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