterbalancing the rudimentary powers of æsthetic pleasure in the -cat, we find in the dog a more facile intelligence, and a far more -adaptable nature. Some boast that they have taught tricks to a cat; -but the fact shows not so much that the cat was intelligent and docile -as that its owners were; for their ability has been usually to seize -on some natural movement of the cat, in jumping or in sitting up, and -gradually to induce the animal to exaggerate it. But the tricks we -teach a dog are against his nature, and it needs not only intelligence -but docility to take a savoury bite and abstain from swallowing until -the precisely right word is pronounced. - -A cat walks about with a great purpose dimly imagined in its brain, but -a dog plans; he is “the low man adding one to one,” but his sums are -the most correct, for he is of a practical nature. He does not have to -pretend that a stick is alive before he can glean pleasure from playing -with it. - -How far a dog, or indeed how far any animal is capable of using an -instrument for effecting its purposes is an undecided question; but -I have heard on near authority of a dog scraping a mat up against a -swing door through which he had to pass so that the door was kept -open. To use an instrument involves a complicated mental process, in -which not only association but reflection on the nature of the thing -is required. Taffy associated his muzzle with his walk, and fetched it -with pleasure when the association was established; but reflection did -not sufficiently come into the process to prevent him from fetching a -clothes brush or a Bible instead if convenient. - -One clear point of superiority in the dog is his rudimentary sense -of humour. Almost any good-tempered dog, when well treated, will try -from time to time to laugh off a scolding. If he is encouraged, the -fooling is repeated again and again with growing exaggeration as he -rolls over with wide mouth and absurd contortions, or flies at one’s -face to lick it. He appreciates humour in others at his own expense, a -thing which not every human being is capable of doing; if he is teased -laughingly, he too will play the fool; if he is teased cruelly he is -cross or wretched. No dog likes one to blow in his face or ear, but -Taffy, though not wholly good-tempered, will allow the bellows to be -placed even in his mouth if he is assured that it is a game. When the -puff of air comes he darts up, jumps at and licks the person who is -teasing him, and barks with a wagging tail. If he is really bored or -tired he licks the nozzle of the bellows, or the hand that holds them, -deprecatingly; he declines the game, but in perfect good humour. - -Now a cat has no sense of humour at all. Its very comedies are serious; -and to tease it is to outrage its dignity. The better bred a cat is -the more easily it takes offence. But after all the “sense of the -ridiculous” is a gross quality, and the humour of one age or of one -class seems vulgarity to another a little in advance. A cat is never -vulgar. - - -IV - - “_The tumult of unproved desire, the unaimed, - Uncertain yearnings, aspirations blind._” - -If the scope of life and the qualities of intelligence differ from race -to race of animals, the strictly moral qualities appear to differ from -individual to individual. - -Cats are called “selfish”; but even on the undiscriminating view such -qualities differ from cat to cat. Ra was certainly self-absorbed, but -I attribute this greatly to unhappy family circumstances when he was -young. Persis and Mentu were not selfish in this sense at all. Again -and again they have been found in the room with food untouched. When -one came in there was a greeting and short display of affection, and -not till then would the cat go to its food, and eat with good appetite. -Few people think of accusing a straightforward genial collie of -selfishness; yet if I left Taffy alone with his dinner, or even with -some one else’s dinner, there is a strong presumption that I should -find the plate clean and shining on return. - -What people usually mean by this assertion is that the cat does not, -like the dog, depend entirely on human companionship; there are no -touching stories of faithfulness to a departed master; there is no -overwhelming interest in the human race. A cat has more of what the -average Briton calls “self-respect,” a quality he likes far better in -himself than in others. - -On the other hand, a cat has more interest in other races of beings -than a dog. The only creatures in which most dogs show spontaneous -interest, unsolicited and untaught, are horses; and even here the -interest rests on association. But we have all known cases of cats -which deliberately set themselves to woo dogs; Ra and his grandmother, -unlike in all else, adored the same fox-terrier. I have indeed seen -a dog which had lost her puppies nurse a half-grown cat, but the cat -seemed to take the initiative. On the other hand, a Manx cat, in a -house where I was staying, allowed a beloved terrier to take food out -of her mouth. A cat has been known to bring up squirrels; a tom-cat of -our own fondled and protected chickens; finally, a cat has been known -to bring a half-starved friend to share its dinner. - -So-called “animal instincts” cannot account for the greater part of -these cases, which involve rather definite sacrifice. Dog friendships, -on the other hand, rarely involve sacrifice except for the sake of man. - -This instinct of benevolence may be noticed among birds. I have heard -on good authority of an Uncle canary bringing up a deserted brood, -and even with apparent embarrassment taking his place on the nest; of -sparrows bringing up young starlings, which, taken from their own nest -and placed on a window-ledge, sought refuge in the sparrows’ nest; and -finally, of a sparrow helping a wagtail to feed a young cuckoo. Unless -birds absolutely enjoy filling each other’s mouths, such operations -involve sacrifice; but in any case there is a large social instinct -shown; and when, as I sit in the garden, the bean poles and seed sticks -near me begin to blossom into robins, I find I am suddenly the centre -towards which such social instincts are directed. - -Temper differs in the same way from individual to individual, in extent -and quality. Ra had a cross temper; it irritated him if one took -liberties, and he struck without warning; but with regard to other -animals cowardice kept his temper in check. Mentu had the occasional -irritability of a nervous temperament, whether animal or human; he -often kept a bold front upon danger, when fear made him afterwards -positively sick and unable to eat for some time. Persis was a very -fiend to other animals, but had an utterly sweet and grateful temper -towards human beings unless jealousy came into play. - -Dogs are more often misjudged in respect to temper than cats, -probably because their ill-temper is more formidable; and the nervous -excitability of the collie is often mistaken for bad temper. I have -known a bad-tempered collie, but the clergyman who owned him did not -keep him long, as it was apt to make difficulties in the parish if the -congregation of the mission church was kept at bay on a dark, windy -evening. - -Pugnacity is perhaps a different thing from ill-temper, and appears -to be a very wide-spread quality in bird-life. A great robin-tamer -told me that no robin could support his position unless he was very -pugnacious. Those who have tried to tame wild birds, or even those who -feed birds in the winter, will notice the extraordinary displays of -temper among them; how the blackbird loses half his meal through trying -to chase other birds away; how the tits play with him, reckoning on -this pugnacity; how the robin after he has made a hearty meal lies in -wait for late comers. Barn-door cocks are too universally condemned in -respect of temper; my patriarch has been several times reported to me -as having placed himself between two young combatants; and he lives -on excellent terms with a younger replica of himself, the only point -of quarrel being the distance to which the young cock may chase a hen -of the other’s harem which has strayed into his own yard. Pugnacity -is indeed apt to develop into ill-temper with caged birds, but gentle -handling in taming and increased freedom would probably go far to -obviate this. - -I have spoken of moral qualities, but the centre of all these is the -question of conscience. It is impossible to deny that at any rate the -higher animals have conscience, if conscience means the recognition -of a law or principle higher than the immediate personal desire and -sometimes antagonistic to it. - -Even if we allow that the sense of duty in human beings is based on -the “sanctions” of pleasures and pain, this makes no difference to the -quality of the sense once evolved; neither can it make any difference -in the quality of the sense in animals whether this is produced by the -“sanction” of nature or of the human race. - -The more intelligent domestic creatures accept to some extent a -standard given by the power above them. The human standard is to them -in a sense as the law written on stone to us; and all know the law has -gone forth against the indulgence of ill-temper. Joey recognises this -law, and it is a moral effort he makes (very seldom) to refrain from -biting; he, too, has a conscience, though a singularly bad one. Taffy -with the nozzle of the bellows in his mouth can choose whether to -accept the situation cheerfully or crossly. - -But the dog accepts his moral code more entirely from the human -being than the cat does. In this respect the cat is as the Gentile, -without the law, but a law unto himself. There is sacrifice of the -lower desires to the higher when the cat brings a friend to share -her dinner; when she lets a dog take food out of her mouth; when -she carries on towards her kittens, after the immediate needs and -desires of motherhood have ceased, a course of conduct more or less -consistently educative. A cat, the Egyptians said, reasoned like a man, -and this is true in that she determines, like a man, her own ends and -purposes in life. It is not approbation but admiration that the cat -demands from man; the dog accepts the purposes of life as given from -above. But he recognises, as clearly as he recognises the sanction -of the ginger-bread and the whip, the sanction of moral appreciation -or disapproval. He claims applause when he has done well, and when -the whip has been endured he still clings with renewed trust to his -diviner friend, and seeks by affection to win back approval. - -Such animals have wills essentially free as our own, but with dimmer -intelligence these wills are more at the mercy of their passions; -and the blinder intelligence leaves them, too, more at the mercy of -spiritual influences which flow out from us to them. There is a quick -response, as with children, not only to our treatment, but to the -spirit of our treatment, for they reward our trust with trust, and -answer our cheerfulness with heart and courage. And we, too, war with -principalities and powers, and are helped in the high and hidden places -by influences unseen. We call these creatures blind and unconscious, -but our consciousness, too, is dim, and our eyes blinder to things -divine than theirs to things human; we both move gropingly and feebly -in a great world and battle against the Will that made us and has mercy -on us--“so many men that know not their right hand from their left, and -also much cattle.” [Illustration: Kitten by Madame Ronner] - - - Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. - London & Edinburgh - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - - -Unusual, archaic and obsolete spellings and word usage have been -maintained as in the original book. Obvious printing errors have been -fixed as detailed below. The Table of Contents was expanded to cover -portions of the book other than the stories. - -Illustrations of cats and kittens by Madame Ronner were not captioned -in the original book. The placement of the drawings of cats by Madame -Ronner made more sense in the printed book, where they filled blank -space. - -Details of the changes: - - Page 35 asparagus bed; the walked[**walk] quickened as he got nearer, - Page 79 it as clearly; if [**he] has done well, he goes - Page 84 to give it board and longing[**lodging], and it surely - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories, by -Margaret Benson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUL OF A CAT, OTHER STORIES *** - -***** This file should be named 63168-0.txt or 63168-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/1/6/63168/ - -Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } -.correction {text-decoration: none; - border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp100 {width: 100%;} @media handheld { .illowp100 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp61 {width: 61%;} @media handheld { .illowp61 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp62 {width: 62%;} @media handheld { .illowp62 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp68 {width: 68%;} @media handheld { .illowp68 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp69 {width: 69%;} @media handheld { .illowp69 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp72 {width: 72%;} @media handheld { .illowp72 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp75 {width: 75%;} @media handheld { .illowp75 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp77 {width: 77%;} @media handheld { .illowp77 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp82 {width: 82%;} @media handheld { .illowp82 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp83 {width: 83%;} @media handheld { .illowp83 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp85 {width: 85%;} @media handheld { .illowp85 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp86 {width: 86%;} @media handheld { .illowp86 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp92 {width: 92%;} @media handheld { .illowp92 {width: 100%;} } -.illowp97 {width: 97%;} @media handheld { .illowp97 {width: 100%;} } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories, by Margaret Benson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories - -Author: Margaret Benson - -Release Date: September 10, 2020 [EBook #63168] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUL OF A CAT, OTHER STORIES *** - - - - -Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<p id="FRONTIS" /> -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 67.8125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="[Photograph of a cat]" /> - <div class="caption"> -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>Messrs. Kissack</i></span> -</p> -<p class="center">“The Incredible Blue.”</p></div> -</div> - - - - -<h1>THE SOUL OF A CAT<br /> -<span class="smaller">AND OTHER STORIES</span></h1> - -<p class="center">BY<br /> -<span class="larger">MARGARET BENSON</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HENRIETTA<br /> -RONNER AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS</p> - -<p class="p2 center">LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN<br /> -1901 -</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="DEDICATION_TO_THOSE">DEDICATION TO THOSE -DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry poetry-ded"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Once on a time I used to dream</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Strange spirits moved about my way,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And I might catch a vagrant gleam,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>A glint of pixy or of fay;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Their lives were mingled with my own,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>So far they roamed, so near they drew;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And when I from a child had grown,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>I woke—and found my dream was true.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>For one is clad in coat of fur,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And one is decked with feathers gay;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Another, wiser, will prefer</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>A sober suit of Quaker grey;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This one’s your servant from his birth,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And that a Princess you must please,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And this one loves to wake your mirth,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And that one likes to share your ease.</i></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>O gracious creatures, tiny souls!</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>You seem so near, so far away,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Yet while the cloudland round us rolls</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>We love you better every day.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p class="center">οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶν λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα;<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Greek—transliteration: ouchi pantes eisin leitourgika pneumata? -</p> -<p> -Translation: “Are they not all ministering spirits?” (Hebrews 1:14)—<i>Transcriber.</i></p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[Pg vii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</h2> -</div> - -<p class="chap-head"><i>Prejudice is at first a Guide to Knowledge, -but afterwards a Gaoler of -Thought.</i></p> - -<p>The average Englishman prefers to have -his knowledge well formulated and well -classified in what one may call a portable -and handy form. To such an one it -seems desirable to have certain general propositions -about the animal creation which, -regardless of small subtleties and differences, -he may use as a guide for practical action. -As, for instance, “that man is governed by -reason but the brutes by instinct”; “that the -cat, though eminently domestic, is selfish, egotistic, -and luxurious; whereas the dog is generous, -affectionate, and faithful”; that “cats -care for places and not for people.”</p> - -<p>Many more such maxims may be mentioned,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[Pg viii]</span> -some of which imply a certain amount of observation, -as, for instance, that the parrot -possesses an imitative instinct.</p> - -<p>Those who have this guide to knowledge -will tell you that they like or do not like “the -character of the cat,” and will ask if you like -cats or dogs best.</p> - -<p>So some one once asked me whether I liked -poetry, and when I asked “whose poetry?” -instanced that of the Marquis of Lorne.</p> - -<p>But in the first case, too, it would seem to -be a relevant point to ask which dog and which -cat; and to those who profess not to like “the -character” of the cat one might put first the -counter-question as to whether they like “the -character” of the human being.</p> - -<p>As it is well from time to time to compare -the best established maxims and formulæ with -the results of recent experience and observation; -so, although the foregoing principles are -extensive enough and fundamental enough to -satisfy the greediest grasp after truth, it may not -be amiss to compare them with observation of -individuals; to compare the general propositions -concerning the character of the cat with ob<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[Pg ix]</span>servations -on certain individual cats; the common -contempt of birds-wits with observation of -individual birds; and to find out the essential -point which makes us so certain that similar -processes in the man and the brute are in one -case the work of reason and in the other case -of instinct.</p> - -<p>Perhaps we might even come to think that -man has some share of instinct, and the brute -some dawnings of reason.</p> - -<p>Let us face this result boldly, even if it leads -us to stammer a little over the irrefragable proposition -that, since animals have no souls, this -present life contains not only all that they must -suffer, but all that they may enjoy; even if it -should make us doubt the perfectness of our -scientific grasp of spiritual things, and should -seem to lead back to such old doctrines as -Peter’s belief in the restitution of all things, -and St. Paul’s hope of the deliverance of the -suffering creature into the glorious liberty of -children of God.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> -<table id="ToC" summary="Table of Contents"> -<colgroup><col /><col class="wid2" /><col /></colgroup> -<tr><td><a href="#DEDICATION_TO_THOSE">Dedication to Those Described in This Book</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><i>Page</i> <a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_xi">xi</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">Illustrations</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_xiii">xiii</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="pad"><a href="#THE_SOUL_OF">The Soul of a Cat</a></td><td></td><td class="pad tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#JOEY_AND_MATILDA">Joey and Matilda; or, Intellect and Emotion</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#THE_TORPID_AND">The Torpid and the Ill-Bred Cat</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#VANITY_OF">Vanity of Vanities</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#TAFFY">Taffy</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#THE_ADOPTED">The Adopted Family</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#RA">The Mysterious Ra</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#MENTU">Mentu</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#THE_CONSCIENCE">The Conscience of the Barn-Door Fowl</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#CONFUCIUS">Confucius</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#A_PARADISE">A Paradise of Birds</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#EPILOGUE">Epilogue</a></td><td></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="pad"><a href="#TN">Transcriber’s Note</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - - - -<p class="center"><i>Portraits:</i></p> -<table id="LoI" summary="List of portraits"> -<colgroup><col /><col class="wid2" /><col /><col /></colgroup> -<tr><td><i>The Incredible Blue</i></td><td></td><td colspan="2" class="tdr"><a href="#FRONTIS"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Persis</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc"><i>To face p.</i></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i004">4</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Matilda</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i020">20</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Joey</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i026">26</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>The Peacock</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i050">50</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Taffy</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i062">62</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Mentu</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i112">112</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><i>Confucius</i></td><td></td><td class="tdc">"</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#i132">132</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<p class="center">IN THE TEXT</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Sketches of Cats and Kittens by Madame Ronner</i></p> -<div class="figcenter illowp82" id="i0xv" style="max-width: 75.6875em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i0xv.jpg" alt="[Kittens by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a></span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SOUL_OF">THE SOUL OF -A CAT</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="chap-head"><i>“If you choose to put up with such sufferings -as these, I have the power to help -you.... But bethink you well,” said -the witch, “if once you obtain a human -form you can never be a mermaid again!”