rved to her at the same time that the
inmates of the monastery had theirs. These hours were announced by the
ringing of the bell. One day it so happened that Puss was shut up in a
room by herself, when the bell rang for dinner, so that she was not able
to avail herself of the invitation. Some hours afterward she was
released from her confinement, and instantly ran to the spot where
dinner was always left for her; but no dinner was to be found. In the
afternoon the bell was heard ringing at an unusual hour. When the
inmates of the cloister came to see what was the cause of it, they found
the hungry cat clinging to the bell-rope, and setting it in motion as
well as she was able, in order that she might have her dinner served up
for her. Was not this act of the cat the result of something very nearly
related to what we call reason, when exhibited in man?

A French naturalist gives us an amusing incident connected with a cat in
Prussia. This animal was quietly sleeping on the hearth, when one of the
children in the family where she lived set up a boisterous crying. Puss
left the place where she was lying, marched up to the child, and gave
her such a smart blow with her paw as to draw blood. Then she walked
back, with the greatest composure and gravity, as if satisfied with
having punished the child for crying, and with the hope of indulging in
a comfortable nap. No doubt she had often seen the child punished in
this manner for peevishness; and as there was no one near who seemed
disposed to administer correction in this instance, Puss determined to
take the law into her own hand.

This story brings to my mind one which I saw in a newspaper the other
day, about a cat who took it upon her to punish her children in a very
singular manner. The story runs thus: "One Sabbath, a motherly old cat,
belonging to one of our citizens, left her little family in quiet
repose, while she went forth in pursuit of something to eat. On
returning, she found them quarreling. She then very deliberately took
the one most eagerly engaged in the combat by the nape of the neck, and
not seeing any convenient place near by to administer what she
considered a salutary reproof, went to a tub of water, upon the edge of
which she raised her feet, and dropped the kitten into the water. She
resisted all attempts at escape, and after repeatedly sousing it in the
water till sufficiently punished, she took it again by the neck as
before, and carried it back a