 CHAPTER XII. CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF CATS. If any of my readers hunger and thirst for information concerning the descent of the cat through marsupial ancestors and mesozoic mammals to the generalized placental of Monodelfos carnivore of today, let them consult Saint George Mivard, who gives altogether the most comprehensive and exhaustive scientific study to the cat ever published, and whose book on the cat is an excellent work for the earnest beginner in the study of biological science. He says no more complete example can be found of a perfectly organized living being than that supplied by the highest mammalian family, Phelidaea. On the whole, he sums up, it seems probable that the mammalia and therefore the cat descends from some highly developed somewhat reptile-like Batrachian of which no trace has been found. A way back in the eighth century of the Higira an Arab naturalist gives this account of the creation of the cat. When, as the Arab relates, Noah made a couple of each animal to enter the ark, his companions and family asked, what security can you give us and the other animals, so long as the lion dwells with us on this narrow vessel. Then Noah but took himself to prayer and entreated the Lord God. Immediately fever came down from heaven and seized upon the king of beasts. This was the origin of fever. But constituents in Noah's time as now were ungrateful, and no sooner was the lion disposed of than the mouse was discovered to be an object of suspicion. They complained that there would be no safety for provisions of or clothing, and so Noah renewed his application to the most high. The lion sneezed, and the cat ran out of his nostrils. From that time the mouse has been timid, and has hidden in holes. In the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum there is an excellent painting of a tabby cat assisting a man to capture birds. Hieroglyphic inscriptions as far back as 1684 BC mentioned the cat, and there is at Lady, a tablet of the 18th or 19th dynasty, the cat seated under a chair. A temple at Beneha's son is dedicated to past, or bubastis, the goddess of cats, which is as old as totems the fourth of the 18th dynasty. 1500 BC, and the cat appears in Britain rituals of that dynasty. Herodotus tells of the almost superstitious reverence which dwellers along the kneel, which dwellers along the Nile felt for the cat. Ungrayly states that when one died a natural death in any house, the inmates shaved their eyebrows as a token of grief. Also that in case of a fire the first thing they saved was the household cat, fortunate pussies. It is thought that cats were introduced into Greece from Egypt, although Professor Rollestone of Cambridge University believes the Grecian pet cat to have been the white-breasted Martin. Yet why should he? It is not as soft white-breasted Maltese or tabby as attractive. The idea that cats were domesticated in Western Europe by the crusaders is thought to be erroneous, but pet cats were often found in nunneries in the Middle Ages, and Pope Gregory is great towards the end of the 6th century, had a pet cat of which he was very fond. An old writer says, a favorite cat sometimes accompanies the Egyptians on these occasions of sport, and the artist of that day intends to show us by the exactness with which he represents her seizing her prey, that cats were trained to hunt and carry waterfowl. There are old Egyptian paintings representing sporting scenes along the Nile, where the cats plunge into the water of the marshes to retrieve and carry game, while plenty of mural paintings show them sitting under the armchair of the mistress of the house. Modern naturalists, however, claim a radical difference between those old Egyptian retrieving cats and our water-hating pussies. There are no records of cats between that period in Egypt, about 1630 BC and 260 BC, when they have seemed to have become acclimated in Greece and Rome. There is in the Bordeaux Museum an ancient picture of a young girl holding a cat on a tomb of the Gala Roman epoch, and cats appeared in the heraldry of that date, but writers of those ages speak rather slightly of them. Then for centuries the cat was looked upon as a diabolical creature, fit company for witches. Why, says Balthasar Becker in the 17th century, is a cat always found among the belongings of witches, when according to the sacred book and apocalypse in particular, it is the dog, not a filly in animal, that consorts with the sorcerers. In Russia even yet, the common people believe that black cats become devils at the end of seven years, and in many parts of southern Europe, they are still supposed to be serving apprenticeship as witches. In Sicily the peasants are sure that if a black cat lives with seven masters, the soul of the sevens will shory accompany him back to the dominion of Hades. In Brittany there is a dreadful tale of cats that dance with unholy glee around the