</i></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp77" id="i002" style="max-width: 77.125em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i002.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span></p> - - -<p>Persis was a dainty lady, pure Persian, blue -and white, silky haired. When this story -opens she was in middle age, the crisis of -her life had passed. She had had kittens, she -had seen them grow up, and as they grew she -had grown to hate them, with a hatred founded -on jealousy and love. She was a cat of extreme -sensibility, of passionate temper, of a character -attractive and lovable from its very intensity. -We had been forced to face Persis’ difficulty -with her and make our choice—should we let -her go about with a sullen face to the world, -green eyes glooming wretchedly upon it, an -intensity of wretchedness, jealousy and hate -consuming her little cat’s heart, or would we -follow Persis’ wishes about the kittens, and give<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span> -them up, when they grew to be a burden on -her mind and heart? For while they were young -she loved them much. She chose favourites -among them, usually the one most like herself, -lavished a wealth of care, with anxiety in a -small, troubled, motherly face, on their manners, -their appearance, their amusements.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i004" style="max-width: 68.0625em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i004.jpg" alt="[Photograph of a cat]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>S. A. McDowall</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“Persis was a dainty lady.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>I remember one pathetic scene on a rainy -evening in late summer, when the kittens of the -time were playing about the room, and Persis -came in wet and draggled with something in -her mouth. We thought it was a dead bird, -and though regretting the fact, did not hinder -her when she deposited it before her favourite -kitten, a shy, grey creature, and retired to the -lap of a forbearing friend to make her toilet. -But while she was thus engaged we saw that the -thing she had brought in was a shivering little -bird, a belated fledgling, alive and unhurt. -The grey kitten had not touched it, but with -paws tucked under him was regarding it with a -cold, steady gaze. He was quite unmoved when -we took it away and restored it to a profitless -liberty, with a few scathing remarks on the -cruelty of cats. It is so nice and affectionate of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span> -a father to initiate his little son into the -pleasures of sport and show him how to play -a fish, but quite another thing for a brutal cat -to show her kitten how to play with a live -bird—a cat, indeed, from whom we should -have expected a sympathetic imagination!</p> - -<p>When Persis had washed and combed herself -she came down to see how her son was -enjoying his first attempt at sport; but no -affectionate father sympathising with his boy -for losing his fish would have been half as -much distressed as Persis to find her kitten -robbed of his game. She ran round the room -crying as she went, searched for the bird under -chairs and tables, sprang on the knees of her -friends to seek it, and wailed for the loss of -her present to her son.</p> - -<p>Again, there was no danger that she would -not face in defence of her kittens. My brother -had a wire-haired terrier of horrid reputation -as a cat-killer. The name of the terrier, for -an occult and complicated reason, was Two-Timothy-Three-Ten, -but it was generally -abbreviated. Tim, large and formidable even -to those who had not heard of his exploits,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[Pg 6]</span> -slipped into the room once where a placid -domestic scene was in process. Without a -moment’s pause the cat was on him like a wild -beast. I caught Timothy and held him up, -but the cat had dug her claws so firmly into -his foot that she, too, was lifted off the ground.</p> - -<p>But as the kittens grew older maternal -tenderness and delights faded, maternal cares -ceased, and a dull, jealous misery settled down -over Persis. She had been left down in the -country with a kitten once—alas! a tabby -kitten—which was growing old enough to -leave her when I came over for the day and -went to see her. The kitten, unconscious of -his unfortunate appearance, was as happy as -most kittens; he walked round the cat and -did not mind an occasional growl or cuff. But -she, not responding at all to my caresses, sat -staring out before her with such black, immovable -despair on her face that I shall not -easily forget it.</p> - -<p>Thus the cat’s life was a series of violent -changes of mood. While her kittens were -young she was blissful with them, trustful to -all human beings; as they grew older she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span> -became sullen, suspicious, and filled with -jealous gloom. When they were gone she -again became affectionate and gentle; she -decked herself with faded graces, was busied -with secret errands, and intent on æsthetic -pleasure—the smell of fresh air, each particular -scent of ivy leaves round the trunk of the -cedar.</p> - -<p>She caught influenza once in an interval of -peace and came near dying, and, they said, -received attention seriously and gratefully like -a sick person; I was not surprised to hear that -her friend sacrificed a pet bantam to tempt -the returning appetite of the invalid.</p> - -<p>While we were homeless for a year or more, -Persis was lodged at the old home farm, and -lorded it over the animals. Two cats were -there: one the revered and hideous Tom, -with whose white hair Persis had bestrewn a -room in a fit of passion. He had left the -house at once for the farm and wisely refused -to return. Now he was a prop of the establishment. -He killed the rats, he sat serene in -the sun, was able to ignore the village dogs -and cuff the boisterous collie puppies of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[Pg 8]</span> -farm. So he met Persis on secure and dignified -terms. It was well, for he had formed a tender -attachment to her daughter; they drank milk -out of a saucer together, looking like the Princess -and the Ploughboy; and when the Ploughboy -went out hunting (for he must vary his -diet a little—unmitigated rat is monotonous) -he invariably brought back the hind legs of the -rabbit for the Princess.</p> - -<p>Strange to say, the Princess was the only one -of the grown-up kittens with whom Persis -entered into terms of friendship; so while the -Princess ate the rabbits of the Ploughboy, Persis -ate the sparrows provided by the Princess, and -they were all at peace.</p> - -<p>She rejoined us again when we settled in a -country town. The house was backed by a -walled garden; exits and entrances were easier -than in the larger houses where Persis had -lived with us before. She loved to get up by -the wistaria, climb across the conservatory roof, -and get in and out through bedroom windows. -She found a black grandson already established, -it is true, but in a strictly subordinate position. -Justice was cast to the—cats, and they fought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span> -it out between them; and when Persis threw -herself into the fray there could be but one -end. Ra liked comfort, but his sensibilities were -undeveloped. If he could get the food he desired -(and he invariably entered the room with -fish or pheasant) he did not care how or where -it was given him; a plate of fish-bones in the -conservatory would be more grateful than a -stalled ox under his grandmother’s eye. But -to the old cat the attention was everything; -she took the food not so much because she -cared for it as because it was offered individually -to her. If Ra managed to establish himself on -the arm of a chair he would remind the owner -of his desires by the tap of a black paw, or by -gently intercepting a fork. But Persis’ sole -desire was that she might be desired; the -invitation was the great point, not the feast; -she lay purring with soft, intelligent eyes, which -grew hard and angry if the form of her dusky -grandson appeared in the open door. She -would get down from the lap on which she -was lying, strike at the hand which tried to -detain her, and—but by this time Ra had been -removed and peace restored.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span></p> - -<p>Her most blissful moments were when she -could find her mistress in bed, and curl up -beside her, pouring out a volume of soft sound; -or when she was shown to company. Then -she walked with dainty steps and waving tail as -in the old days, with something of the same -grace, though not with the old beauty, trampling -a visitor’s dress with rhythmically moving -paws, and the graciously modest air of one who -confers an honour. It came near to pathos to -see her play the great lady and the petted kitten -before the vet, who came to prescribe for her. -Now she was all gratitude for attentions, and -whereas when she was young she would not -come to a call out of doors, but coquetted with -us just beyond our reach, now she would come -running in from the garden when I called her, -loved to be taken up and lie with chin and -paws resting on my shoulder, looking down from -it like a child. The old nurse carried her on -one arm like a baby, and the cat stretched out -paws on each side round her waist.</p> - -<p>She had more confidence in human dealings, -too. I had to punish her once, to her great -surprise. She ran a few steps and waited for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span> -me with such confidence that it was difficult to -follow up the punishment, more especially as -Taffy watched exultant, and came up smiling -to insist on the fact that he was a good dog.</p> - -<p>Taffy’s relationship with the cat was anything -but cordial. It was her fault, for he had -well learnt the household maxim “cats first and -pleasure afterwards.” But Persis can hardly be -said to have treated him like a lady; she did -not actually show fight, but vented ill-temper -by pushing rudely in front of him with a disagreeable -remark as she passed.</p> - -<p>All this time Persis was growing old and -small. Her coat was thick, but shorter than of -old; her tail waved far less wealth of hair. She -jumped into the fountain one day by mistake, -and as she stood still with clinging hair under -the double shock of the water and the laughter -one noticed what a little shrunken cat she had -become; only her face was young and vivid -with conflicting passions.</p> - -<p>Then the last change of her life came. We -went to a place which was a paradise for cats, -but a paradise ringed with death; a rambling -Elizabethan house, where mice ran and rattled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span> -behind the panels; a garden with bushes to -creep behind and strange country creatures -stirring in the grass; barns which were a preserve -for rats and mice; and finally the three -most important elements of happiness, entire -freedom, no smuts, and no grandson.</p> - -<p>Persis was overwhelmed with pressure of -affairs; one saw her crouching near the farm -in early morning; met her later on the stairs -carrying home game, and was greeted only by -a quick look as of one intent on business.</p> - -<p>The one drawback to this place was that it -was surrounded by woods, carefully preserved.</p> - -<p>By this time I had come to two clear resolves; -the first, that I would never again -develop the sensibilities of an animal beyond -certain limits; for one creates claims that one -has no power to satisfy. The feelings of a -sensitive animal are beyond our control, and -beyond its own also.</p> - -<p>And the second was this; since it is impossible -to let an animal when it is old and ill -live among human beings as it may when it is -healthy; since it can by no possibility understand -why sympathy is denied it and demon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span>strations -of affection checked; I would myself, -as soon as such signs of broken intercourse -occurred, give Persis the lethal water. I had -been haunted by the pathos in the face of a -dog who had been and indeed still was a -family pet; but he was deaf. Even when he -was fondled an indescribable depression hung -about him; he had fallen into silence, he -knew not how or why. Dogs respond to -nothing more quickly than the tones of the -human voice, but now no voice came through -the stillness. Despairingly he put himself, as -they told us, in the way of those who passed, -lay on steps or in the doorways. Since we -cannot find means to alleviate such sufferings -we can at least end them.</p> - -<p>But I never needed to put this determination -into effect. The last time I saw Persis -was once when she came to greet me at the -door, and lifting her I noticed how light she -was; and again I saw her coming downstairs -on some business of her own, with an air at -once furtive and arrogant, quaint in so small -a creature.</p> - -<p>Then Persis vanished.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span></p> - -<p>She had been absent before for days at a -time; had once disappeared for three weeks -and returned thin and exhausted. So at first -we did not trouble; then we called her in the -garden, in the fields and the coverts, wrote to -find out if she had returned to some old home, -and offered a reward for her finding; but all -was fruitless. I do not know now whether -she had gone away as some creatures do, to die -alone, for the signs of age were on her; or -if she had met a speedy death at the hands of -a gamekeeper while she was following up some -wild romance of the woods.</p> - -<p>So vanished secretly from life that strange, -troubled little soul of a cat—a troubled soul, -for it was not the animal loves and hates -which were too much for her—these she had -ample spirit and courage to endure, but she -knew a jealous love for beings beyond her dim -power of comprehension, a passionate desire -for praise and admiration from creatures whom -she did not understand, and these waked a -strange conflict and turmoil in the vivid and -limited nature, troubling her relations with -her kind, filling her now with black despairs,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span> -and painful passions, and now with serene, half -understood content.</p> - -<p>Who shall say whether a creature like this -can ever utterly perish? How shall we who -know so little of their nature profess to know -so much of their future?</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i015" style="max-width: 80.0625em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i015.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> -<div class="figcenter illowp85" id="i016" style="max-width: 81.3125em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i016.jpg" alt="[Kittens by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="JOEY_AND_MATILDA">JOEY AND MATILDA; -OR, INTELLECT AND -EMOTION</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container chap-head"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>A thousand little shafts of flame</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Were shivered in my narrow frame.</i>”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>But what a tongue, and O what brains</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Were in that parrot’s head;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>It took two men to understand</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>One half the things she said.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>The two princesses in the story of Riquet -with the Tuft were not more unlike -than Joey and Matilda.</p> - -<p>The appearance of Matilda is Quakerish, -and even shabby. She has an eye like a piece -of dull green marble. She is affectionate and -polite, but cold and passionless. To judge by -the perfect and consistent propriety of her -demeanour she might have been a favourite -pupil of Mrs. General. Even if she swears -or blows her nose she does it with an air of -such intense superiority that it seems like an -answer in the Catechism.</p> - -<p>It is small wonder that Matilda feels superior, -for her intellect is supreme. She is not proud<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span> -of this, for she is too well-bred to wish to dazzle -strangers with her brilliance, and her chief -flow of conversation is reserved for the circle -of her intimates. She came to pay me a visit -the other day and was very reticent. “She is -too much of a lady to talk to us,” my old nurse -said; but though she would not hastily confide, -she tried to keep up our spirits by a little innocent -amusement; and after bleating like a lamb -for a quarter of an hour on end, she gave us -A flat on the tuning-fork till tea time.</p> - -<p>Now, Joey is all green and gold to the eye. -He recollects the Valley of the Amazon, and -“bright and fierce and fickle is the south.” -His topaz iris waxes and wanes as the pupil -grows large and onyx-like or dwindles to a mere -pin’s head. He loves passionately, and his hate, -deep as the Black Sea, is vindictive and remorseless. -Music works in him a frenzy of -delight; the sight of friend or foe fills him with -an emotion which chokes utterance. Jealousy -runs like swift poison in his veins, swiftest and -most poisonous when he thinks of Matilda, -finished, feminine, and intellectual, a perfect -lady.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp62" id="i020" style="max-width: 67.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i020.jpg" alt="[Photograph of bird on outside of cage]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>S. A. McDowall</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<p class="center">“The appearance of Matilda is Quakerish and even shabby.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span></p> - -<p>Once, in time long past, there were passages -between Joey and Matilda. They were placed -side by side, and as Joey looked on that demure -Quakeress, her dove colour unrelieved except -by two plumes of sober crimson; as he gazed -on that marble eye while Matilda huskily and -rapidly repeated the name of the kitchen-maid, -Joey was aware of an emotion beautiful and -strange. Self-control is a foreigner to that hot -southern nature, and without a pause for thought -he extended a claw—it was all he could do—to -the lady.</p> - -<p>In a moment Matilda stooped and bit it; -and as he screamed with pain and anger she -dropped it and burst into a hoarse fit of -laughter.</p> - -<p>Joey never offended in this way again, but -this repulse is the reason of his deep, revengeful -jealousy of Matilda.</p> - -<p>Another simple scene recurs to my mind. -Joey was in the drawing-room, Matilda in a -room just above; the doors of both were open. -Joey could therefore hear when a passing friend -engaged Matilda in conversation. His angry -excitement burst all bounds at last, and “Pop<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span> -goes the Weasel,” sung with agonised fervour, -came floating up the stairs. Matilda listened -with her head on one side, and then sang -slowly and impressively a few bars of a species -of Gregorian chant. Silence fell below.</p> - -<p>Now when they sit side by side they are -leagues apart. Joey is viciously watching for -any mark of preference given to Matilda, -more ready than usual to drive his beak like a -sledge-hammer at the finger of the unwary. -And Matilda is calmly occupied in observing -Joey. Some time in the course of the next -seventy years or so she will begin to reproduce -Joey; to indicate the way in which he spreads -his tail like a fan and grubs in seed and sand, -uttering half-audible exhortations to himself, -which a stranger would take for imprecations -on things in general. How satisfying it would -be to an angry man if he could say, “Come -on, Joey” in such a tone.</p> - -<p>But they do not often sit side by side, for, -though you would not think it, Matilda occupies -a lower social station than Joey. While -his home is in the drawing-room Matilda is -the life and soul of the kitchen. Does this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span> -humble Matilda? On the contrary; she -knows that the true gentlewoman is at home -everywhere. If she is brought into the -drawing-room she is neither embarrassed nor -elate; only a pleasant and discreet reserve -takes the place of a free flow of conversation. -When she returns to the kitchen she talks -rapidly for a long time, and is believed to be -describing the things she has seen and commenting -on the conversation.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> It must not be imagined that Matilda always confines -herself to generalities. She asked a housemaid -kindly, “When are you going for your holidays?” And -on a rapid entrance and exit of the cook inquired so -politely, “And who was that?” that her companion -immediately replied, “That was Mrs. ——.”</p></div> - -<p>Alas for the sterner sex! When Joey -undergoes an enforced eclipse in the pantry -he abandons himself to the situation. He -may be heard whistling “Pop goes the -Weasel” line by line with his attendant. -But this is no honest geniality; for if he is -carried back to the drawing-room, and finds -waiting for him a friend of higher social -station, he turns and bites, if he can, the hand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span> -that late has fed him. Perhaps it is Matilda’s -intellectual interests that preserve her from -such vulgarity. She devotes herself to observation -for the education of her mind, and -when she is not observing she is recording the -results of observation. The reproduction of -simple sounds comes quickly, for she is a slave -to realism. The screams of the peacock, the -failing note of the cuckoo, cuck-cuck-oo, the -angry mew of the cat, are rapidly and all too accurately -reproduced. So, too, the kitchen-maid, -before she had served her apprenticeship, -was wont to hear her own sad name in corners -cried in tones of growing exasperation. We -were then living in a town; Matilda’s apartment -gave on the street, and the errand boys -helped her out with the performance.</p> - -<p>But, according to the law of her kind, this -was a little precipitate of Matilda. She should -have let the kitchen-maid grow into a cook; -she should have let her live a long and -honoured life, and should then have tenderly -renewed memories of old days when her name -would echo upstairs and down to hurry laggard -steps. I cannot decide if this is a want<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span> -of tact or a supreme instance of tact in Matilda. -It cannot, at any rate, be a want of -memory, for Matilda has just begun swearing; -and as she has been with us for some years, -and none of us habitually swear, this must be -a sudden revival of memory. It is said to be -a very clear and life-like revival.</p> - -<p>Probably as for Lovelace, so for Matilda, -stone walls would not a prison make, for iron -bars do not make any thing like a cage. She -drags the door upwards with her beak, and -holds it with her claw while she squeezes -through like an egg sucked through a bottle-neck. -This performance drives Joey to the -verge of mania. He, too, pulls up his door, -but he does not know how to hold it, and it -bangs down again and leaves him voiceless -with rage, while Matilda is running about as -gay as a lark.</p> - -<p>But the other day I found Matilda securely -imprisoned. Her door was bound with red -tape. As mere knots can present no difficulty -to an intellect like hers, it was certainly -the symbolism which she respected.