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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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