crucifix, while their king is being put to death. Cats figure in Norwegian folklore too, as witches and picturesque incumbents of ghost-hunted houses and nocturnal rebels. And even today there is a legion investmentster to the same fact that the dissipated cats of that region indulge in a most disreputable rebel in some country house, and that is why they look so forlorn and altogether undone by daylight. A canon enacted in England in 1127 forbade any abyss or none to use more costly fur than that of lambs or cats, and it is proved that cat fur was at that time commonly used for trimming dresses. The cat was, probably for that reason, an object of chase in royal forests, and the license is still in existence from Richard II to the abbot of Peterborough, and dated 1239, granting liberty to hunt cats. This was probably the wild cat, however, which was not the same as the domestic. Footnote. These are among the laws supposedly enacted by Hoel Da, Hovels the Good, sometime between 915 and 948 AD. The Vendonian Code, 11. The Wars of a Cat and her Tacy, qualities this is. First, the Wars of a Kitten from the night it is kittened until it shall open its eyes, is one penny. Second, and from that time until it shall kill mice, two pence. Third, and after it shall kill mice, four liqo pence, and so it shall always remain. Fourth, her Tace ours to see, to hear, to kill mice, and to have her claws. This is the Demention Code, 32 of cats. First, the Wars of a Cat that is killed or stolen, it's head to be put downward upon a clean, even floor, with its tail lifted upward and thus suspended, whilst wheat is poured about it until the top of its tail be covered, and that is to be its worth. If the corn cannot be head, then the milk sheep with a lamp and its wool is its value, if it be a cat that guards the king's barn. Second, the Wars of a Common Cat is four liqo pence. Third, the Tacy of a Cat and of every animal upon the milk of which people do not feed, is the third part of its worth, or the worth of its litter. Fourth, whosoever shall sell a cat is to answer that she devour not her kittens, and that she'd have ears, teeth, eyes, and nails, and be a good mouser. The Demention Code begins in the same way, but says, third, that it be perfect of ear, perfect of eye, perfect of teeth, perfect of tail, perfect of claw, and without marks of fire. And if the cat falls short in any of these particulars, a third of her price had to be refunded. As to the fire, in case her fur had been singed, the rats could detect her by the odor, and her qualities as a mouser were thus endured. And then it goes on to say, fourth, that the Tacy and legal worth of a cat are co-equal, fifth, a pound is the worth of a pet animal of the king, sixth, the pet animal of a brayer, brewer, is six scorpions in value, seventh, the pet animal of a taug is a curved penny in value. In the 39th chapter, 53rd section, we find that there are three animals whose tails, eyes, and lives are of the same value, a calf, a filly for common work, and a cat, except the cat which shall watch the king's barn, in which case she was more valuable. Another old Welsh law says, three animals rage their wars in a year, as sheep, a cat, and a cur. This is a complement of the legal hemlet, nine buildings, one plough, one kiln, one churn, and one cat, one cock, one bull, and one herdsman. In order that there might be no mistake in regard to the cat, a rough sketch of poose is given in the midst of the laws. End of footnote. The cats, even in the Middle Ages, were sought much more highly of in Great Britain, than on the continent, is proved by the fact that the laws were imposed a heavy fine on cat killers. The fine being as much wheat as would serve to bury the cat when he was held up by the tip of the tail with his nose on the ground, so that pet cats stood a fairly good chance in those days. One of the good things remembered of Louis XIII is that he interceded as Doven with Henry IV for the lives of the cats about to be burned at the festival on St John's Day. Nowadays there is a current superstition that the black cat brings good luck to a house, but in the Middle Ages they believed that the devil borrowed the form of a black cat when he wanted to torment or get control of his victims. There are plenty of old traditions about cats, having spoken to human beings, and being kicked or struck, are burned by them in return, and invariably these tales tell us, those who are so bespoken meet someone the next day with plain marks of the injury they had inflicted on the froward cat, which was sure evidence of wittery and sorcery. Doubtless full many of human being has been put to death in times past, and no stronger evidence of being a witch. Humanity did not come to the rescue of the cat and bring her out from the shadow of ignominy that hung over her in medieval times until 1618, when an interdict was issued in Flanders, prohibiting the festive ceremony of throwing