</p> - -<p>Yet with all these qualities of mind and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span> -character, there are one or two points in -which Joey excels. Joey wets his sugar. He -deliberately dips first one end and then the -other into his drinking-trough, and when it is -half dissolved he eats it. He tried to soften -a piece of wood in the same way the other -day—how fruitlessly Matilda knows. Joey -has a perch made out of the branch of a tree, -and from his perch his toys depend on pieces -of string and tape; he owns a cardboard -matchbox, and an old tin pencil, and such-like -treasures. One by one he ruthlessly -destroys these, so some strings are always -hanging empty. But sitting above them, Joey -can test which are empty by their weight, and -pulls up only the heavy strings. It is not, however, -in practical matters that Joey is seen to -the best advantage. His is the artist’s temperament; -he has a soul for music. Given a -braying harmonium and Joey loose, his foes -are scattered; but the piano is, so to speak, -his forte. “I am convinced,” as Lady Catherine -de Burgh says, that Joey would have -been a delightful performer had his health -allowed him to apply. As it is, he attends<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span> -chiefly to the cultivation of the voice. He -seats himself on the shoulder of the meanest -performer, or marches up and down from -shoulder to wrist; he spreads his tail like a -fan; he swells to twice his usual size; his -eye goes in and out like the magic-lantern -star which sends happy little children to bed -with the nightmare. Then the performer -plays a weird Scotch air, such as the “Lyke-wake -dirge” (one of Joey’s favourite pieces), -whistling the while, and Joey bursts into song. -He does not whistle as when he is performing -“Pop goes the Weasel,” but he sings with a -piercing, strident voice, high and low, pitching -with singular skill somewhere near the note, -grace notes thrown in according to taste. -After Scotch songs give him Wagner hot and -loud. In the middle of a performance of the -Preislied a stranger once called; but he was -happily a reticent man....</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp62" id="i026" style="max-width: 72.5625em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i026.jpg" alt="[Photograph of bird on tree branch]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>S. A. McDowall</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“Joey has a perch made out of the branch of a tree.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>But above all there is this: Joey has a heart. -It is not a very admirable heart. Its fickleness -is beyond description; he hates more hotly -than he loves; but the heart is there. He -will hear his friend’s voice in the house and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span> -get mad with anticipation, piping broken fragments -of indescribable song. He will follow -such an one with low, skimming flight, and -will bite any hand except the dearest that tries -to bring him back. He is easily deceived—a -lovable fault—and a deep voice or a rough -sleeve will make him tolerate a woman under -the impression that homespun means a man. -But where his heart is concerned pretence is -vain, and I can imagine Joey dying of a broken -heart, though I can imagine him more easily -still dying of a bad temper. But Matilda’s -heart is warranted unbreakable, and is as cold -and hard as her marble eye. And I sometimes -fear that Matilda is growing a little coarse: -a new cook came the other day, and was taken -to the cage because the parrot “generally has -something to say to a stranger.” She burst -into a long harangue, of which the only word -that could be distinguished was “forget” (it is -thought she was declaring her unalterable devotion -to the predecessor); but she ended all too -plainly, “I don’t care for you.” Her new -hostess firmly replied, “And I don’t care for -you,” upon which Matilda screamed loudly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span></p> - -<p>If there is any truth in re-incarnation, it -must be that cynics revisit this world as parrots. -The punishment would be horribly appropriate. -The man who has disbelieved in the reality of -the higher emotions shall have these emotions, -but be able to express them only in broad -farce. An artist, ardent, vindictive, and cynical -has been travestied with the form of Joey. He -is animated with the passion which made him -plunge his stiletto into an enemy’s heart, as in -his re-incarnation he tries to drive his beak into -a hand. He is met by iron bars and a mocking -laugh. Dusk gathers over the sky, that mysterious, -familiar beauty stirs his heart; forgetting -and forgiving, and he hopes forgiven, he -would say good-night to his friends. But the -whisper comes in cockney intonation, “Jowey, -well, Jowey.” He hears the voice of a friend, -and would hail him, but “Pop goes the -Weasel” rises to his beak. He is kindled as -of old by the Pilgrim’s March, and bursts into -song. But the voice comes hoarse and comic, -and laughter greets the kindling eye. All the -highest, the best, the strongest feelings of his -nature turn in expression into broad comedy,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span> -and the reason is that when he was a man he -felt these emotions and profaned them by -cynicism.</p> - -<p>I once met a decrepit old woman who lived -on 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> a week. She took a rapid review of -the Universe and Life, and closed it by telling -me that “things was just about coming to -a Grand Pitch.” <i>She</i> will never be a parrot.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_TORPID_AND">THE TORPID AND -THE ILL-BRED CAT</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container chap-head"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Cold eyes, sleek skin, and velvet paws,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>You win my indolent applause,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>You cannot win my heart.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="chap-head"><i>They</i> “<i>divided the time into small alternate -allotments of eating and sleeping</i>.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp69" id="i032" style="max-width: 63.5625em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i032.jpg" alt="[Kitten by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span></p> - - -<p>The torpid cat is really a kitten, but it is of -enormous size, and a lively orange in -colour. If it lies on the largest footstool -it completely covers it, if it occupies an -armchair it occupies the whole of it, if it -honours the lap of a friend its head must be -supported by one arm, while its tail hangs down -on the other side, otherwise the centre of -gravity could not be preserved and the torpid -cat would slide slowly on to the floor and fall -like a soft and heavy sofa cushion. It has been -lying on a green velvet armchair all afternoon; -being temporarily displaced at tea time it fell -asleep with its head on the fender; when the -chair was relinquished it went back on to it, -and it will lie there now till nightfall.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p>If you catch the torpid cat awake you will -find that it has pleasant and intelligent hazel -eyes, and a rose-coloured mouth carried half -open to be ready for a yawn, as you carry a -gun at half-cock waiting for a shot. If you -stroke the torpid cat it stretches quietly, but not -too far, for fear of waking up.</p> - -<p>The ill-bred cat is a small neat English -tabby, regularly marked. We made its acquaintance -first when it was about six inches long and -had come to take charge of the farm. It was -sitting on a heap of coals cheerlessly surveying -the prospect; when it saw us it sped towards us, -crying loud for sympathy and companionship. -Then it spied Taffy and went back to the fence -to sharpen its claws.</p> - -<p>The torpid cat, who was at that time a lively -young kitten, and the ill-bred cat made great -friends.</p> - -<p>In the evening the tabby kitten left the farm -to take care of itself, and came up to play with -the yellow kitten. They played at being tigers -in a jungle. The tabby kitten hid between the -asparagus bed and the yew hedge; the yellow -kitten sat by the scullery door and pretended<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span> -that he wasn’t looking. Then he began a -swaggering walk towards the asparagus bed; the -<span class="correction" title="In the original text: walked">walk</span> quickened as he got nearer, until he was -suddenly clawed by the tabby kitten, and the -shock of surprise sent him flying into the air -like a rocket. Then in the twilight they fled -about the garden, crouched in the rough grass -beyond the lawn, rushed up the cherry-tree and -peered down, all with light, agile movements, -until as the light died you could hardly catch the -quick rippling of the tabby’s stripes, and the -yellow coat of the other grew wan.</p> - -<p>One morning the tabby came limping and -crying from the farm holding out a wounded, -swollen paw. She was taken into the house and -doctored, but when the paw was well she refused -to go home. The two were inconveniently fond -of human companionship—the yellow kitten for -its own sake, the tabby for a variety of reasons. -She grew more emphatically affectionate at meal -times.</p> - -<p>The yellow kitten used to accompany his -mistress to feed the hens; she thought he had -an eye for young chickens, but found she slandered -him. He was not looking at the chickens;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span> -his ear was open for the rustle of mice in the -grass, and from time to time he dashed in and -despatched one. He took special pleasure in -doing this in company; it was always open to -him to hunt in the garden, but he used his -privilege when some one was taking the air and -inhaling the breath of flowers. He seemed to -think it added a point to evening meditation to -hear the squeak of the dying shrew or to see an -innocent field-mouse untimely cut off while it -was peacefully nibbling a blade of grass.</p> - -<p>Just so both kittens, with the real self-consciousness -of cats, played their games in public; -they seemed to have no thought of anything but -the mock combat, but the scene of the combat -shifted so as to be always under the eye of a -spectator. The explanation is simple: the life -of a cat is a continuous drama, whether actual -or imagined; and what actor will play to an -empty house? The cat hunts not for food, but -for sport, and the torpid cat, who refused yesterday -to look at a mouse let out from the -trap, spent the whole of this morning waiting -behind the piano with his ear bent to listen to -sundry little scratchings.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<p>The cat eats the mouse, it is true; and the -sportsman eats venison, but he does not stalk -for food.</p> - -<p>“Animals,” says Mr. Balfour,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> “as a rule, -trouble themselves little about anything unless -they want either to eat it or to run away from -it. Interest in and wonder at the works of -nature and the doings of man are products of -civilisation.”</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> “Essays and Addresses.”</p></div> - -<p>But does this explain why the yellow kitten, -as it followed me about the garden, spent some -minutes in quarrelling with a pansy? The pansy -lifted an inane, purple face towards the sky, -and its head waggled helplessly on its stalk. -The yellow kitten sat down beside it, and -regarded it severely for awhile. Then he -slapped its silly face.</p> - -<p>A change fell upon the kittens as they grew -older. The root of the difficulty was that one -had no ancestors at all, and the other only half -the proper number. Their voices were too -loud, their manners were bad. The yellow cat -never mewed, but his purr was like a thrashing-machine; -the other was clamorous in pleasure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[Pg 38]</span> -and complaint, her appetite unquenchable, her -demands for affection, for comfort, for food, -insistent and unabashed. She would try to -drink from the milk-jug while her saucer was -being filled; she would run her claws into a -hand to get firm hold while she ate the scraps -offered her.</p> - -<p>If you put her out of the door she reappeared -like a conjuring trick through the window; she -would jump again and again on the lap of -some one who did not want her; she would -never take offence. One tithe of the rebuffs -she met with would have sent a well-bred cat -stalking with dignity from the room; the first -of the refusals would have made him turn his -back on the company and fall into deep and -abstracted meditation. But when her desire -was accomplished and the hand weary of hurling -her on to the floor, there was something -disarming in the bliss on the little impudent -face as she nestled in utter confidence and -licked the hand that had rebuffed her.</p> - -<p>The yellow kitten was less pressing; he had -just so much refinement of spirit as to make -him refuse to stay in any place where he was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span> -forcibly put. He kept his muscles tense, like a -coiled spring, and so soon as the grasp slackened -quite slowly and deliberately he carried out his -first intention.</p> - -<p>The two began steadily to deteriorate. Now -that the pressure of necessity was removed they -were fast losing the stamina of the working -cat; and having no sensibilities, natural or -cultivated, luxury would never make them -aristocratic; they had no education and little -discipline, and they gave themselves up to revel -in ungraceful comfort greedily and confidently -demanded.</p> - -<p>Yet their affection for each other, their utter -confidence in human nature, lends them a certain -grace. You may come into the drawing-room -and find the farm cat and the kitchen -cat (for such are their real positions) settled in -the best armchair. He is lying at luxurious -length, sunk in deep slumber. Behind him, -squeezed into a corner, sits the tabby; her -anxious eyes peer out over his head, her soft -little body is crushed by his weight, one tabby -paw is round his orange neck. You rouse -them and he half awakes; a long paw goes up<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[Pg 40]</span> -to draw down the kitten’s face to his own; -and his rosy tongue comes out and licks her -from nose to forehead, then he subsides again -into slumber, and her eyes beam out blissful -and honoured with the somewhat uncomfortable -attention.</p> - -<p>Or the little cat has been turned out of the -dining-room because of her unceasing demands, -and looks in forlornly through the window. -Sandy awakes, sees her, gets on the window sill -and kisses her through the glass.</p> - -<p>Both kittens are entirely fearless with Taffy. -Sandy’s is a mere absence of fear, greatly due -to sleep, and Taffy may wag a tail in his face, -just as a friend may flap a handkerchief in it, -and yet only induce a flutter of an eyelid. -The little cat, on the other hand, is a friend -of his, will rub against his paws, and force him -to take an ashamed interest in her.</p> - -<p>But these are surface tendernesses; the -position is fundamentally untenable. A cat -must either have beauty and breeding, or it -must have a profession.</p> - -<p>If it is well-bred it will take a hint; it cannot -be disciplined, for a cat is a wild animal,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span> -but its very aptness to take offence will bring -to it a certain self-control; if it is a working -cat it has its own profession, which occupies it -very closely, it has its proper sphere and its own -apartments.</p> - -<p>There is no help for it. Kindly but firmly -the tabby kitten must be induced to return to -the farm: kindly, for the mistake is ours. -We turned its head, we set it among temptations -which its nature could not meet, and we -gave it no early discipline. Therefore it must -be, like the Cornish nation, led and not driven -back. At this age, to coerce is to terrify; and -there is something truly heartrending in looking -at the shrinking, furtive air that punishments -produce, and thinking of the happy, courageous -little beast who sharpened its claws for an -attack on Taffy, and gave itself up to the -human being in blissful confidence of kind -dealing.</p> - -<p>Sandy is more of an enigma. One could -tell his possibilities better if he would wake -up. As he sleeps he grows larger and larger, -though few have seen him eat, and he never -asks for food. When a teaspoonful of cream<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span> -is offered him his nose has to be buried in it -before he can be roused to drink. He never -scratches, he is never angry; when his hazel -eyes open he looks with kindness on the company -and falls to sleep again. There is only -one time in the day when one can be sure of -seeing him awake, and that is at prayers. The -presence of so many quiet people makes him -feel it a good opportunity of amusing them by -a little lively play with the bell-rope. If he -is put out of the room he seeks an open door -or window, and finds a chance of making a fine -dramatic rush across the scene, accompanied by -the stable cat. Prayers over, his vivacity -subsides.</p> - -<p>He has a name waiting for him when he -wakes, for Sandy is to be glorified into Alexander. -But what is the good of naming a cat -who cannot hear you through his dreams?</p> - -<p>Sometimes I see visions of the future for the -two. The first vision is peaceful and prosaic: -the tabby is instructing a rustic brood in the -art of mouse-catching. She thinks no more of -velvet armchairs, of porridge for breakfast and -pheasant bones for lunch. Spruce and well-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span>favoured, -the very type of an English cat, guardian -of the granary and terror of the mice, she -licks her kittens’ faces and brings them up to an -honest, industrial career.</p> - -<p>But there is something nightmare-like in the -other vision: Alexander grown to panther -size suddenly waking from sleep; his coat is a -tigerish orange, his tail like a magnified fox’s -brush. What will he do? Is it torpor only -that restrained the heavy paw from striking, -and sleep that made the hazel eyes seem -kindly? I find myself looking with a troubled -wonder at Alexander as he fills the largest armchair. -He is but eight months old—a kitten -still.</p> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Postscript.</span></p> - -<p>Alas for Alexander of the pleasant hazel -eyes; for he, too, has fallen a victim to the -signors of the night. He was never known to -poach, he never brought in a rabbit even, but -it is spring, and pheasants are young, and -keepers cruel.</p> - -<p>So silently Alexander, too, has vanished -away, and there is no redress.</p> -<div class="figcenter illowp92" id="i044" style="max-width: 80.5em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i044.jpg" alt="[Kittens by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VANITY_OF">VANITY OF -VANITIES</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="chap-head">“<i>Kind hearts are more than coronets.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span></p> - -<p>I have no clue at all to what the real grievance -of the peacock is, though his history, -so far as one can piece together fragmentary -records, contains all the materials of a -tragedy.</p> - -<p>Down in the orchard is a great cage made -of galvanised wire; a high perch runs across it, -and it stands in a sunny, sheltered corner, where -it was prepared for the peacock and his hen. -Now the galvanised wire is rusty and torn, the -woodwork is broken, the cage is patched up -now and again to seclude a nesting hen or -scratching brood of chickens, or to give -temporary lodging to a dainty pair of bantams, -and a vegetable marrow ripens its striped gourds -in the sunshine. But all alone the peacock,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span> -lame on one foot, limps through the farmyard, -and haunts the pigeon tower on the -hill; while tradition tells of a day when he -alighted on the engine of a moving train, and -rumour hints at dark deeds in the past, the -scared and blighted life of pea-hen, and a -holocaust of young pheasants.</p> - -<p>Yet he seems harmless enough, this limping -fellow, harmless but embittered. Sometimes -evening after evening he will follow me to -the fowl-yard and wait for his own portion, -drumming out an odd hard note, like the -tap of a wooden mallet. Again he disappears, -and for days we do not see him. Sometimes -he comes to be fed under the windows -or at the kitchen door, and will take food -even from our hands, but with the distrustful -air of one over-persuaded by raisins and -lemon-peel.</p> - -<p>Sometimes he seems but a mean, faint-hearted -creature, running from us with the -doubly mincing motion of the lame foot and -the horizontal tail, as each separate feather -beats upon the air; and again he appears, as -when I first saw him, posed for a Japanese<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span> -picture, high in a flowering cherry with his -train, bronze, emerald and indigo, flowing -down out of fairy-like clusters of flowers.</p> - -<p>But to a peacock “all the world’s a stage.” -If he does but sit meditating at evening on -the low garden wall, the flowers below, the -dark shrub to the left, the hedgerow elms -beyond, with the slope of a field against a -primrose sky, all these at once become a fitting -background to the crested head and trailing tail. -As he stands so, the silhouetted outline shows -curves strangely like those of some great cat. -Just so Ra’s head erects itself; so slope his neck -and back, and so the tail lies out in a free -curve over the hind leg stretched back. Is there -such a thing as a protective outline, and does -the silly peacock owe his safety partly to this?</p> - -<p>If his very pose is dramatic, much more so is -his sudden entrance on the scene. All round -the house in summer nights comes the whirring -of the owls. Now there seems to be a heavy -sleeper under one’s very window, now the -sound purrs out from the walnut tree across -the lawn, now from the bell tower or the ivy -on the chimney stack.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span></p> - -<p>So one night we went exploring in the -moonlight. Shadows of elms flecked the road -where the White Lady is said to ride on -November nights. A fir tree stood up in dark -masses; thick shadows lay on the grass under -the walnut tree. Round the side of the farm -buildings an unexpected pool flashed into -whiteness; the imagination was on the stretch -to see an old owl flap out from under the -eaves, and shoot by with silent wing; when -suddenly from overhead came a flutter and -crash of branches, and a great creature swooped -down and fled by with train streaming behind.</p> - -<p>It is but seldom he can cause so much sensation; -and for the most part he walks alone -behind the hedge, peering through at the barn-door -fowls, as an anxious exhibitor at a fair -peers out from his van to count the sordid -crowd collecting.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp86" id="i050" style="max-width: 67.25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i050.jpg" alt="[Photograph of peacock]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>S. A. McDowall</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“For the most part he walks alone.