cats from the high tower of Eapers on Wednesdays of the second week in Lent, and from that time Pussies Fortunes began to look up. Today, travelers on the edge of the Pyrenees know a little old man, Martre Tolossan, who makes and sells replicas of the original models of cats, found among the Roman remains at a small town near Toloss. These are made in blue and white Ursinware, and each one is numbered. Mine, bought by a friend in 1895, is marked 5000. They are not the exact models of our cats today, to be sure, but they express all the snug content and inscrutable calm of our modern pets. The Chinese reproduce cats in their caramics in white, turquoise blue and old violet. One at once belonged to Madame de Mazarin, sold for 800 livers. In Japan, cats are reproduced in common wear, doped with paint, but the Chinese make them of finer wear, enabling the commoner kinds of porcelain, and using the cat in conventional forms as flower ways and lamps. End of Chapter 12 Chapter 13 of Concerning Cats This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Concerning Cats by Helen M. Benslow Chapter 13 Concerning Varieties of Cats Few people realize how many kinds of cats there are. The fashionable world begins to discuss cats technically and understand their various points of excellence. The Lord Mayor's chain, the Dutch rabbit markings and similar features are understood by more cat fanciers than a few years ago, but until within that time it is doubtful if the number of people who knew the difference between the Angora and the Persian in this country amounted to 100. It is but a few years since the craze for the Angora cat started. These cats have been fashionable pets in England for some years back, and now America begins to understand their value and the principles of breeding them. Today, there are as handsome, well-bred animals in the United States as can be found abroad. The demand for hybrid animals with a pedigree is greatly increasing, and society people are beginning to understand the fine points of the thoroughbred. The Angora cat, as its name indicates, comes from Angora in western Asia, the province that is celebrated for its goats with long hair of fine quality. In fact, the hair under the Angora cat's body often resembles the finest of the Angora goat skins. Angora cats are favorites with the Turks and Armenians, and exist in many colors, especially since they have been more carefully bred. They vary in form, color and disposition, and also in the quality of their hair. The standard calls for a small head with not too long a nose, large eyes that should harmonize in color with the fur, small pointed ears with a tuft of hair at the apex, and a very full, fluffy mane around the neck. This mane is known as the Lord Mayor's chain. The body is longer than that of the ordinary cat, in proportion to its size, and is extremely graceful and covered with long, silky hair, which is crinkly like that of the Angora goat. This hair should be as fine as possible and not woolly. The legs are of a moderate length, but look short on account of the length of hair on the body. Little tufts of hair growing between the toes indicate high breeding. The Angora cat, in good condition, is one of the most beautiful and elegant creatures in the world, and few can resist its charm. The tail is long and like an ostrich plume. It's usually carried when the cat is in good spirits, straight up, with the end waving over towards one side. The tail of the Angora serves as a parameter of its bodily and mental condition. If the cat is ill or frightened, the tail droops and sometimes trails on the ground, but when she is in good spirits, playing about the house or grounds, it waves like great plume and is exceedingly handsome. The suppleness of the Angora's tail is also a mark of fine breeding. A hybrid Angora will allow its tail to be doubled or twisted without apparent notice of the performance. The Angora doesn't reach its prime until about two years. Before that time its head and body are not sufficiently developed to give the full beauty and grace of the animal. As a rule, the Angora is of good disposition, although the females are apt to be exceedingly nervous. They are sociable and docile, although fond of roaming about, especially if allowed to run loose. As a rule, they do not possess the keen intelligence of the ordinary short-haired family cat, but their great beauty and their cleanly and affectionate habits makes them favourites with fashionable people. The proper breeding of the Angora cat is a regular science. Of the colours of the Angora's, the blue or Maltese is a favourite and rather common, especially when mixed with white. The white Angora is extraordinarily beautiful and brings a high price when it has blue eyes and all its points are equally good. The orange or yellow and the black with amber eyes are also prize winners. There are the tigers also, the brown tabby and the orange and white. Mixed