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Towards feeding time, when the fowls begin -to gather, the peacock, if he can, pens a few -hens into a corner by the woodshed and begins -to posture before them, making a harmony of -green and gold against the greening lichened -wood behind. And the dance, <i>Il Pavone</i><a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>, is a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[Pg 51]</span> -stately affair. He lifts the tail, separating each -layer of feathers from the next; each feather -of each layer from its neighbour, and the whole -train flashes sapphire and emerald. Then with -another sibilant shake, feather striking against -feather, it is raised upright; the wings showing -chocolate wing feathers are drooped almost to -the ground, raised and drooped two or three -times with a quick flutter, and he begins to -turn, conscious that he has an audience behind -as well as before. As he turns full face the -beauty of outline of the eyeless feathers is -made clear; one is apt to think when one finds -them, that these are eyed-feathers spoilt; but -now they are seen to fringe the entire tail, -each ending like a shallow crescent with the -horns outwards, so that, instead of the scalloped -edging which the eyed patterns would give, -these show a fine outline, airy and regular. -So raised, too, the fringe up each feather is -copper-coloured, the eyes stand out separately -in long curved rows, the tail falls away from -each side below him in convex curve, and it is -here that the feathers with metallic green -fringe grow, forming completely a shining<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[Pg 52]</span> -curve away from the body. The tail is raised -so high that the definite scales of the emerald -feathers on the back flow into it; in the front -view the wings are hidden. As a single note -to a melody, so is the beauty of a peacock’s -feather to the beauty of a peacock’s tail.</p> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> It appears that the author is making a play on words. La Pavane was -a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. -Pavone is Italian for Peacock.—<i>Transcriber.</i></p></div> - -<p>Then he turns again towards the fowls, -showing to us behind his drooping wings and -the skeleton white rays of the feathers on the -back. He curves this over his head until it -looks like an umbrella turned inside out, and -advances upon them with dainty steps; but -the fowls dully preen their feathers and run -away.</p> - -<p>What we call the tail is only the tail covert, -and the back view shows the real tail is of stiff -feathers, arranged, when these are spread, in -an inverted heart shape. Then comes a sudden -noise like a loud sneeze, repeated again and -again before one can see that it is caused by -the sharp striking of the tail feathers against -each other and the tail covert—and again he -turns and paces.</p> - -<p>He made a long solitary parade the other -day on the grass, and finally crept through the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span> -hedge and into the poultry yard, where we -followed him to discover that the whole -elaborate proceeding had been carried on -for the sake of one dull black hen, in -a flurry about the egg she had left behind -her.</p> - -<p>He was waiting for these fowls the other -day while, pending dinner, they had come to -dig up a tulip bed. They were routed with -ignominy and rushed home past him, indifferent -to his presence; and as the pursuer turned he -sent out after her an angry, discordant, mocking -scream.</p> - -<p>The bird is but a false prophet. He screams -like a cheap trumpet out of tune when the dog -barks, or children shout; and when all is still -he fills the air with shrieks, till the superstitious -tremble and the scientific say there will be -rain to-morrow.</p> - -<p>But the morrow rises with cloudless sky and -fortunes, and the bird is again discredited. We -impute his mistake to the fact that he revels -in pessimism.</p> - -<p>All of which shows the peacock seen <i>sub -specie humanitatis</i> and brings us not a whit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[Pg 54]</span> -nearer to what he is thinking, or rather is not -thinking, in the small emptiness of his coroneted -head. After all, there is very little -head, and the tale of a peacock is mainly the -story of his tail.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TAFFY">TAFFY</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry chap-head"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>The flower of collie aristocracy,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Yet, from his traits, how absent that reserve,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That stillness on a base of power, which marks</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>In men and mastiffs the selectly sprung.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span></p> - -<h3>I<br /> -HIS EDUCATION</h3> - -<p>Taffy has had an education as many sided -as that of a Jesuit. If he was to be -sent for at once to Windsor Castle we -should not have a qualm about his behaviour, -unless, indeed, he should fall, like Guy -Heavystone, into “the old reckless mood,” in -which case he would loaf about the Royal -stables when he should be in attendance on the -Sovereign.</p> - -<p>Taffy entered on the scene as an absurd -speckled puppy of three months old. His hair -was like tow, and of so strange a hue that -when we presented only his back to a stranger -he was rarely guessed to be a dog. Some said -a rabbit and some a cat; some suggested a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span> -lemur, as no one knew what that was like; and -some darkly hinted that we were harbouring -a young hyæna.</p> - -<p>Taffy was brought up in the stables, and -early exhibited a lively intelligence. In the -gates of the stable-yard there was a little door -which opened with a push from the outside. -With a spring and a scramble Taffy could get -over the gates and would push the little door -open for a less agile companion.</p> - -<p>With this intelligence Taffy developed an -unpleasant temper. “Strange fits of passion” -has he known. The first time he saw a -bicycle it was being ridden by a harmless little -boy. Without hesitation, Taffy knocked down -the bicycle and bit the bicyclist.</p> - -<p>We all know that intelligence is developed -by education, and character controlled by discipline, -so Taffy was sent for schooling to a -shepherd and coupled with an old, discreet -dog. And with regard to this a pleasanter -side of his character came to the fore. He -had no vulgar pride; for if in later days when -he was running with his own horse and carriage -he met his monitor, he greeted him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span> -with genuine pleasure and respect, and without -a touch of patronage. Taffy is a prig, but he -is not a snob.</p> - -<p>He came home from school, having laid the -foundation of his education and learnt to keep -his temper. A certain superstructure of cultivation -was built upon this, and having (probably) -known the pains of the stick, he was -now initiated into its pleasures. He learnt to -fetch and carry, and retrieve; and such enthusiasm -did he show that he began to break -branches off trees and uproot tender saplings in -the shrubberies.</p> - -<p>The next great landmark of Taffy’s life was -a round of visits. In strict accuracy the round -consisted of two visits, and the first visit lasted -for eight months; but this acted as a finishing -school for Taffy’s manners and the turning -point of his career. For in this first visit he -was taken into the house, and took part in -family life. It was a real, independent visit, and -Taffy was practically alone, for although -Matilda was staying in the same house she was -in the kitchen, and could not from the height -of her gentility keep a watchful eye on him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span></p> - -<p>Taffy was so frank and free, so anxious to -please and to be pleased, that he was beloved -from attic to basement. There was a little boy -of his own age for him to play with, and the -friends he stayed with knew well how to make a -dog feel at home. Indeed, it must be confessed -that he still awakes a certain jealousy in -the bosoms of his own family by the ear-piercing -welcome with which he greets these friends. -He still considers their house a preserve of his -own; when he went there subsequently with his -mistress he gave her a cordial welcome at the -front door, and there was something blatant in -the way he showed himself at home. He considered -it all too literally as a preserve of his -own; for, though he was never pressed to join -a shooting party, he brought back his bag.</p> - -<p>At the next house Taffy rejoined his family, -who were proud and pleased to mark the -improvement in his manners and deportment. -He had fine social qualities, for finding a -Dandie Dinmont in jealous possession, he endeavoured -to make friends by helping him to -the afternoon tea, which had been left on the -lawn. Dandie was not tall enough to reach the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span> -table, so Taffy handed down a few jam sandwiches -on to the grass. This pleasant little -incident did not hinder Taffy from knocking -down the terrier when he grew quarrelsome, -but, having done so, he stood four-square above -him, and smiled over the grizzled head snapping -helplessly between his feet.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span></p> - - -<h3>II<br /> -HIS COMING-OUT</h3> - -<p>In the words of the felicitous marriage ode, we -may say that for Taffy—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry poetry-ded"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Youth’s romance was done and over,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail the dawn of serious life!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But we know that education can never truly -be considered as finished, and that when a -young lady dismisses her governess she must -devote half an hour in the morning to reading -Motley’s “Dutch Republics,” and Mrs. Jamieson’s -“Italian Painters.” Even so when we -settled down at last it was unanimously agreed -that Taffy must not be allowed to consider his -education complete, but must come in every -evening to share dessert and enjoy the cultivation -of his mind.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp62" id="i062" style="max-width: 67.1875em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i062.jpg" alt="[Photograph of a dog]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>S. A. McDowall</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“Taffy.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>As Taffy has “come out,” it is time surely -to attempt something of a personal description.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span> -He may be described as distinguished in the -true sense of the word, for England and Wales -have combined to produce a somewhat remarkable -blend of colour; luckily they have not -quarrelled about the eyes, which are both -of the same pleasant brown. His grey, curly -back is blotched with black, his legs, cheeks, and -eyebrows are a yellow tan. But however opinion -may differ about this hyæna-like colouring, -all collie lovers would be agreed in admiring -his excellent figure, his lithe, agile action, -and his well-bred, intelligent head. His -family swell with pride as they hear passing -remarks on his appearance in the street; they -were, in fact, a little disturbed by the glances -cast at the rear of their party until they realised -that in all the district there was no dog the -least like Taffy.</p> - -<p>But Taffy is taught to preserve a modest -demeanour; he is well snubbed if in excitement -over a piece of paper he postures too -much, like a dog in a chromo-lithograph—crouching -forepaws, a plumy tail wagging, ears -raised, and mouth open to show a healthy -crimson tongue.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span></p> - -<p>Although Taffy had come out, a strict eye -had to be kept on his manners for a time. It -was all very well to object to the dustman entering -at the garden door. I do not altogether -wonder at his entertaining such suspicions -of an honest mechanic, who was mending -the bells, that he had to be provided with an -escort across the garden; it was perhaps even -pardonable to give “what for” to a guest who -had peevishly declared that he hated dogs. -But it was <i>not</i> right to bite our landlord, nor -to growl at a perfectly amiable visitor at afternoon -tea; it was not fair to smell people’s -boots merely because they were timid, nor -proper to close his teeth on the leg of my -brother’s best friend simply because he had not -seen him before. A dog should not growl at -housemaids because they want to sweep under -the mat he is sitting on, nor should he take -offence at being asked to leave the room while -furniture is arranged.</p> - -<p>But all these things are long past, and it is -not well to recall them. Let us only remember -that Taffy was always pleasant to ladies, and -that if he had to receive a caller he often<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span> -thought of bringing a pebble from the garden, -or a lump of coal from the scuttle to amuse -her while she waited. Guests who were -staying in the house he would keep happy -for hours together by letting them throw sticks -for him.</p> - -<p>There are a few blacker shadows in Taffy’s -life, and it will not do to blink them.</p> - -<p>It was only the natural, impulsive haste of -youth which made him jump through the -cucumber frame in pursuit of the sandy cat; -but it was a more deliberate indiscretion, a -more sinister motive, that moved him to jump -in through the garden-room window when he -thought no one was indoors.</p> - -<p>The old cat had meals served in her own -apartment, opening out of the garden-room. -This apartment, in which she also slept, was in -appearance like a large cupboard, with an easy -latch. The garden-room windows were open -all the day, and it was not infrequently observed -that the cat’s plate was polished as by a -large wet tongue. Taffy was more than once -caught springing lightly into the room; he -assumed a surprised and guilty expression if he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span> -found any one there, and hastily withdrew. -He was also marked from time to time coming -down the passage with the same air of secret -satisfaction, mingled with slight apprehension, -as on the day when he stole the coachman’s -beefsteak. So far we could only register suspicious -circumstances.</p> - -<p>But one evening at lesson time he was -missing. We called him all over the house, -and heard no strangled whine or scratching -paw. At last I went to the cat’s cupboard, -where a thrilling silence seemed to weigh upon -the air. I turned the handle, and, as if shot -from a gun, cat and dog burst out together. -Oh, the tension of those hours since they had -got shut up, and the miracle by which they -had both kept their heads! No doubt Taffy, -curling through the door with a sinuous, guilty -motion, had pulled it after him, and the easy -latch had shut, and there they were together, -with nerves strained and tense. Taffy, however, -to do him justice, had kept cool enough -to clean the plate.</p> - -<p>Let us turn to a lighter, brighter side.</p> - -<p>Taffy, as I said, had no vulgar pride, but he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span> -had to be taught the subtleties of social relations. -If he had had a truer instinct on this point he -would have saved us from the indignity of -seeing him prefer to follow an empty cab with -which he was acquainted, to continuing his -walk in our company. But he soon learnt -discrimination; and though he was very fond of -the cab itself, and attached to both horse and -driver, he found it better to preserve a certain -standard in these matters. Thus with all those -whom he did not suspect of base ulterior -motives Taffy soon became a mighty favourite. -He was known and welcomed on the golf links, -at least until his presence became, with his -growing ease of manner, a slight embarrassment; -he was known in the school, and hailed Sunday -with delight, when “Winchester men” came -to lunch in order to throw sticks for him and -give him catalogues to tear up. He was known -in the street, where he would wait outside shops -if he were particularly asked to do so; if he was -not informed of our intention, he either entered -the shop rather rudely or went home. Once -he came into the Cathedral, and was so terrified -by the vast spaces, the gloom, and the silence,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span> -that when his agitated mistress rose from her -seat to expel him he fled abruptly to the door -and never again entered. For the future he -lounged about the Close when we went in, and -congratulated us when we emerged from the -mysterious, gloomy emptiness.</p> - -<p>Once a policeman had to ring his own front-door -bell for him; we, cheerfully lunching -inside, had not missed him, and did not understand -at first why he came in in such a wild -bustle of self-importance, crying out, in a high -voice, apology and congratulation. He was -like a little boy who felt that he had had quite -an adventure. It may have been the ready -comprehension of this man which gave Taffy -so strong an affection for the force. I had to -wait at the gaol once when he managed, by -repeated blandishments, to scrape acquaintance -with the constable on duty. Out of the corner -of an eye I watched him laying small offerings -of pebbles and sticks at the policeman’s feet. -As these could not tempt, he sought out a small -battered tin toy, which the policeman solemnly -picked up and laid aside. Finally Taffy rummaged -in the bushes and returned triumphant,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span> -bearing an offering that could not fail to please—a -tramp’s boot. The man was utterly -melted, and with a furtive foot jerked pebbles -out of the gravel for the dog to fetch.</p> - -<p>The progress of Taffy’s lessons was beset -with few drawbacks. He learnt the English -“Shake-hand” in one lesson, and will give the -other paw, or both together, when required. -No dog likes to be asked to die for any cause -whatever, but Taffy consented to do it, with a -sidelong eye and much protest. He jumped -with only too much vigour, and was seized -with wild desire to lick one’s face in passing. -He liked to shut the door and sit in a chair, -but his energetic performance scratched them -both so much that he had to stop. He could -hold a piece of ginger-bread in his mouth till he -was assured it was paid for, when he swallowed -it whole, with a deep sigh and snore. But his -supreme performance, requiring an exhausting -amount of concentration, is to distinguish between -<i>played for</i> and <i>prayed for</i> and <i>paved for</i> -and <i>paid for</i>. It is at this last only that he eats -it, but <i>paved for</i> makes him turn his head until -he distinguishes the “<i>v</i>.” No change of tone<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span> -affects this; <i>trust</i> may be whispered, <i>paid for</i> -threatened. It requires merely an undivided -attention and an unprejudiced mind. If he -makes up his mind that <i>paid</i> for is coming fourth -in the list he stares with stupid eyes at the -sound of it; or he eats it gaily at <i>prayed for</i> if -he is not attending. If people laugh he thinks -it funny to eat it at “<i>parochial</i>” or “<i>pantechnicon</i>.” -But if he looks at the ground, so as -not to catch the eye of light-minded friends; if -he turns away his head so as not to be disturbed -by the delights of ginger-bread, and if he listens -very attentively, he can think.</p> - -<p>This is the great value of tricks to the dog, as -of mathematics to the man. And Taffy does -think; he pauses at an emergency and carries -out a plan, simple no doubt, but sufficiently -intelligent.</p> - -<p>Taffy had a stick too long for convenient -throwing, tough and hard. His companion tried -to break it, putting her foot upon it and bending -it up. When she was tired Taffy pounced -upon it, put his paw on it in the same manner, -and bent it likewise. Thus they took turns at -it till the stick broke. Another long stick was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span> -thrown across a gate; he tried to go through -the gate holding the stick horizontally, but the -bars prevented it; so he took it by one end and -dragged it through.</p> - -<p>He was accustomed to drop on the ground -sticks that were to be thrown for him; but finding -that a bicyclist could not reach them, held -them of his own accord high up, so that they -could be taken from him.</p> - -<p>Once in swimming across a stream he was -carried down some way by the current before -he could land on the opposite bank. He was -called back but was afraid to attempt recrossing, -and after a pause for thought darted away and -crossed a bridge quite out of sight, which his -companion had forgotten. Once we had been -rolling a ball for him in the conservatory, and -it lodged under the plant stands where the tiers -were too low to let him through. After trying -unsuccessfully to get it he lay down, but when -every one else had forgotten the matter, got up -quietly and going to a place where the tiers -were broken away, walked round under them -until he could reach the ball. It is amusing -to watch his triumph at having discovered a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span> -short cut, hidden from sight, across a loop of -road; or his pride in carrying out such a -simple stratagem as the following: In the -town there lived a gang of five dogs, against -whom, of course, no single dog had any chance. -We met them while we were driving one day. -Taffy saw them first, and, knowing them of old, -paused a moment to think. Then he turned -and ran, apparently homewards, all five dogs in -full cry after him. But it was a gate a little -way behind he was making for; he crossed it -first and headed off across a field at right angles -to the road; he was the fastest runner, and the -dogs panted and fell back. When one terrier -only remained he turned again, made a long -line to catch us up, squeezing through a gap -which it would have been madness to attempt -with the pack behind him, and rejoined us with -cocked tail, looking for applause.</p> - -<p>It is this quick intelligence of Taffy’s which -renders daily intercourse so easy and so pleasant. -If he knows you drive daily, the sound of the -front door bell at the accustomed time will -bring him to the door, to lie gently whining -till it is opened. If you have no habit of driv<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span>ing, -but tell him the carriage is there, he rushes -off to find it; or you explain to him that it is -coming after a time, and he haunts you till the -promise is fulfilled. You tell him that he -cannot come to church, and he remains behind -with downcast, puzzled face; or you tell him -to fetch his hat for a walk (the term has quite -reconciled him to his muzzle), and he runs to -bring it. It is true that if the muzzle is not in -place he may bring any small handy object -instead—some one else’s hat, the clothes brush, -a Bible, or a hand bag, for he seems to regard -the action as symbolic. If you feel dull, Taffy -will turn out the waste-paper basket and find -you a crumpled envelope; if you are inclined -for affection he overwhelms you with demonstration.</p> - -<p>In almost every mood or occupation Taffy is -delighted to bear you company. There are -only two things he cannot stand—one is golf -and one is gardening.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span></p> - - -<h3>III<br /> -AN ATTACK OF CYNICISM</h3> - -<p>Now we took Taffy away from his club life, his -beloved cabs, his large circle of friends who -threw sticks and catalogues on Sunday, his large -circle of enemies with whom he exchanged -stimulating defiances in the streets; and we -buried him in the country.</p> - -<p>He enjoyed the journey, because he knows so -well how to behave in the train; he keeps an -eye fixed on his mistress, and stays in the -carriage or gets out as he is told; he is open to -blandishments from respectable strangers, and -will lie obligingly on their dresses or rest his head -on a knee; he keeps close to one’s side on the -platform, and gets into a cab as obediently as a -child. He liked the new house, too, for the -front door was always open, and he needed no -kind policeman to ring the bell.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span></p> - -<p>Thus it was a few days before he began to -realise the disadvantages. His family was arranging -the house, and when he lay genially in the -middle of a room he was instantly asked to -move. He took offence and went away by -himself, but no one had time to call him and -rally him on his bad temper. Then he found -there were few dogs in the benighted place, and -three despicable cats.</p> - -<p>But worst of all, an inexplicable change came -over the habits of his family; they did not go -for drives, and comparatively seldom for walks; -but they did foolish things in the garden with -rakes, and they fed idiotic hens. They would -not even allow him to go into the hen-house to -see what was talking so loud inside; worst of -all, they played croquet, and his greatest friend -putted in the garden.</p> - -<p>Taffy loathed the sight of a hoe, of a rake, of -a mallet, and of a golf club.</p> - -<p>He allowed no ambiguity about the situation; -if he saw any one begin to play croquet -he turned his back on them and lay down; he -refused to go out with a golf club; and if his -mistress took the turn towards the poultry yard<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span> -he went back to the house and lay with a -sickened expression outside the front door.</p> - -<p>A bored expression began to be characteristic -of Taffy. He lay sulkily in front of the house, -accompanying for a few steps every one who -went out, and turning back as they went straight -to some detested occupation.</p> - -<p>He got up a fine quarrel with the milkman’s -dog, but this had only the effect of curtailing -his walk, for when two parasols had been fruitlessly -broken over the backs of the combatants -after morning church, every one felt a little shy -of taking him where he might meet the milkman’s -dog.</p> - -<p>The cats were a fresh insult. Two of them -were kittens, and not in the least afraid of -Taffy, and it seemed to amuse his family to see -them rout him; to ask him to look at them, -which he could not do for fear of catching their -eye; to ask him to kiss them, which he would -have scorned to do even if their claws had been -less sharp and their tempers more serene.</p> - -<p>With these new occupations Taffy’s lessons -ran risk of being forgotten, so he did not come -to the dining-room for dessert. Demonstrations<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span> -of affection lessened, and Taffy restrained his -own outpourings of emotion; in fact he was in -danger of becoming a reckless loafer of a dog.</p> - -<p>When his family suddenly woke up to the -existence of these tendencies in him they tried -to mend matters. They paid more attention to -his feelings and poured out upon him expressions -of affection. Taffy responded with fervour; -lessons were begun again, and Taffy presented -himself nightly at the dining-room door, singing -in a loud, excited tone, greeting the family as if -they were a circle of long-lost friends, jerking -his head under each arm so as to make it fall -round his neck. His best friend took Taffy to -sleep in his room, which made Taffy very happy, -and he slept nine hours every night and snored -most of the time. When the room was unoccupied -he slept on the bed and did his best to -make it comfortable.</p> - -<p>Then a delightful event took the sting from -the glorious memory of cabs. Two horses came -to the stable, and Taffy could again run down -to meet the carriage and place himself underneath, -so close to the heels of the horse that he -ran considerable risk of having his brains kicked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span> -out. There were even advantages in the new -arrangement: carriages seemed to go faster than -cabs, and there was a stall for him to lounge -about. No longer need he repair when he was -muddy to a dreary hole, peopled with empty -bottles, but to a stall full of crackling straw, to -refresh himself by a little horsey society after -the insults of the kittens.</p> - -<p>And with this change and refreshment of -spirits he found himself able to take an interest -even in the little tabby cat; he has been seen -to lick her face and smell her in a patronising -manner. These blandishments generally take -place in the garden, and he is embarrassed if -they are noticed.</p> - -<p>Finally, Taffy resolved to take his part in -these restored relations and to try to sympathise -with our pursuits. He joined us in a genial -frame of mind when we were hoeing a garden -path. Every time a weed came up Taffy smelt -the place, until his nose was covered with -gravel. Finally, when he saw he had grasped -the idea of the thing he dug a nice large hole -in the middle of the path. So we praised him -very much for his kindness and intelligence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span></p> - -<p>There is no romance about Taffy, and no -mystery; we know exactly what he is feeling, -and his very secrets are above board. If he -has been naughty, guilt is written on his -countenance; if he is bored by us, he expresses -it as clearly; <span class="correction" title="In the original book: if has">if he has</span> done well, he goes -round the circle to collect applause. He lives -his life in the full light of day—there are no -“silent silver lights and darks undreamed of” -about Taffy.</p> - -<p>Of course he has his nerves like the rest of -us: after a display of affection he seeks a -relief from the strain of emotion and repairs -quickly to the waste-paper basket; if he is ill -it is death to pity him. He becomes unable -to raise his head from the ground, unable to -swallow; a profound woe is on his face. The -wholesome tonic of a few tricks, cheerful conversation, -and a little bustle is necessary to -restore him. He is now beginning to listen to -conversation even when it is not addressed to -himself, but he prefers it to have a healthy, -objective tone. Talk about good dogs and bad -dogs will bring him, self-complacent or apologetic, -to your side; but conversation about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span> -walks, about carriages and horses he finds far -more stimulating. For he is a martyr to self-consciousness; -if one tries to draw him he falls -helplessly on one side, or moves uneasily, and -finally reclines with his head under the sofa. -His photographs, too, are apt to wear a -deprecating, uneasy expression.</p> - -<p>Such is Taffy, intelligent, responsive, lovable, -ready to impart his joys and sorrows, thoroughly -companionable, entering indeed far more into -one’s life than is possible for any other kind -of animal.</p> - -<p>But with all this he is essentially dependent; -he is but part of the Red King’s dream, and -has no thread of existence which is not rooted -and twined with human lives; his independent -actions are isolated, and the memory of them -makes him ashamed and guilty. It is well said -that there is no forlorner thing than an ownerless -dog; and no unwilling prisoner could love -his freedom with such wholeness of spirit as -Taffy loves his servitude.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ADOPTED">THE ADOPTED -FAMILY</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry chap-head"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp83" id="i082" style="max-width: 52.6875em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i082.jpg" alt="[Kitten by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span></p> - - -<p>It was quite natural for the peacock to adopt -us, for he had been left to his own resources -at the farm; and he preferred bread and -cake and poultry food to the pickings of the -farmyard. He would come quite close for the -bread or the Indian corn, but he would take -cake from the hand, thus giving an exact estimate -of the value of risk. He paid for these -little attentions with his own tail, which he -deposited in the course of three days close to -the poultry yard.</p> - -<p>It was very natural too that the farm kitten -should adopt us, her reason being partly real -sociable qualities and partly greed and luxury. -She liked our company and our cat’s company; -she also liked our armchairs and our cat’s meals.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span></p> - -<p>But the adoption by the robins was on altogether -a grander scale. They sacrificed family -affection and personal safety for the honour and -pleasure of domesticating a family of human -beings.</p> - -<p>We are apt to think of ourselves as occupying -this unique position in creation that we alone -have the power and inclination to annex other -races of creatures for supplies, for service, and -for pleasure. If this egotism is at all a matter -of congratulation, at any rate we flatter ourselves -falsely. The ant keeps its dairy establishment -and its staff of domestic servants, or, as we -invidiously choose to call them, its slaves. -Pumas seem to show a distinct tendency to -make pets of human beings, and I strongly -suspect that cats take up the same position. We -think we have domesticated the cat. What if -the cat thinks it has tamed us? It induces us -to give it board and <span class="correction" title="In the original book: longing">lodging</span>, and it surely -thinks we look up to it with admiration and -affection—as we do.</p> - -<p>But, above all, robins have a perfect passion -for taming mankind.</p> - -<p>As far as we know, robins may have tried to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span> -tame other creatures. They may have paid -court to cows and horses, but found that they -could not catch the eye of a cart-horse, or arrest -the attention of the bull. After repeated disappointments -(like our own with the zebra) they -may have learnt that the only animal really -capable of domestication is man.</p> - -<p>The decision of the point whether we were -taming the robins or they us rests upon this: -which side made the first advances.</p> - -<p>There was no real question here—the robins -began it all.</p> - -<p>The robins had been brought up in the ivy -of the garden wall. We had played croquet -close to them, and gardened beneath them all -the summer. They had escaped being raided -by the prowling Persian or the orange Angora. -Towards the end of the summer the great door -into the hall stood open all day, and we used to -pull chairs outside into the strip of shade. Then -the robins began to take notice of us.</p> - -<p>By this time they had grown up and pegged -out their own “claims.” The baby robin, -who had not yet changed his waistcoat, lived in -the ivy and sat upon the left gate-post.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span></p> - -<p>As we camped opposite in basket chairs he -drew nearer, hoop by hoop, across the croquet -ground. At last he hopped upon the back of -the chair I sat in.</p> - -<p>Then we thought it time to return his call, -which was most effectively done by the distribution -of breadcrumbs.</p> - -<p>This caused immediately the descent of the -second robin, who lived in a holly tree on the -right hand of the door; and at once the feud -began. While the baby robin’s disinterested -attachment had been tolerated, no sooner did -he begin to reap a reward than his father -swooped on him. We gathered that it was -the father, for he was full-fledged, an older bird, -neat and smart.</p> - -<p>There were altogether four of these robins, -and as they adopted the Benson family, what is -more natural than to call them by Mrs. Trimmer’s -beloved names of Robin, Dicksy, Pecksy, -and Flapsy. I am convinced that the baby -resembled Dicksy; the smart formidable father -shall be called Robin; Pecksy and Flapsy have -still to emerge.</p> - -<p>Now as Dicksy skimmed across the lawn,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span> -halted nervously, and advanced to pick up a -breadcrumb, like a bolt from the blue Robin fell -upon him from the holly tree. Dicksy fled -back to shelter, but was received by Pecksy, -who, emerging from the arbutus bush, chased -him back with a few hard pecks. Pecksy also -was half-fledged, and had a queer tuft of light -feathers on her head. Although she lived in -the arbutus bush, the right-hand gate-post was -her watch-tower.</p> - -<p>Now since Dicksy had been our first and -earliest friend, and could alone be held disinterested, -we threw crumbs after him; on -these Robin and Pecksy descended; and a -crumb happening to fall considerably to the -left, out of the left-hand wall came shyly a -fourth robin—evidently Flapsy.</p> - -<p>The next day witnessed a gourd-like growth -of intimacy with Robin. He was always in -the near holly tree; he descended for crumbs -and came nearer boldly; he even followed us -into the house.</p> - -<p>But meanwhile Dicksy’s life was being made -a burden to him. He alone was not allowed -to approach us. Pecksy drew nearer, half<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span> -across the lawn; Flapsy settled on the croquet -stump and took short flights towards us for -crumbs; none interfered with Robin, but -Dicksy’s appearance was like the trumpet for -battle; each habitat became forthwith an -ambush.</p> - -<p>Dicksy reconnoitred on the left-hand gate-post—not -a robin in sight. He ventured half -across the lawn and not a wing stirred. He -drew nearer to the tempting crumb, now he -was close, and at that moment Robin swooped -upon him. Dicksy swerved to the left trying -to escape, and Flapsy received him with open -beak; he headed off to the right and Pecksy -flew out from her arbutus bush. Finally, he -was driven back to cover under ivy leaves with -an empty stomach and an unsatisfied heart.</p> - -<p>Dicksy must somehow have offended against -all codes and conventions of robins, but in -what way we grosser mortals cannot conceive.</p> - -<p>Later as the winter came on, when Robin -came round to the lilac bush at the dining-room -window, when he and Flapsy came in to -inspect the tables before and after meals, when -he entered the bedroom above to inquire after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span> -a late riser, and partook of light refreshment, -Dicksy still seemed disconsolately to haunt his -gate-post.</p> - -<p>But now with the coming of spring, and all -the new fashions, one cannot be sure of any -one’s identity. Dicksy, I know, was changing -his sombre waistcoat for scarlet; so I can but -hope it may be he who is uttering the quaint -little crack of a voice to announce his presence -in the next room.</p> - -<p>But I tremble for the prospects of next -summer if we are going to prove so attractive -a family. If Robin and Flapsy nest again in -the ivied wall; if Dicksy brings a mate to the -left hand gate-post; and Pecksy sets up an -establishment in the arbutus bush, the war of -the worlds will be nothing to the war of the -robins.</p> - -<p>And at this moment we have undergone a -new adoption, for a milk white jackdaw without -a tail flew into the garden yesterday, and -the household was scattered, uttering endearments, -among the cabbages, and scraps of raw -meat adorned the lawn. Towards evening he -was persuaded to enter the kitchen. Matilda<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span> -was asked to lend her cage for a time, but -when she saw a new centre of attraction she -burst into screams so terrific that every one -who was not already occupied in housing the -jackdaw ran into the kitchen to see who was -being murdered. So they provided temporary -accommodation for Jack under a basket chair.</p> - -<p>He liked it so well that this evening he was -found sitting on the chair waiting for some -friendly mortal to bestow him inside.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="RA">THE -MYSTERIOUS RA</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry chap-head"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Reposeful, patient, undemonstrative,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Luxurious, enigmatically sage,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Dispassionately cruel.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i092" style="max-width: 75.9375em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i092.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span></p> - - -<p>Ra had three periods of development. In -the first, he showed himself cowardly -and colourless; in the second, he -sowed his wild oats with a mild and sparing -paw; and in the third period it was borne in -on us that whatever qualities of heart and head -he displayed were but superficial manifestations, -while the inner being of Ra, the why and -wherefore of his actions, must for ever remain -shrouded in mystery.</p> - -<p>We might have guessed this, had we been -wise enough, from his appearance. His very -colour was uncertain. His mistress could see -that he was blue—a very dark, handsome blue -Persian. Those who knew less than she did -about cats called him black. One, as rash as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span> -she was ignorant, said he was brown; but as -there are no brown cats Ra could not have been -brown. Finally, a so-called friend named him -“The Incredible Blue.”</p> - -<p>When the Incredible Blue sat at a little distance -two large green eyes were all that could -be discerned of his features. The blue hair -was so extremely dark that it could be hardly -distinguished from his black nose and mouth. -This gave him an inexpressibly serious appearance.</p> - -<p>The solemnity of his aspect was well borne -out by the stolidity of his behaviour. There -is little to record during his youth except an -unrequited attachment to a fox-terrier. In -earlier days Ra’s grandmother had been devoted -to the same dog—a devotion as little desired -and as entirely unreciprocated.</p> - -<p>But it was necessary that Ra should leave -the object of his devotion and come with us to -live in a town; and now it became apparent -that his affections had been somehow nipped -in the bud. Whether it was the loss of the -fox-terrier, the new fear of Taffy’s boisterous -pursuits, or the severity of his grandmother’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span> -treatment—for the first time he came into -close contact with that formidable lady—whatever -the reason may have been, it was plain -that Ra’s heart was a guarded fortress. He set -himself with steady appetite to rid the house -of mice, but he neither gave nor wanted -affection.</p> - -<p>He would accept a momentary caress delicately -offered; but if one stroked him an -instant too long, sharp, needle-like teeth took -a firm hold of the hand. We apologised once -to a cat lover for the sharpness of Ra’s teeth. -“I think the claws are worse,” was all he -said.</p> - -<p>Ra was an arrant coward. If a wild scuffle -of feet was heard overhead we were certain -that it was the small agile grandmother in -pursuit of Ra. If Taffy were seen careering -over the lawn, and leaping into the first fork of -the mulberry-tree, it was because Ra had not -faced him out for a moment, but was peering -with dusky face and wide emerald eyes between -the leaves.</p> - -<p>Once or twice there was an atmosphere of -tension in the house, no movement of cat or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span> -dog, and it was found that the three were -fixed on the staircase unable to move. Taffy -looking up from below with gleaming eyes; -Granny malevolently scowling from above; -and Ra in sight like Bagheera, in heart like a -frightened mouse protected by the very fact -that he was between the devil and the deep -sea. Taffy did not dare to chase Ra for fear -of the claws of the cat above; Granny did -not care to begin a scrimmage downstairs, -which would land them both under the dog’s -nose. So they sat, free but enthralled, till -human hands carried them simultaneously -away.</p> - -<p>But the general tension of feeling grew too -great. Ra’s life was a burden through fear, -Granny’s through jealousy, Taffy’s through -scolding. Ra was sent off to a little house in -London, and here his second stage of development -began.</p> - -<p>He had always been pompous, now he -grew grand. It took ten minutes to get him -through the door, so measured were his steps, -so ceremonious the waving of his tail. He sat -in the drawing-room in the largest armchair<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span>. -Then it irked him that there was no garden, -so he searched the street until he discovered a -house with a garden, and he went to stay there -for days together. A house opposite was being -rebuilt, and Ra surveyed the premises and overlooked -the workmen, sliding through empty -window-frames and prowling along scaffolding -with a weight of disapproval in his expression.</p> - -<p>Thus Ra, who had hitherto caused no anxiety -to his family, now became a growing responsibility; -visions of cat stealers, of skin-dealers, -of cat’s-meat men, of policemen and lethal -chambers began to flit through the imagination -whenever Ra was missing—which was almost -always. So to save the nerves and sanity of -his friends Ra left London.</p> - -<p>We had now removed to the country, and -greatly to our regret, though little to that of -Ra, his ancient foe had passed from the scene; -and although he felt it better to decline the -challenges of the sandy kitten, yet he no longer -believed his safety and his life to be in the -balance; it was plain that he had realised his -freedom, and would assume for himself a certain -position in the household.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span></p> - -<p>The house was a very old one; but Ra had -been not long employed before the scurrying of -feet over the ceiling was perceptibly lessened, -and behind the mouldering wainscot the mouse -no longer shrieked. That, indeed, is a lame, -conventional way of describing the previous -doings of the mice. Rather let us say that the -mice no longer danced in the washing basins at -night, nor ran races over the beds, nor bit the -unsheltered finger of the sleeper, nor left the -row of jam-pots clean and empty.</p> - -<p>If Ra had confined himself to this small -game all would have been well, but he proceeded -to clear the garden of rabbits. Day by -day he went out and fetched a rabbit, plump -and tender, and ate it for his dinner. It must -at least be recorded that at this time he was -practically self-supporting.</p> - -<p>Three he brought to me. The first was -dead, and I let him eat it; the second showed -the brightness of a patient brown eye, and -while I held Ra an instant from his prey, the -little thing had cleared the lawn like a duck-and-drake -shot from a skilful hand, and disappeared -in the hedgerow.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span></p> - -<p>The third was dead. I took it and shut up -Ra. We “devilled” the rabbit hot and strong; -we positively filled it with mustard, and returned -it. Ra ate half with the utmost enjoyment -and the sandy kitten finished the rest.</p> - -<p>Then came Ra’s final aspiration. Unwitting -of strings of cats’ tails, dead stoats, and the gay -feathers of the jay, with which the woodland -was adorned, he took to the preserves. We -have no reason to think he hunted anything -but the innocent field mouse or a plump rabbit -for us to season; but with a deadly confidence -he crossed the fields evening by evening in -sight of the keeper’s cottage.</p> - -<p>If we had all been Ancient Egyptians we -should have developed his talent. The keeper -would have trained him to retrieve, and he -would gaily have accompanied the shooting -parties. If I had even been the Marchioness -of Carabbas I should have turned the talent to -account, and Ra, clad in a neat pair of -Wellingtons, would have left my compliments -and a pair of rabbits on all the principal houses -in the neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>Prejudice was too strong for us. I won a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span> -truce for Ra until we could find a new home -for him, and he departed in safety. I heard, -to my relief, that he seemed quite happy and -settled, and had bitten and scratched a large -number of Eton boys.