colours are more common than solid ones. The tortoise shell cat of three colours and well-mottled being considered particularly desirable. The Persian cat differs from the Angora in the quality of its fur, although the ordinary observer sees little difference between them. All the long-haired cats originated from the Indian Bengalis, Tibetan and other wild cats of Asia and Russia. The Persian cat of very great value is all black with a very fluffy frail or Lord Main's chain and orange eyes. Next to him comes a light slate or blue Persian with yellow eyes. The fur of the Persian cat is much more woolly than that of the Angora and sometimes in hot weather smeds badly. The difference between a Persian and an Angora can usually be told by an amateur by drawing the tail between the thumb and first finger. The Angora's tail comes out thin, silky and narrow, although it immediately fluffs up. The Persian's tail does not compress itself readily into a small space. The Persian cat's head is larger, its ears are less pointed, although it should have the tuft at the end and the long hair inside. It's usually larger in body and apparently stronger made, although slender and elegant in appearance, with small bones and graceful in movement. The colors vary as with the Angora, except that the tortoise shell and the dark marked tabby do not so frequently appear. The temper is usually less reliable and the intelligence less keen than the Angora. The Russian long haired pet is much less common even than the Persian and Angora. It is fond of cold weather and its fur is denser, indicating that it has been used to call the regents. Many of the cats that we see are crosses of Angora and Persian or Angora and Russian, so that it is extremely difficult for the amateur to know a thoroughbred cat, which has not been mixed with other varieties. There is also a fine short haired cat coming from Russia, usually South Colored. Mrs. Fredric Monroe of Chicago owns a very handsome blue and white one. In Pegu, Siam and Burma, there is a race of cats known as the Malay cat, with tails only half the ordinary length and often contorted into a sort of a knot that cannot be straightened after the fashion of the pack dog or ordinary pig. There is another cat known as the Mombas, a native of the west coast of Africa and covered with stiff, bristling hair. Paraguay cats are only one quarter as big as our ordinary cat and are found along the western coast of South America, even as far north as Mexico. The royal cat of Siam is a short haired cat, yet widely different from other short haired varieties. There are extremely pretty with blue or amber colored eyes by day, which grow brilliant at night. These cats also frequently have the king in the tail and sometimes a strong animal odor, although this is not disagreeable. The head is rather longer than the ordinary cats, tapering off sharply towards the muzzle, the forehead flat and receding, and the eyes more slanting towards the nose than the American cats. The form should be slender, graceful and delicately made, the body long, the tail very thin and rather short, the legs short and slender, and the feet oval. The body is of a bright uniform color, and the legs, feet and tail are usually black. The monk's cat is considered by many people as a natural curiosity. It differs from the ordinary domestic cat but little, except in the absence of a tail, or even an apology for one. The hind legs are thicker and rather longer than the ordinary cats, and it runs more like a hair. It is not a graceful object when seen from behind, but it is an affectionate home-loving creature with considerable intelligence. The monk's cat comes from the Isle of Man, originally, and it is a distinct breed. So-called monk's cats have tails from one to a few inches long, but these are crosses of the monk's and the ordinary cat. In the Crimea is found another kind of cat which has no tail. The cats known as the celebrated orange cats of Venice are probably descendants of the old Egyptian cat and are of varying shades of yellow, sometimes deepening into a sandy color, which is almost red. There are obscure stripes on the body which become more distinct on the limbs. The tail is more or less ranged towards the termination. There has been a newspaper paragraph floating about stating that the price of several thousand dollars had been offered in England for a male tortoise shell cat. This is probably not true, as the Mr. Smith exhibited a tortoise shell hecat at the Crystal Palace show of 1871. Several tortoise shell and white tombs have been exhibited since, and one of these has taken nine first prizes at the Crystal Palace show. But the tortoise shell hecat is extremely rare. The real tortoise shell is not a striped tiger nor a tabby. It has three colors usually black, yellow and red or brown, but these appear in patches rather than stripes. It is said that the tortoise shell cat is common in Egypt and