</p> - -<p>Now up to his departure we had at once -admired and despised Ra, but no one understood -him. His appearance was so dignified, -his spirit seemed so mean. He lent a silky -head to be caressed, and while you still stroked -him, without a sign of warning except the -heavy thud of the last joint of his tail, he -turned and bit. He addressed one in a small, -delicate voice of complaint, yet wanted nothing. -He followed me up and down in the garden with -a sedate step; there were no foolish games in -bushes, pretence of escape, hope of chase and -capture. Happy or fearful, sociable or solitary, -Ra was utterly self-contained.</p> - -<p>Now hear the last act.</p> - -<p>Ra began paying calls from his new home, -and was established on a footing of intimacy at -a neighbouring house. As he sat in the drawing-room -window there one morning, he watched -the gardener planting bulbs. The gardener<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span> -planted a hundred crocus bulbs and went home -to dinner. No sooner was he gone than Ra -descended, went to the bed, and dug up the -bulbs from first to last. Then he returned to -the drawing-room window.</p> - -<p>The gardener came back, and lo! his hundred -bulbs lay exposed. Nothing moved; no creature -was to be seen but a cat with solemn face -and green, disapproving eyes, who glared at -him from the window.</p> - -<p>The gardener replanted half his bulbs and -went to fetch some tool; when he returned he -seemed to himself to be toiling in a weird -dream, for the bulbs he had replanted lay again -exposed and the cat still sat like an image in -the window.</p> - -<p>Again he toiled at his replanting, and finally -left the garden.</p> - -<p>In a moment Ra descended upon it; with -hasty paws he disinterred the crocuses, and laid -the hundred on the earth. Then, shrouded still -in impenetrable mystery, Ra returned home.</p> - -<p>History does not relate whether or no the -gardener consulted a brain specialist the following -day.</p> -<div class="figcenter illowp68" id="i102" style="max-width: 59.8125em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i102.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MENTU">MENTU</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry chap-head"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>A little lion, dainty, sweet,</i>—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(<i>For such there be</i>)—</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>With sea-grey eyes and softly stepping feet</i>.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i104" style="max-width: 81.5em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i104.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span></p> - - -<p>Out of the basket there stepped a forlorn -little figure, dusky grey, pathetically -wailing, cold, hungry, and tired. He -was not eight weeks old, every relation and -friend in the world was left far behind him; -but he was in entire possession of himself and -his manners. The ruffled coat was a uniform -tint; the little pointed head gave evidence of -the long pedigree he trailed behind him. In -these weary and destitute circumstances the -true air of <i>noblesse oblige</i> was on him.</p> - -<p>His very appetite had deserted him, and for -days he had to be forcibly fed with warm milk -in a teaspoon. He remonstrated about this, -but it impaired not the least his confidence in -human nature.</p> - -<p>Then he grew better, and became an elf-like<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span> -creature, playing rather seriously with his own -tail, but venturing not far from the skirts of his -mistress. Once he saw the old cat, and would -have run to her, but she turned on him a look -so malevolent that we snatched him out of -harm’s way, and still scowling she proceeded to -take possession of his sleeping basket. She used -it for a day or two, but finding that it had been -given up to her she abandoned it.</p> - -<p>When I joined Mentu and his mistress on a -tour in Cornwall some weeks later he had -become a different creature. He was still very -polite, but had grown in size and in confidence, -and he was fast developing the drama of the cat -and the madness of the kitten’s spirits. He -whirled round the room to catch the crackling -paper hanging on a string; he played the -clown with a cardboard paper-basket, hurling -himself into it with such force that it upset -and poured him out like water on the other -side; he retrieved paper balls, and hanging over -the bars of chairs and tables beat them with the -tips of his paws; he hid them under corners of -carpets and expended an immense amount of -time and strategy in finding them again. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span> -paper flew into the air, and sped across the -room so fast that only a very clever and agile -kitten could ever have caught it. Then Mentu -discovered the Shadow Dance.</p> - -<p>One evening while the paper was swinging on -a string in the lamplight, Mentu suddenly saw -the shadow. Thenceforward he renounced -the substance and deliberately pursued the -shadow. If the actual paper came in his way -he hit it with a pettish gesture, and searched -the carpet for the shadow. And he knew the -two were connected, for at sight of the paper he -began to look about for the shadow. Then he -rushed after it, and through it; he spread himself -out on the carpet to catch it, and it was -gone; he fled round and round in a circle -after it, and cared for nothing so much as the -pursuit of nothingness.</p> - -<p>We went to an empty hotel, hidden in a -little bay near the Lizard. Green slopes, -covered even in March with flowering gorse, -fall quickly to the pillared basalt coves. Here -you may sit on slabs of rock sheltered from east -and north wind, scenting the sweet, pungent -incense breath of the gorse, and watching the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span> -gulls at play beneath. You can see the great -liners pass, signalling at Lloyd’s station, and -branching off below the Lizard Lights to cross -the ocean; or you can watch the gallant ships -come in, corn laden, with men crowding to -the side for their first glimpse of English -shores. But, except on Sunday, when Lizard -Town walks two and two on the cliff, you see -no man there and hardly a stray beast.</p> - -<p>So here Mentu became the companion of -our strolls, scudding across open stretches of -green, rushing into shelter from imagined foes -under gorse and heather, dancing with sidelong -steps and waving tail down little grassy slopes, or -lying on ledges of rock as grey as himself, starred -with lichen as yellow as his eyes.</p> - -<p>Once we went out along the cliff to return -by the road, but here Mentu’s faith in us -deserted him. He set out to go home alone, but -dared not; he wished to come with us, but -was tired; he would not be carried for he saw -children in the distance, and a cat prefers to -trust its own sense and agility in danger. So -in despair of his wavering decision we walked -on, until, turning, we caught sight of a pathetic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span> -figure silhouetted against the dusty road—a -silky kitten with wide mouth opened in a -despairing outcry against fate.</p> - -<p>Once Mentu met a cow grazing on the cliff. -Here was terror, but that he realised the compelling -power of the feline eye. He fixed on -her two yellow orbs with fear-distended pupils, -prepared to make himself very large and -terrible by an arched back if she so much as -turned towards him, and thus holding her -paralysed with terror (though she appeared to -graze unconcernedly the while) he walked by -with tiptoe dignity and scudded to shelter.</p> - -<p>But Mentu himself was once nearly petrified -by a very awful kind of Gorgon. He was -tripping and smelling, and coming to the edge -of a little stone well he looked in. Suddenly -we saw him turn rigid, with a face of inexpressible -horror. He stood statue-like for a -moment, then lifting silent paws retired backwards -noiselessly, imperceptibly, step by step -from the edge. Once out of sight of the pool -he turned and fled. I went to look in. A -frog sat there.</p> - -<p>Sometimes we went down a stony winding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span> -path to the cove beneath; a wren was building -here, for the cock-wren sat on a bush and -girded at Mentu as he passed. One day I -heard from far below the sharp note whirring -like a tiny watchman’s rattle, and returned to -find Mentu lying on the path with swishing -tail cruelly eyeing the atom which scolded him -from above.</p> - -<p>When the time came to go home Mentu -had undergone another transformation. He -had trebled in size; he had lost the rough, -reddish “kitten hair”; his coat was shining, -silky, ashen-grey; his eyes were the colour of -hock. Blue Persians were not plentiful in -Cornwall, and a little crowd followed us up -and down the platform, for Mentu travelled no -longer in a basket.</p> - -<p>In the train he was perfectly calm; looked -out of the window at stations, and regarded -railway officials with an impartial and critical -eye. A fellow traveller pronounced him “a -kind of dog-cat,” alluding, we supposed, to his -intelligent and self-possessed demeanour as he -sat upright on his mistress’ lap.</p> - -<p>We parted again, and from time to time I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span> -had accounts of Mentu. In spring time he -relinquished the pursuits of shadows in favour -of less innocuous sport. He was found curled -up in a blackbird’s nest, meditating on the -capital dinner he had made of the inhabitants. -He laid little offerings of dead, unfledged -birds on his mistress’ chair or footstool. He -was seen trotting across the lawn, his head -thrown proudly back, so that the nest he was -bringing her should clear the ground. Saddest -of all, she hung up a cocoanut for the tits -outside her window, and a dead blue-tit was -soon laid at her feet.</p> - -<p>Again, it was said that he appeared suddenly, -like the Cheshire cat, on a tree miles from -home; and in early autumn, in the morning, -he was seen crossing the lawn with a train of -seventeen angry pheasants behind him.</p> - -<p>We renewed acquaintance when I came to -stay at Mentu’s home. He was out when I -arrived, and as we sat with open windows in -the growing dusk there was a sudden soft leap, -and a presence on the window—a wild creature, -with shining eyes, the very incarnation of -the dusk. Even as he jumped down and came<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span> -to our feet the mood changed. He purred to -us, and went to his dinner plate. Finding -there a satisfactory mess he began to eat, -turning round to throw rapid, grateful glances -towards his mistress, purring the while.</p> - -<p>Like the Dean who gave thanks for an -excellent dinner, or a moderately good dinner, -so Mentu is wont to graduate his grace according -to his meat. A fish’s head, or the bones -of a partridge (it was long before his mistress -could be persuaded that he would not prefer a -nicely filleted sole) will produce the most -grateful glances and the loudest purrs.</p> - -<p>As I was occupying the sofa, Mentu took -his after-dinner nap on my feet.</p> - -<p>It is odd that cats show an intense dislike to -anything destined and set apart for them. -Mentu has a basket of his own, and a cushion -made by a fond mistress, but to put him into -it is to make him bound out like an india-rubber -ball. He likes to occupy proper chairs and -sofas, or even proper hearthrugs. In the same -way, the well-bred cat has an inconvenient but -æsthetic preference for eating its food in -pleasant places, even as we consume chilly tea<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span> -and dusty bread and butter in a summer glade. -A plate is distasteful to a cat, a newspaper still -worse; they like to eat sticky pieces of meat -sitting on a cushioned chair or a nice Persian -rug. Yet if these were dedicated to this use -they would remove elsewhere. Hence the -controversy is interminable.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp75" id="i112" style="max-width: 68em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i112.jpg" alt="[Photograph of a cat]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>H. R. Gourlay</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“Mentu.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>The next few days Mentu was determined -to devote to family life. He came to the -drawing-room in the evening and was very -affable and polite. He went readily to any -one who invited him, and dug his claws -encouragingly into their best evening dresses. -We had taught him a trick in Cornwall which -he still remembered. He lies on his back, -two hands are put under him, and he is gently -raised. A touch on elbows and knees makes -him shoot forelegs and hindlegs outwards and -downwards; so that head and forelegs hang -down at one end, hindlegs and tail at the -other, and the great grey cat lies curved into -crescent shape, purring serenely.</p> - -<p>In the course of the evening my collie, a -visitor with me, came genially into the room. -Mentu did not know him; he sat upright,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span> -with eyes fixed upon the dog, shaking with -terror, but making no attempt to escape.</p> - -<p>I heard Mentu calling on his mistress early -next morning in a querulous tone. As her -door was shut I invited him into my room, -but he found it not to his mind, and soon left -me. He sat all the morning with us, but was -easily <i>ennuyé</i>, and walked about uttering short -bored cries until he could find some one to -play with him. He delighted in a game of -hide and seek which he had instituted for -himself. He hid and called out, lay still till -he was seen, and then sprang up to scud across -the room. When we went into the garden -he followed, and the scolding of a blackbird -made us look up to see him on a branch -overhead staring down at us. He walked with -us, too, or rather when we walked he plunged -rustling through the bushes bordering the -path, and flashed out to stand a moment in -the open.</p> - -<p>Withal one felt that a thinking being moved -with us, whether bored or childishly excited, -gently affectionate or suddenly grateful; a -being thoroughly self-conscious, greedy of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span> -admiration, regarding himself and us, and -taking his life into his own hands. And close -beneath the surface of his civilisation lay the -wild beast nature. One could wake it in an -instant, for if I caught his eye the surface -flashed sapphire for a moment, then the eye -with distended pupils was fixed upon me, and -silently, holding me by the eye, he believed, -he stole across the room, and jumped up -suddenly almost in my face. There was -something uncanny about it, and even possibly -dangerous, for if I looked up from a book -sometimes I found that topaz eye trying to -catch and arrest my own, while the great cat -stole silently nearer. I think if we had not -relinquished the game Mentu’s claws would -have blinded me.</p> - -<p>For the wild nature in Mentu is as strong as -his inbred civilisation; and the two are at -strife together. His heart and his appetite -lead him back and back to the house; keep -him there for days together—a dainty fine -gentleman, warm-hearted, capricious. But the -spirit of the wild creature rises in him, and -the night comes when at bed-time no Mentu<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span> -is waiting at the door to be let in; or in the -evening, as he hears the wind rise and stir -the branches, even while the rain beats on -the window pane, the compelling power of -out-of-doors is on him, and he must go; and -when the window is lifted and the night air -streams in, there is but one leap into the -darkness.</p> - -<p>He will return early in the morning tired -and satiate, or spring in some evening as the -dusk gathers, with gleaming eyes where the -light of the wild woods flickers and dies down -in the comfortable firelight of an English -home.</p> - -<p>This is the true cat, the real Mentu, this -wild creature who must go on his mysterious -errands; or who, I rather believe it, plunges -out to revel in the intoxication of innumerable -scents, unaccounted sounds and the half revealed -forms of wood and field in twilight, -in darkness or in dawn. In his soul he is a -dramatist, an artist in sensation. He lives -with human beings, he loves them, as we live -with children and love them, and play their -games. But the great world calls us and we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span> -must go; and Mentu’s business in life is elsewhere. -He lives in the half-lights, in secret -places, free and alone, this mysterious little-great -being whom his mistress calls “My -cat.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i117" style="max-width: 74em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i117.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> -<div class="figcenter illowp61" id="i118" style="max-width: 74.5em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i118.jpg" alt="[Cat by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CONSCIENCE">THE CONSCIENCE -OF THE BARN-DOOR -FOWL</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="chap-head">“<i>The trivial round, the common task.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span></p> - -<p>Few people recognise how strong an element -the sense of duty is in the lives of cocks -and hens.</p> - -<p>I have a Minorca cock of superb appearance -and excellent principles. I had to cut his wings -once, and I felt as if I had hit a Member of -Parliament in the face. It is from him I take -my standard.</p> - -<p>He receives new hens into his flock with an -impressive ceremony. When they are turned -into the yard in the approved condition of -screaming hysterics, he assembles his old flock -about him, and proceeds in a kind of agitated -procession towards the newcomers. Then the -cock comes a few paces in advance, and with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span> -ruffled neck struts and scrapes in front of them. -Finally he goes off to the farmyard, the hens -following respectfully behind him, the newcomers -last of all, pecked and hustled by the -rest to make them feel at home.</p> - -<p>To his flock of hens the cock stands in much -the same position as a hen towards her chickens. -It is only the roughness of the instruments they -have at hand which misleads us about the -particular duty which each is fulfilling.</p> - -<p>If a chicken falls on its back it must be -remembered that the only instruments by -which the hen can help it to regain its feet are -a beak and a claw. This is like helping a newborn -infant with a sword and a gun. With the -full use of ten fingers I feel some anxiety about -picking up a chicken. I should quite refuse to -do it with a beak and a claw. The hen is -braver. She first pecks the chicken to stimulate -it to exertion, and then she turns and kicks it. -This latter plan is usually the more successful.</p> - -<p>But in case of hostilities it must be remembered -the hen has only the same two instruments -at command. She first pecks her foe and -then kicks him. Thus the thoughtless are apt to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span> -confound the different intentions in the similarity -of method.</p> - -<p>In the same way if a hen, called suddenly -from an orgie of herring heads in the farmyard -to a meal of corn in her own enclosure, forgets -where the gate is and tries to get in through -the wiring, the cock has only one possible -method of helping her. He flies at her from -the other side and pecks her. This is not hostile, -but protective; he is helping her to recover her -self-control. When he has succeeded in reminding -her that she cannot hope to get through -galvanised wire netting he will accompany her -politely round to the gate, and bring her to her -food.</p> - -<p>The range of duties is large. To help thirteen -hens to keep their heads in the various -emergencies of life is a heavy responsibility; -add to this that the cock keeps time for them, -assembles them to their meals, separates fighters, -keeps a sick hen away from the flock, or bears -a shy one company while she eats; it will be -evident that the self-control of the cock in the -matter of food is well matched by his organising -ability.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span></p> - -<p>There is only one thing which clashes with -the imperative sense of duty of the barn-door -fowl, and that is its tendency to romantic -attachments.</p> - -<p>I had two hens sitting side by side in their -first experience of nesting. Daily they were -found with dazed faces, ruffled and pecked as -we took them out; woke from their angry -trance as they felt the earth beneath, took their -dust baths, ate, drank, and returned, to fall again -into a condition half comatose and half savage.</p> - -<p>Thus they spent but twenty minutes daily -in the enjoyment of each other’s society.</p> - -<p>One brood came out five days before the -other. The hen was found with an expression -of scared surprise on her face, as instead of -nine smooth silent eggs, she felt the downy -creatures move and heard them cry. She and -her brood were removed, and the other sat on -with glazed eye till her turn came.</p> - -<p>Then we took her also and lodged her next -to the first; they had separate dwelling-houses -and a common yard. We were only afraid that -maternal tenderness would lead to a little pecking -of the alien brood.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span></p> - -<p>But it appeared that we had wholly miscalculated. -While they sat dreaming side by side -or took the refreshing dust bath, those hens -had sworn eternal friendship. Although like -a Boarding-Out Committee under the Local -Government Act, the two hens were individually -responsible for both broods, the chickens -(unlike the children) were quite a secondary -consideration. The hens’ main object in life -was to sit as close to each other as they could, -and the chickens squeezed themselves into -corners, roosted on the hens’ backs, or moped -in isolation.</p> - -<p>When one chicken had nearly died of exposure, -and three had been flattened under the -combined weight of the hens, we removed the -worst mother. On this she lost all the little -wits she had ever possessed, and haunted the -chicken enclosure like an unquiet spirit. It -took the cock a long time to restore her self-control.</p> - -<p>But I have a far darker tale to tell. There -lived in a neat little house on a lawn a gold -and red bantam cock with two golden brown -hens. The darker was his favourite wife, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span> -the three lived harmoniously, and the hens -laid an egg daily.</p> - -<p>Fifteen of these eggs were hatched out under -a common barn-door fowl. She had no breeding -and no tail; her colour was an undertone -of black, irregularly sprinked with grey. She -was cooped with the chickens about a hundred -yards from the bantams, and screened from -them by a shrubbery.</p> - -<p>About this time the favourite bantam hen -found an attractive heap of faggots: thither -she repaired daily to lay an egg. When she -had laid a dozen she sat down to hatch them. -She had chosen her place well, for her golden -brown feathers showed hardly at all against the -wrinkled, russet leaves.</p> - -<p>While she sat peacefully hidden the cock -had heard the hen and chickens call; and, -strolling to the other side of the shrubbery, -discovered his fifteen children with their foster-mother. -Thenceforward, from morning till -night, he squatted near the coop, leaving the -little favourite wife in her æsthetic bower, and -the paler little wife to her own neat house.