the south of Europe. It comes from a different stock than the ordinary short-haired cat, the texture of the hair being different as well as the color. The tortoise shell and white cat is much more common and is the product of a cross between a tortoise shell and a solid color cat. In this case, the hair is usually coarser and the tail thicker than in the ordinary cat. Among cat fanciers there is a distinctive variety known as the tortoise shell tabby. As the tabby cat is one of the varieties of striped or spotted cats having markings broad or narrow of bands of black on a dark tan or gray ground, the tortoise shell cat would have both stripes and patches of color. Of the tabbies there are brown tabbies, silver tabbies and red tabbies. It is said that the red tabby shecat is as scarce as the tortoise shell hecat. The ordinary observer considers the brown tabby with white markings as much the handsomest of the tabbies, but fanciers and judges do not agree with him. The cats having narrow bands and spots being the ones to take prizes. The word tabby, according to Harrison Wayer, was derived from a kind of taffeta or ribbed silk, which used to be called tabby silk. Other authorities state that tabby cats got their name from Attab, a street in Baghdad, but as this street was famous for its watered silks, perhaps the same reason holds. The tortoise shell used to be called in England the Kalimanko. In America it's sometimes called the Kalikoh cat. The red tabby is of a deep reddish or yellow brown with a bell-ringed tail, orange or yellow eyes and pink cushions on the feet. The brown tabby is orange brown with black lips, brown whiskers, black feet, black beds, long tail, greenish orange eyes and red nose bordered with black. The spotted tabby must have no bands at all. It must be brown, red or yellow with black spots. In the brown tabby the feet and pads are black. In the yellow and red the feet and pads are pink. The spotted cat sometimes resembles a leopard, while the banded tabby resembles more the tiger. Some of the spotted tabbies are extremely handsome and came originally from across between the ordinary cat and the wild cat. Soft colored cats are entirely one color, which may vary in different cats but must never be mixed in the same cat nor even shaded into a lighter tone on the animal. And whether this color be black, blue, red or yellow the soft colored cat should have a rich deep tint. Of course the short-haired white cat is the handsomest of all. One of the peculiarities of this white cat is that it is up to be deaf. The most valuable white cats, whether long or short-haired, have blue eyes. Sometimes they have one blue eye and one green or yellow, which gives a comical effect and detracts from their value. By the way, cross-eyed cats are not unknown. The best white cats have a yellowish white tint instead of grayish white, as the latter have a coarser quality of fur. The jet black cat is sold by many to be the most desirable. The true black cat should have a uniform, intensely black coat, velvety and extremely glossy. The eyes should be round and full and of a brilliant amber. The nose and pads of the feet should be jet black and the tail long and tapering. It is difficult to find a black cat without a white hair, as usually there are a few under the chin or on the belly. The blue cat is the one ordinarily known in this country as the Dark Maltese. There is a tradition that it came from the island of Malta. Many people do not consider it a distinct breed, but think it a light colored variety of the black cat. It is known sometimes as the Archangel, sometimes as the Russian blue, the Spanish blue, the Charterous blue, but more commonly in this country as the Maltese. When it is of a deep bluish color, or of the soft silver gray Maltese without stripes, it is extremely handsome. The most desirable are the bluish lilac colored ones with soft fur like seal skin. The nose and pads of the feet are dark and the eyes are orange yellow. The Maltese and white cat, when well marked, is extremely handsome and there is no prettier kitten than the Maltese and white. The black and white, yellow and white, blue and white and in fact any self-colored and white cat is a mixture of the other breeds. If well marked they are extremely handsome and are usually bright and intelligent. The solid gray cat is very rare, it is in fact a tabby without the black stripes or spots. In Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea, there used to be no cat of any kind. The Siamese cat has been imported to Australia and some authorities claim that the cats known in this country as Australian cats are of Siamese origin. Madagascar is a catless region. There is in this country a variety known as the Coon cat, which is handsome, especially in the solid black. Its native home is in Maine and it is sold by many to have originated with the ordinary cat and the raccoon. It grows somewhat larger than the ordinary cat with thick, woolly fur and an extremely bushy tail. It is fond of outdoor life and when kept as a pet must be allowed to run out of doors or it is apt to become so savage and disagreeable that nothing can be done with it. When it is allowed its freedom, however, it becomes affectionate, intelligent and is usually a handsome cat. The term Dutch rabbit markings refers to the white markings on the cat of two or three colors. Evidently the cat himself understands the value of Dutch rabbit markings as one which has them is invariably proud of them. A cat that has white mittens for instance is often inordinately vain and keeps them in the most immaculate state of cleanliness. End of Chapter 13 Concerning Cats by Helen M. Winslow This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Concerning Cats by Helen M. Winslow Chapter 14 Concerning Cat Language Montaigne it was who said we have some intelligence of their senses so have also the beasts of ours in much the same measure. They flatter us, men us us, need us and we them. It is manifestly evident that there is among them a full and entire communication and that they understand each other. That this applies to cats is certainly true. Did you ever notice how a mother cat talks to their children? And simply by the utterances of her voice induces them to abandon their play and go with her, sometimes with the greatest reluctance to some place that suited her whim or her wisdom. To Ponte de Nemours, a naturalist of the 18th century, made himself ridiculous in the eyes of his compatriots by seeking to penetrate the mysteries of animal language. Those who utter sounds he affirmed attach significance to them. Their fellows do the same and these sounds originally inspired by passion and repeated under similar recurrent circumstances become the abiding expressions of the passions that gave rise to them. Fortified by the theory he devoted a couple of years of the study of crow language and made himself ridiculous in the eyes of his adversaries by attempting to translate a nightingale song. Chateaubriand was much interested in DuPont Nemours' researches in the language of cats. Its claws set the letter and the power of climbing trees which its claws give it furnish the cat with resources of experience and ideas denied the dog. The cat also has the advantage of a language which has the same vowels as pronounced by the dog and with six consonants in addition m, n, h, v and f. Consequently the cat has a greater number of words. The two causes the finer structure of its paws and the larger scope of oral language endows the solitary cat with greater cunning and skill as a hunter than the dog. Abbey Galeani also says, For centuries cats have been reared but I do not find they have ever been really studied. I have a male and a female cat. I have cut them off from all communication with cats outside the house and closely observe their proceedings. During their courtships they never once meowed. The meow, therefore, is not the language of love but rather the call of the absent. Another positive discovery I have made is that the voice of the male is entirely different from that of the female as it should be. I'm sure there are more than twenty different inflections in the language of cats and there is really a tongue for they always employ the same sound to express the same thing. I hurtily concord with him and in addition have often noticed the wide difference between the voice and manner of expression of the gilded cat and the ordinary tom. The former has a thin high voice with much smaller vocabulary. As a rule the gilded cat does not mew to make known his wands, he employs his voice for conversional purposes. A mother cat talks much more than any other and more when she has small kittens than at other times. Cat language has been reduced to etymology in several tongues. In arabia's earth speech is called naooya in chinese ming, in greek larungitzein and sanskrit madj bit bid in german meoun and french meowler and in english mew or meow. Perhaps if professor Gardner had turned his attention to cat language instead of monkeys we would know more about it. But a french professor Alphonse Leon Grimaldi of paris claims that cats can talk as readily as human beings and that he has learned their language so as to be able to converse with them to some extent. Grimaldi goes even further, he not only says that he knows such a language but he states definitely that there are about six hundred words in it that it is more like modern chinese than anything else and to prove this contention gives a small vocabulary. Most of us would prefer to accept Saint George's Mivert's conclusions that the difference between all animals and human beings is that while they have some means of communication or language we only have the gift of speech. Among the 18 distinct active powers which he attributes to the cat he quotes 16th powers of pleasurable or painful excitement