</p> - -<p>It might be thought that paternal instinct<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span> -kept him there, the joy of seeing his young -family grow daily more like their mothers and -himself; the dawning hope of the time when -he should scratch for the young hens and pull -the tail feathers out of the little cocks.</p> - -<p>Not so; he was enchained by the attractions -of that large, common, tailless fowl. -Doubtless he thought her a fine large hen; so -she was, quite four times his size. Perhaps he -admired her figure, and thought her colouring -a unique beauty.</p> - -<p>Certain it is that just when the little hen -was leading out a tiny family, the bantam cock, -deserting his two wives and his twenty-seven -children, fled with the common hen into the -woods.</p> - -<p>There they lived in a wild and wicked -romance. People passing through the wood at -evening might see a very small gold cock and -a very large speckled hen sitting side by side on -the branch of a tree; or in the morning might -catch sight of the pair digging for a precarious -livelihood in the grass at the covert edge; -glancing round with guilty eyes and fleeing -for safety into the bushes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span></p> - -<p>At last disillusionment came; it was sure to -come. The cock went home.</p> - -<p>He returned to find that <i>all the first family -were dead and that eight of the second family -were cocks</i>.</p> - -<p>This is tragedy, but it is also history.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONFUCIUS">CONFUCIUS</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="chap-head">“<i>Lord! what fools these mortals be.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span></p> - -<p>The Chow Dog was living in a house on -the shores of Loch Lomond; and the -first time I saw him was when he came -with his mistress to call at the hotel. For -reasons which will presently appear, I shall call -him Confucius, though this is not his real -name.</p> - -<p>When his mistress came in to see us Confucius -stopped outside, and I saw him through -the window. He was of the shape of a neat -little pig; he was soft and furry, and in colour -like a golden fox; he had black eyes, and a -bluish-black tongue. As soon as you saw that -tongue you realised how inartistic, how unfinished, -a red tongue is; one might as well -have pink boots. By as much as a black Berkshire -is more proper and neater than a pink<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span> -pig, so is a bluish-black tongue better than a -red one.</p> - -<p>We were so much ravished by the appearance -of the Chow Dog that we went out at -once to be introduced to him. As soon as he -saw us coming he began to trot steadily homewards. -We had to leave him to his mistress -and retire indoors, and after some conflict of -wills and clash of temperaments she appeared -victorious with the dog tucked under her -arm.</p> - -<p>We found that he was at this time only four -months old, and absolutely the most self-confident -creature living. He thought he knew -everything, and scorn was the very breath of -his nostrils. Though his personal experience, -compared to ours, was short, he felt behind him -the centuries of Chinese civilisation. When -his empire was elderly, our civilisation was in -the cradle. This more than redressed the -personal balance and left him to the good.</p> - -<p>Confucius clearly did not care to make our -acquaintance, but we felt it a privilege to be -admitted to a greater intimacy with him.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp85" id="i132" style="max-width: 66.875em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i132.jpg" alt="[Photograph of a dog]" /> - <div class="caption"> - -<p class="eright"> -<i>Photograph by</i> <span class="right"><i>Messrs. Fall</i></span> -</p> - -<p class="center">“Scorn was the very breath of his nostrils.”</p></div> -</div> - -<p>He comported himself at home with dignity,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span> -though not always with civility; he had none -of the puppy <i>abandon</i> natural at his age. -I tried to teach him to retrieve a piece of -paper. He was bored, but he would not be -taken at a disadvantage; so he walked slowly -after the paper and gravely returned it to me. -After I had persisted in this exercise for some -time, he saw that it was meant for a game, and -as he would not appear deficient in a sense of -humour, he gambolled a little as he went -after it.</p> - -<p>Confucius never gave himself up to a passing -emotion. I saw him once on the rocks with a -real puppy, a spaniel puppy bigger than the -Chow and probably older. It crouched before -him sinuous and silly; it sprang up, gambolled -round him and crouched again; it flew at a -gallop past his nose and lay down on the other -side of him. It exhausted itself in futilities, -and gasped and panted with its efforts; and all -this time the Chow surveyed it with a bright, -contemptuous eye. When it was utterly worn -out he got up and went away.</p> - -<p>At last Confucius made a mistake. We saw -him on the edge of the lake one day with some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span>thing -in his mouth which he swung and tossed -from side to side. We called him, and with -exultant pride he came towards us. The thing -was soft and furry, and so long that it hindered -him as he ran. He laid it down before us with -jaunty tail and conceited eye—it was his first -rabbit.</p> - -<p>I had so often smarted under the sense of -Confucius’ contempt that I was not prepared to -be tender to his humiliation. I had not known -what it would be like. He took corporal -punishment with a fair amount of self-control, -but he strained and howled at the indignity -of a chain, and the shame of looking at that -furry thing of which but just now he had been -so proud. When he found that he could not -get free, he sat down and thought over the -situation until his tail uncurled.</p> - -<p>In our walk that evening we were not preceded -by a triumphant golden dog, with well-cocked -tail and exalted nose, for Confucius -followed behind, lost in thought. He did not -stray for a moment into the bushes; no rustle -of wild creatures could attract him. He was -dreeing his weird.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span></p> - -<p>He had finished dreeing it by next morning, -however, and his opinion of himself was quite -restored—more than restored—as he had laid -up a new piece of experience.</p> - -<p>The last time I saw the Chow was when we -left Loch Lomond. He came with his party -to see us off, but it was wet and the boat was -late. They had to return home, while we -waited sheltering in the pierman’s hut.</p> - -<p>The party must have fallen out by the way, -for we had not waited long before Confucius -came trotting back alone, quite cheerful and -self-possessed. He went round to the further -side of the hut so as to interpose it between -himself and the homeward path. Then he sat -down very comfortably. If either a dog or a -philosopher could have winked, Confucius -would have winked at us.</p> - -<p>The steamer drew away until the shed grew -small against the fir-tree stems, and we could -only see a tiny golden speck beside it. But we -knew that was Confucius sitting Jacques-like to -mock at the world, at our superficial brains, -our simple wiles and our infant civilisation.</p> -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i136" style="max-width: 80.3125em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i136.jpg" alt="[Kittens by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_PARADISE">A PARADISE -OF BIRDS</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="chap-head">“<i>Oh! the land of the rustling of wings.</i>”</p> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span></p> - -<p>“‘God made the country and man made -the town;’ I prefer the latter,” -wrote a child. Man also made the -Suez Canal and the ships upon it, and God made -the Salt Lakes and their navies, and most people -still agree with the child and prefer the former.</p> - -<p>I had heard much about the first, and little -about the second, when I landed in Egypt one -November and went by train to Ismailia. On -the left lay the famous little ditch, and the -great ships looking incredibly tiny crept along -it; and on the right lay out the great shallow -lakes, and from the edge to the horizon they -were as full of feathered fowl as Mother Carey’s -Peace Pool.</p> - -<p>Here in front all over the water were crowds<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span> -of little birds, wild ducks maybe, dotted singly, -fishing for themselves, and right away lay the -flocks of flamingoes, flushing rose as they stood, -flashing scarlet as they wheeled, till the flocks on -the horizon looked like a sunset cloud. Late -in the spring I passed again, and saw not the -birds but the reason of the birds. The first -time it had been a brilliant, sparkling morning, -the second time it was a scarlet sunset. Where -the rose-tinted flocks had touched the sky the -sun now set behind bars, and where the little -birds had floated singly the Arabs were drawing -a net—the dark figures, each with his fisher’s -coat girt round him, stood out against the -crimsoned water; as they drew in round after -round the silver fish leaped against the meshes, -and the sound of their rustling came up to our -ears as the train halted.</p> - -<p>It is but the lean kine that the Israelites have -left in the land of Goshen; yet if I was a -tethered beast with scanty pasture I should feel -some little comfort in having for company such -a vision of whiteness as the paddy bird. To -unaccustomed eyes it seems the image of the -ibis, though it is not really the same; and it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span> -runs in and out over the parched fields, among -the heads of the cattle.</p> - -<p>There is peace in Cairo now among the -Easterns and the Westerns, but there never can -be peace between the kites and crows. The -feud is carried on in the tops of the palm trees -of the gardens. In one fierce contest the bone -of contention fell to the ground and I went to -find the cause of this eternal feud. It was no -more and no less than a dead rat. At the -river side they have ample material for contention, -and I have seen as many as fifty great -hawks or kites together hovering about the -masts of the boats.</p> - -<p>The kites are seen at their best in a little -desert city near. There is not so much noise -but that you can hear their musical whistle, and -watch their great stately quadrilles in the air, -three or four wheeling, poising, passing with -swoops and curves against the blue.</p> - -<p>A lovelier, more peaceful little bird haunts -the palm gardens—the cinnamon and ashen -dove which seeks the woods of England in the -summer. Ten of them came home by our own -boat one spring. They crept on behind it on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span> -wearied wing till we pitied them, and hoped -they would alight and rest. Suddenly we all -saw a sailing ship a mile or two away. With -one accord the doves turned and made towards -it, but not liking it on nearer view they turned -again, caught us up without the least trouble, -and again limped along on the wing beside us. -But we were comforted for their fatigue.</p> - -<p>In November the waters round Cairo had -only just gone down, and the fields near Gizeh -were all mud. When evening fell there used to -come a wedge-shaped flock of pelicans from the -desert. The great birds wheeled round the -top of Chufu’s pyramid, and went off to their -fishing.</p> - -<p>Each little village up the Nile has its own -pigeon tower built four-square, and bristling -with sticks for the birds to perch. All the -village owns these towers, and round them the -pretty flocks clap their wings and take their -brisk flights, merry and quick as Arab boys.</p> - -<p>The long lines of herons in the water are -more typical of the meditative side of Oriental -character. They stand out in long grey lines, -on long yellow spits of sands in the slow, great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span> -curves of the river. But no bird can boast one -half the resolute patience of the Griffin Vulture. -Round some long curves of the Nile I saw the -great grey birds stand; as we drew slowly -nearer we could distinguish five, of which two -were standing opposite to one another with -immense wings spread, ready to fight. When -we came opposite it was seen that they were -quarrelling about a dead sheep; as we drew -away they were still exchanging the <i>retort -courteous, the quip modest, the reply churlish, -the reproof valiant and the countercheck quarrelsome;</i> -and we were out of sight again before -either gave <i>the lie direct</i>. Indeed, for all I -know, they may still be typifying the <i>Concert -of Europe</i>.</p> - -<p>The Egyptian vulture is much smaller and -much more attractive than this abhorred great -bird. <i>Rachen</i>, white with black-edged wings, -has a beauty of his own as he circles luminously -against the sky; there is even a horrid grandeur -about him as he springs into sight from the -blue, and beats steadily up the wind, allured by -carrion scent among the sandhills.</p> - -<p>But of all the birds at Luxor the bee-eater is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span> -perhaps the loveliest and the pied kingfisher the -most lovable. This kingfisher is dappled white -and grey, he poises over water in the position -of the dove in stained-glass windows; his wings -are lifted fluttering, his head bent down. So -he hovers intent and busy, careless of those who -pass, till he has perfectly found his aim. Then -he drops as a stone falls, the waters close above -his head, and in a moment he emerges with a -fish curving silver from his bill. If “our loves -remain” my spirit will sometimes seek a little -horseshoe lake with thick green water, above -which sit a parliament of lion-headed goddesses, -and there it will watch this kingfisher hover and -poise and fall. At this place I once saw our own -kingfisher, but he is a travelled fellow and has -lost the fearless, busy confidence of the grey -native; he does his fishing on the sly, and went -by like a blue flash to hide behind some carven -stone. And I do not know how soon the pied -fisher will learn to follow his example. A -German, who thought himself a sportsman, -also loved these kingfishers, but, as Browning -says, it was “another way of love.” He came -home one day with a bunch hanging from his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span> -hand. I do not know if he took them home -and stuffed them to look like nature; more -probably he tired of the little grey bodies and -threw them away. They would not be so -pretty when the soul was gone.</p> - -<p>And some men, Englishmen too, have been -known to shoot the bee-eater. This is a small -light-green bird, as green as growing corn. -From its tail hang two long dark feathers; it has -a long black beak, with a stripe passing by the -eye across paler cheeks. There are some kinds -more brilliantly coloured than this; the beauty -of it is most manifest when it is bee-eating. -Then it spreads bronze wings, turns and flutters -like a butterfly, and as it turns a gold sheen -ripples over the green. These are sociable -birds, and they sit by half-dozens on a branch -of carob, taking turns to flutter and catch.</p> - -<p>Compared to this bird the crowned hoopoe -himself seems almost gross. He is at ease again, -since Solomon took back his gift, and the crown -of feathers is raised and lowered with a jaunty, -self-sufficient air. Where the market road of -Luxor ran out into the fields, close by the hole -dug by an Arab weaver in the middle of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span> -way to set his loom in, was a favourite place -for the hoopoes, and here you might see two or -three together, as large as thrushes, with bodies -coloured like the russet jay, fine curving bills, -and the gay crest. But if you wish to love a -hoopoe do not watch it when it eats a thick-bodied -moth.</p> - -<p>Over the plain of Thebes the swallow plays, -glancing by; you hail him as a fellow countryman, -but foreign travel would seem to have -altered his customs and driven away his dear -domestic habits. The old Egyptians carved on -stone two little birds like swallows, but one had -a wing curled upwards, and one had a straighter -wing; and whereas the latter symbolised greatness, -the former portended evil. One would -need all the wisdom of Egypt to know what -mystery lies behind the curling of the wing.</p> - -<p>Through the fields another merry bird comes -into sight—the crested lark, which is so bold -that it will hardly move from the path your -donkey takes; or it sits among the corn blades -as you go by, and runs but a few steps as you -canter past. The birds are tame, because the -Arabs do not kill them; Mohammed took a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span> -very narrow view of the subject, and it is left -to Englishmen and Germans to check the excessive -familiarity of birds and men, and to try -to make nature more normal.</p> - -<p>If these rarer birds are tame, our own bold -sparrows are a hundred times more impudent. -As the Arab waiters clear away the breakfast -they chase the sparrows out through the doors; -if you sleep with shutters open you may expect -to find a sparrow or two sitting on your bed -when you wake; they pry into your cupboard -if the doors are left open; they pull a thread out -of the mat near your feet to make a nest behind -the electric bell wires in the hall; and one -determined pair set themselves to build behind -the books in our bookcase. We pulled the nest -to pieces many times, but they had us at last, -and we found two eggs laid upon a wisp of hay.</p> - -<p>There is another bedroom visitor with better -manners—namely, the little grey owl who -mews high up in the palm tree; he does not -make himself so common as the sparrow, but -in my bedroom one evening he appeared on -the window-sill, bowed about a dozen times -and went out again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span></p> - -<p>The wagtails do not come indoors, but outside -they will follow and wait for crumbs; will -stand with pulsing tail while one lunches at the -corner of some temple, running after the scraps -of bread thrown to them and waiting to clear -the remnants of the feast. The grey wagtail is -the commoner, and the plump yellow wagtail is -a rare shy visitor. On board ship he catches -something more of the spirit of comradeship.</p> - -<p>What more can one tell of the cuckoo with -spangled crest, whose spangles can be stroked -off and come back again; of the chat with rosy -breast, of the oriole of golden plumage. The -air is still in this country so that you may hear -the voices of the past speak silently; and the -very song of the birds is hushed in the land of -the rustling of wings.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a></span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE</h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry chap-head"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Imperfect qualities throughout creation,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Suggesting some one creature yet to make.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp72" id="i150" style="max-width: 68.125em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i150.jpg" alt="[Kitten by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span></p> - - -<h3>I</h3> - - -<p>It is time that the old question of the -superiority of cat or dog should be discussed -on some other ground than that of -British feeling or human egotism.</p> - -<p>The case of the cat is prejudged if we are to -weigh his merits on practical grounds, for the -cat is a dreamer and a dramatist; or if we are -to estimate his character from the point of -view of Western civilisation, for the cat, as -William Watson says, is the type of the Orient; -or, finally, if we are to consider the moral -qualities of the cat solely in relation to the -desires of the human being. If these are our -premisses then the vulgar estimate of the cat is -the true one.</p> - -<p>According to this estimate the cat is a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span> -domestic comfortable creature, usually found -curled up like the ammonite, and in a state of -semi-torpor; it is essentially selfish and essentially -cruel, but apart from these two drawbacks, -essentially feminine. “The cat is selfish, -and the dog is faithful.” This sums up a -judgment founded on wilful ignorance and -gross egotism.</p> - -<p>In respect to what is the dog faithful and -the cat selfish? Simply in this regard, that -the dog takes the vainest man on something -better than his own estimate, while of the cat’s -life and world the human being forms but a -little part.</p> - -<p>Here plainly Greek meets Greek, and we -had better let the accusation of egotism alone. -But apart from this point, the above summary -of the cat’s nature is about as true as the -following summary of the sportsman’s nature -from the cat’s point of view.</p> - -<p>“The sportsman is a quiet, domestic creature, -fond of his comforts and his meals; he is -generally found smoking in an armchair before -the fire. The only thing which interferes with -his domesticity is his tendency to absent him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span>self -from the house for hours together; this -appears to be the result of a curious mania -quite foreign to his nature; and it will cause -him even to miss his meals. If you come upon -him at such times he is engaged in a prosaic -kind of wholesale slaughter; he has no exciting -chases after his prey, no display of ability, no -well-planned ambushes; but he kills at a distance -through an unpleasantly noisy instrument. -The sportsman, too, is absolutely dangerous to -life at such time, and I have known cats fall -victims to his rage; whereas, if you meet him -in his normal condition, he is usually quite -tame; you can safely leave kittens in the room -with him, and I have never known him kill -a caged bird. The keeper is a very dangerous -sort of sportsman, and must be regarded as -radically unsafe. The difference between sportsmen -and keepers is much the same as that between -capricious bulls and mad bulls.”</p> - -<p>The fact is, that the usual judgment of cats -rests on a total misapprehension of the scope of -a cat’s life; and the root of the misunderstanding -goes wider and deeper than this. The -average human being takes account only of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span> -those qualities of animals which have some -practical bearing on human life; even the -animal lover is wont to take account only of -animal qualities, physical, mental, and, at a -stretch, moral; whereas that which is the -pivot of human life and human relations; that -which, rudimentary as it is in animals, is still -the pivot of animal qualities—namely, the force -of personality—is altogether left out of account.</p> - -<p>No judgment of animals can be adequate, -or in any sense true, which does not take account -of personality, more or less developed, and of -the scope of the creature’s life as determined by -it.</p> - -<p>The more intimately one knows animals, the -more one is struck by their individuality, and -the varying force of their personality.</p> - -<p>Persis had the most intense personality of any -animal I have ever known. Mentu’s, less vivid, -was still as individual and distinct; Ra had a -little narrow nature, Alexander was undeveloped, -and the tabby is frankly common; but all are -as distinct from one another, as essentially -personal, as five human beings.</p> - -<p>And it is greatly through this personality<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span> -that the scope of an animal’s life, as of the life -of the human being, is determined; we are all -more or less at the mercy of what we, in our -blindness, call “blind forces;” but in all of us -there is something which out of the “manifold” -of the world seeks and selects a consistent experience, -some principle which determines the -scope of life.</p> - -<p>Out of the many chemicals of the soil each -plant draws those which are appropriate to its -own life, each plant transforms them into a -living thing, a definite beauty of leaf and -bud.</p> - -<p>And the alchemy of the higher creature does -not only transform the material particles of the -world, now into the ashen silky hair and yellow -eyes of Mentu, now into the curly grizzled -coat of Taffy; but through the intelligence -and sensibilities, through the desire for approbation -and of admiration, through the protective -love of the offspring, and the pure straining -after the affection of the human being, dimly -understood, these dawning consciousnesses gather -from the world of sensation, of intelligence, of -emotion, such material as they can assimilate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span> -and transform, defining it into a life and world -of their own.</p> - -<p>If we cannot from the point of more developed -moral consciousness, and higher intelligence, -even seek to understand the dawnings in -the lower creatures of that which makes us what -we are, then to us animals are mere playthings -or mere slaves, and we can have no least perception -of what is meant by that earnest, if -unrealised, “expectation of the creature.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span></p> - - -<h3>II</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry poetry-ded"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>All instincts immature,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>All purposes unsure.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The difference between different races of -animals appears to lie very greatly in the -different scope of their lives.</p> - -<p>The cat’s life, as distinguished from the dog’s, -is essentially independent; and this, combined -with finer sensibilities and a less facile intelligence, -give a predominance in the cat of -these elements of character which as developed -in the human being we call the artistic -temperament.</p> - -<p>The cat is, above all things, a dramatist; its -life is lived in an endless romance though the -drama is played out on quite another stage than -our own, and we only enter into it as subordinate -characters, as stage managers, or rather -stage carpenters.</p> - -<p>We realise this with kittens; we see that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span> -the greater part of their life, of the sights and -sounds of it, are the material of a drama half -consciously played; they are determined to -make mysteries, and as a child will seize upon -the passing light or shadow to help him to -transform some well-known object into the -semblance of living creature, so you may see -the kitten reach a paw again and again to -touch a reflection on a polished floor, or conjure -the shadows of evening into the forms of -enemies.</p> - -<p>We cannot but see this, and our mistake -comes later when the kitten passes partly out -of our ken to reappear from time to time, a -serious, furtive creature with the weight of the -world on its shoulders. We think then that -the romance has ceased, when it has in reality -gone deeper; the stage has widened out of -sight, and if the cat no longer plays before us -it is because we have lost sympathy with this -side of its life; if we encourage it, it will play -like a kitten up to old age. This same fact -possibly explains the reason of the theory that -cats care for places and not for people—it may -be because these same people care for kittens<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span> -and not for cats; thus the cat transfers the -affection it might have felt for the human being -to the scene of its romances and the places -where it has experienced the surprise and joy -of its kittens.</p> - -<p>Corresponding to the dramatic instinct the cat -appears to have its sensibilities more developed -in the direction of æsthetic enjoyment than the -dog’s, which are almost purely utilitarian. But -it is a strange fact that the most universal kind of -æsthetic enjoyment among animals—namely, the -pleasures of music—seem to be keenest among -those races which comparatively we rank low in -respect of intelligence—namely, reptiles and -birds.</p> - -<p>I whistled “God Save the Queen” once to -two green lizards in an Italian garden; they -drew by little runs and jerks out of their holes, -and their paths converged. Suddenly when -their nerves were tense with excitement of the -air (rendered slightly out of tune) they saw -each other, sprang with one impulse together, -bit until I saw the green skin wrinkle, rolled -over and disappeared. I have never seen either -cat or dog show anything approaching to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span> -emotion which music produces in Joey, though -Persis showed some pleasurable excitement in -whistling, and some desire to try the notes of a -piano for herself. Dogs for the most part take -the pleasures of music with extreme seriousness -almost amounting to gloom. It is not uncommon -to find dogs who will “sing,” following -to some small extent the air as it rises or falls. -But they do this with an aspect of extreme -melancholy, and a thrill sometimes seems to run -through the whole body before the sound is -produced; that they do not absolutely dislike -it can only be judged from the fact that they -do not try to go away.</p> - -<p>Both dogs and cats appear to be unconscious -of the sounds they utter until experience -has taught them the result or until their -attention has been specially directed to it. -I have indeed met a Scotch terrier who -would “sing” to order, but his face expressed -a painful tension of will. To do him justice -he sang a strain or two with apparent ease -under my window in the middle of the night. -Frequently, too, a dog who wishes to make -his presence realised has his voice strangulated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span> -by nervousness like a shy girl at a music lesson; -and a well-bred cat anxious to attract attention -sometimes opens its mouth silently.</p> - -<p>All such facts seem to point to the conclusion -that many animals do not produce their voices -voluntarily, but solely on physical impulse; that -even imitative utterance may often be based on -some such physical sensation, as many people -feel a tremble in the throat when a Bourdon -stop is on the organ. If this be so we are on -the wrong tack in comparing the sounds of -animals, however varied and specified they may -be, to language, and we should rather compare -them to weeping, groaning, sighing, yawning, -and laughter, which in the same way produce -an imitative response, which are by nature -involuntary, and have no tendency to develop -into definite language.</p> - -<p>If cats and dogs have, compared with other -creatures, little feeling for music, they seem to -have still less for pleasures of sight. I have -known a mare which again and again at the -same place seemed to look out with pleasure -over a view, when no definite object was moving -to catch her eye, but I have never known a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span> -dog do this, and though a cat often takes up -this attitude, the focus of her eyes seems to be -more definitely fixed, and she is probably -attracted by some movement too minute to -arrest our attention. To colour they seem still -more indifferent, not sharing even the susceptibility -of the mad bull. I have heard indeed of -a dog preferring scarlet to light blue; but it is -impossible with a single instance to eliminate -individual association. Cats, however, though -showing no susceptibility to colour, show a very -clear perception of texture. It is not necessarily -the most strictly comfortable textures that are -preferred; velvet may do to sleep on, but it is -on thin crackling paper or stiff silk that a cat -would choose to sit, and, above all, to eat. And -contrary to all expectation, woolly textures are -chosen to lick. A cat has been known to go -round the garden in order to lick the soft underside -of foxglove leaves; and will even tear a -paper wrapper in order to be able to stroke -flannelette with his tongue. As flannelette is -prepared with a poisonous chemical this pleasure -is hazardous.</p> - -<p>But the real region of æsthetic pleasure for a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span> -cat is the region of smell. The dog uses smell -as a medium of information; the cat revels in -it. The dog smells the ground to trace friend -or foe, food or prey, but the cat will linger near -a tree-trunk, smelling each separate aromatic -leaf. If the window of a close room is opened -the cat goes to it, and puts her head out to sniff -the air; she will smell the dress of a friend, -partly for recognition no doubt, but apparently -partly for pleasure also. An aromatic smell is -pleasant; a strong spirituous smell not only -disagreeable but absolutely painful. Lavender -water or eau-de-cologne may please a tiger but -will put a cat to flight.</p> - -<p>The cat’s drama is a drama of the twilight, -when the earth refreshed gives up her secret, -subtle scents. It is not to be played in broad -daylight; it is a mystery play of things half -revealed, subtly transformed, hardly understood, -secretly suggestive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span></p> - - -<h3>III</h3> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="center">“<i>But when she came back the dog was laughing.</i>”</p> -</div> - -<p>Counterbalancing the rudimentary powers of -æsthetic pleasure in the cat, we find in the dog -a more facile intelligence, and a far more adaptable -nature. Some boast that they have taught -tricks to a cat; but the fact shows not so much -that the cat was intelligent and docile as that -its owners were; for their ability has been -usually to seize on some natural movement -of the cat, in jumping or in sitting up, and -gradually to induce the animal to exaggerate it. -But the tricks we teach a dog are against his -nature, and it needs not only intelligence but -docility to take a savoury bite and abstain from -swallowing until the precisely right word is -pronounced.</p> - -<p>A cat walks about with a great purpose dimly -imagined in its brain, but a dog plans; he is -“the low man adding one to one,” but his sums<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span> -are the most correct, for he is of a practical -nature. He does not have to pretend that -a stick is alive before he can glean pleasure -from playing with it.</p> - -<p>How far a dog, or indeed how far any animal -is capable of using an instrument for effecting -its purposes is an undecided question; but I -have heard on near authority of a dog scraping -a mat up against a swing door through which -he had to pass so that the door was kept open. -To use an instrument involves a complicated -mental process, in which not only association -but reflection on the nature of the thing is required. -Taffy associated his muzzle with his -walk, and fetched it with pleasure when the -association was established; but reflection did -not sufficiently come into the process to prevent -him from fetching a clothes brush or a Bible -instead if convenient.</p> - -<p>One clear point of superiority in the dog is -his rudimentary sense of humour. Almost any -good-tempered dog, when well treated, will try -from time to time to laugh off a scolding. If -he is encouraged, the fooling is repeated again -and again with growing exaggeration as he rolls<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span> -over with wide mouth and absurd contortions, -or flies at one’s face to lick it. He appreciates -humour in others at his own expense, a thing -which not every human being is capable of -doing; if he is teased laughingly, he too will -play the fool; if he is teased cruelly he is cross -or wretched. No dog likes one to blow in his -face or ear, but Taffy, though not wholly good-tempered, -will allow the bellows to be placed -even in his mouth if he is assured that it is a -game. When the puff of air comes he darts -up, jumps at and licks the person who is teasing -him, and barks with a wagging tail. If he is -really bored or tired he licks the nozzle of the -bellows, or the hand that holds them, deprecatingly; -he declines the game, but in perfect -good humour.</p> - -<p>Now a cat has no sense of humour at all. -Its very comedies are serious; and to tease it is -to outrage its dignity. The better bred a cat -is the more easily it takes offence. But after all -the “sense of the ridiculous” is a gross quality, -and the humour of one age or of one class -seems vulgarity to another a little in advance. -A cat is never vulgar.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span></p> - - -<h3>IV</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry poetry-ded"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“<i>The tumult of unproved desire, the unaimed,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Uncertain yearnings, aspirations blind.</i>”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>If the scope of life and the qualities of intelligence -differ from race to race of animals, the -strictly moral qualities appear to differ from -individual to individual.</p> - -<p>Cats are called “selfish”; but even on the -undiscriminating view such qualities differ from -cat to cat. Ra was certainly self-absorbed, but -I attribute this greatly to unhappy family circumstances -when he was young. Persis and -Mentu were not selfish in this sense at all. -Again and again they have been found in the -room with food untouched. When one came -in there was a greeting and short display of -affection, and not till then would the cat go to -its food, and eat with good appetite. Few -people think of accusing a straightforward genial -collie of selfishness; yet if I left Taffy alone<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span> -with his dinner, or even with some one else’s -dinner, there is a strong presumption that I -should find the plate clean and shining on -return.</p> - -<p>What people usually mean by this assertion -is that the cat does not, like the dog, depend -entirely on human companionship; there are -no touching stories of faithfulness to a departed -master; there is no overwhelming interest in -the human race. A cat has more of what the -average Briton calls “self-respect,” a quality he -likes far better in himself than in others.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, a cat has more interest in -other races of beings than a dog. The only -creatures in which most dogs show spontaneous -interest, unsolicited and untaught, are horses; -and even here the interest rests on association. -But we have all known cases of cats which -deliberately set themselves to woo dogs; Ra -and his grandmother, unlike in all else, adored -the same fox-terrier. I have indeed seen a -dog which had lost her puppies nurse a half-grown -cat, but the cat seemed to take the -initiative. On the other hand, a Manx cat, in -a house where I was staying, allowed a beloved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span> -terrier to take food out of her mouth. A cat -has been known to bring up squirrels; a tom-cat -of our own fondled and protected chickens; -finally, a cat has been known to bring a half-starved -friend to share its dinner.</p> - -<p>So-called “animal instincts” cannot account -for the greater part of these cases, which involve -rather definite sacrifice. Dog friendships, on -the other hand, rarely involve sacrifice except -for the sake of man.</p> - -<p>This instinct of benevolence may be noticed -among birds. I have heard on good authority -of an Uncle canary bringing up a deserted -brood, and even with apparent embarrassment -taking his place on the nest; of sparrows bringing -up young starlings, which, taken from their -own nest and placed on a window-ledge, sought -refuge in the sparrows’ nest; and finally, of a -sparrow helping a wagtail to feed a young -cuckoo. Unless birds absolutely enjoy filling -each other’s mouths, such operations involve -sacrifice; but in any case there is a large social -instinct shown; and when, as I sit in the -garden, the bean poles and seed sticks near me -begin to blossom into robins, I find I am<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span> -suddenly the centre towards which such social -instincts are directed.</p> - -<p>Temper differs in the same way from individual -to individual, in extent and quality. -Ra had a cross temper; it irritated him if one -took liberties, and he struck without warning; -but with regard to other animals cowardice -kept his temper in check. Mentu had the -occasional irritability of a nervous temperament, -whether animal or human; he often kept a -bold front upon danger, when fear made him -afterwards positively sick and unable to eat for -some time. Persis was a very fiend to other -animals, but had an utterly sweet and grateful -temper towards human beings unless jealousy -came into play.</p> - -<p>Dogs are more often misjudged in respect to -temper than cats, probably because their ill-temper -is more formidable; and the nervous -excitability of the collie is often mistaken for bad -temper. I have known a bad-tempered collie, but -the clergyman who owned him did not keep him -long, as it was apt to make difficulties in the -parish if the congregation of the mission church -was kept at bay on a dark, windy evening.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span></p> - -<p>Pugnacity is perhaps a different thing from -ill-temper, and appears to be a very wide-spread -quality in bird-life. A great robin-tamer -told me that no robin could support his -position unless he was very pugnacious. Those -who have tried to tame wild birds, or even those -who feed birds in the winter, will notice the -extraordinary displays of temper among them; -how the blackbird loses half his meal through -trying to chase other birds away; how the tits -play with him, reckoning on this pugnacity; -how the robin after he has made a hearty meal -lies in wait for late comers. Barn-door cocks -are too universally condemned in respect of -temper; my patriarch has been several times -reported to me as having placed himself between -two young combatants; and he lives on excellent -terms with a younger replica of himself, the -only point of quarrel being the distance to -which the young cock may chase a hen of the -other’s harem which has strayed into his own -yard. Pugnacity is indeed apt to develop into -ill-temper with caged birds, but gentle handling -in taming and increased freedom would probably -go far to obviate this.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span></p> - -<p>I have spoken of moral qualities, but the -centre of all these is the question of conscience. -It is impossible to deny that at any rate the -higher animals have conscience, if conscience -means the recognition of a law or principle -higher than the immediate personal desire and -sometimes antagonistic to it.</p> - -<p>Even if we allow that the sense of duty in -human beings is based on the “sanctions” of -pleasures and pain, this makes no difference to -the quality of the sense once evolved; neither -can it make any difference in the quality of the -sense in animals whether this is produced by -the “sanction” of nature or of the human -race.</p> - -<p>The more intelligent domestic creatures accept -to some extent a standard given by the power -above them. The human standard is to them -in a sense as the law written on stone to us; -and all know the law has gone forth against the -indulgence of ill-temper. Joey recognises this -law, and it is a moral effort he makes (very -seldom) to refrain from biting; he, too, has a -conscience, though a singularly bad one. -Taffy with the nozzle of the bellows in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span> -mouth can choose whether to accept the -situation cheerfully or crossly.</p> - -<p>But the dog accepts his moral code more -entirely from the human being than the cat -does. In this respect the cat is as the Gentile, -without the law, but a law unto himself. -There is sacrifice of the lower desires to the -higher when the cat brings a friend to share -her dinner; when she lets a dog take food out -of her mouth; when she carries on towards -her kittens, after the immediate needs and -desires of motherhood have ceased, a course of -conduct more or less consistently educative. A -cat, the Egyptians said, reasoned like a man, -and this is true in that she determines, like a -man, her own ends and purposes in life. It is -not approbation but admiration that the cat -demands from man; the dog accepts the purposes -of life as given from above. But he -recognises, as clearly as he recognises the -sanction of the ginger-bread and the whip, the -sanction of moral appreciation or disapproval. -He claims applause when he has done well, and -when the whip has been endured he still -clings with renewed trust to his diviner<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span> -friend, and seeks by affection to win back -approval.</p> - -<p>Such animals have wills essentially free as -our own, but with dimmer intelligence these -wills are more at the mercy of their passions; -and the blinder intelligence leaves them, too, -more at the mercy of spiritual influences which -flow out from us to them. There is a quick -response, as with children, not only to our -treatment, but to the spirit of our treatment, -for they reward our trust with trust, and answer -our cheerfulness with heart and courage. And -we, too, war with principalities and powers, -and are helped in the high and hidden places -by influences unseen. We call these creatures -blind and unconscious, but our consciousness, -too, is dim, and our eyes blinder to things -divine than theirs to things human; we both -move gropingly and feebly in a great world and -battle against the Will that made us and has -mercy on us—“so many men that know not -their right hand from their left, and also much -cattle.”</p> -<div class="figcenter illowp97" id="i175" style="max-width: 45.25em;"> - <img class="wRonner" src="images/i175.jpg" alt="[Kitten by Madame Ronner]" /> -</div> - - -<p class="center p4">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span></p> - -<p class="center">London & Edinburgh -</p> -<div class="chapter"></div> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE</h2> -<p>Unusual, archaic and obsolete spellings and word usage have been maintained as in the -original book. Obvious printing errors have been fixed as detailed below. The Table of -Contents was expanded to cover portions of the book other than the stories. -The cover was produced by the transcriber from materials in the book. The cover is -hereby placed in the public domain.</p> -<p>The placement of the drawings of cats by Madame Ronner made more sense in the printed book, where -they filled blank space. I have shrunk them a little so that they are not distracting.</p> -<p>Details of the changes:</p> -<table id="CHANGES" summary="Details of the changes"> -<tr><td>Page <a href="#Page_35">35</a></td><td>asparagus bed; the walked[**walk] quickened as he got nearer,</td></tr> -<tr><td>Page <a href="#Page_79">79</a></td><td>it as clearly; if [**he] has done well, he goes</td></tr> -<tr><td>Page <a href="#Page_84">84</a></td><td>to give it board and longing[**lodging], and it surely</td></tr> -</table> -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Soul of a Cat and Other Stories, by -Margaret Benson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOUL OF A CAT, OTHER STORIES *** - -***** This file should be named 63168-h.htm or 63168-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/1/6/63168/ - -Produced by Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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