on the occurrence of sense perceptions with imaginations emotions and 17th a power of expressing feelings by sounds or gestures which may affect other individuals emotional language again he says the cat has a language of sounds and gestures to express its feelings and emotions so how we but we go further which neither the cat nor the bird nor the beast has a language and gestures to express our thoughts the sum of his conclusions seems to be that while the cat has a most highly developed nervous system and much of what is known as animal intelligence it is not a human intelligence not consciousness but consentience elsewhere Saint George Mivert doubts if a cat distinguishes orders as such perhaps a cat starts for the kitchen the instant he smells meat because of the mental association of the scent with the gratification of hunger but why pray tell do some cats and vice such delight in delicate perfumes our own pumps the first for instance had the most demonstrative fondness for violets and liked the scent of all flowers one winter i used to bring home a bunch of pharma on Russian violets every day or two and put them in a small glass bowl of water it soon became necessary to put them on the highest shelf in the room and even then Pompey would find them often have i placed them on the piano and a few minutes later seen him enter the room lift his nose give a few sniffs and then go straight to the piano bury his nose in the violets and hold it there in perfect ecstasy as usually wherever they were placed the bunch was found the next morning on the floor where Pompey had carried the violets and holding them between his paws for a time had surfated himself with their delicious fragrance still i'm not prepared to say that Pompey had any word for violets or for anything else administered to his delight it was enough for him to be happy and he had better ways of expressing it cats do have the power of making people understand what they want done but so far as my knowledge of them goes some of the most intelligent ones i talk the least thomas erastus whose intelligence sometimes amounts to a knowledge that seems almost uncanny seldom utters a sound there is or was a black cat belonging to the city jail of a californian town named inspector burns because of his remarkable assistance to the police force when one night a prisoner in jail had stuffed the cracks to his cell with straw and turned on the gas in an attempt to commit suicide inspector burns hurried off and notified the nightkeeper that something was wrong and induced him to go to the cell in time to save the prisoner's life he once notified the police when a fire broke out on the premises and at another time made such a fuss that they followed him to discover a woman trying to hand herself again some of the prisoners plotted to escape and the cat crawled through the halls they had filled and called the warden's attention to it in fact there was no doubt that inspector burns considered himself assistant warden at the jail and he did not waste much time in talk either the pretty lady had ways of her own to make us known when things were wrong in the household although she used to utter a great many sounds either of pleasure or perturbation which we came to understand i remember one morning when my sister was ill upstairs that i had breakfasted and sat down to read my morning's mail when the pretty lady came uttering sounds that denoted dissatisfaction with matters somewhere i was busy and at first paid no attention to her but she grew more persistent so that i finally laid down my letters and asked what is it puss haven't you had breakfast enough i went out to the kitchen and she followed all the time protesting articulately she would not touch the meat i offered but evidently wanted something entirely different just then my sister came down and said i wish she would go up and see age she's suffering terribly and i don't know what to do for her at that the pretty lady led the way into the hall and up the stairs pausing at every third step to make sure i was following and leading me straight to my sister then she settled herself calmly on the food board and closed her eyes as though the whole affair was no concern of hers afterward my sister said that when the pain became almost unendurable so that she tossed about and groaned the pretty lady came close to her face and talked to her just as she did to her kittens when they were in distress showing plainly that she sympathized with and would help her when she found it impossible to do this she hurried down to me and then having got me actually up to my sister's bedside she threw off her own burden of anxiety and settled into her usual calm content my goliath is at the helm now she expressed by her attitude and the world is short to go right a little longer while i take an app end of the chapter 14 and this is also the end of Concerning Cats by Helen M. Benslow thank you for listening