man's enemy because she will not be man's dupe. Rather let us turn
back and learn our lesson from Montaigne, serenely playing with his
cat as friend to friend, for thus, and thus only, shall we enjoy the
sweets of her companionship. If we want an animal to prance on its
hind legs, and, with the over-faithful Tylo, cry out, "little god,
little god," at every blundering step we take; if we are so
constituted that we feel the need of being worshipped by something
or somebody, we must feed our vanity as best we can with the society
of dogs and men. The grocer's cat, enthroned on the grocer's
starch-box, is no fitting friend for us.

As a matter of fact, all cats and kittens, whether royal Persians
or of the lowliest estate, resent patronage, jocoseness (which they
rightly hold to be in bad taste), and demonstrative
affection,--those lavish embraces which lack delicacy and reserve.
This last prejudice they carry sometimes to the verge of unkindness,
eluding the caresses of their friends, and wounding the spirits of
those who love them best. The little eight-year-old English girl who
composed the following lines, when smarting from unrequited
affection, had learned pretty much all there is to know concerning
the capricious nature of cats:--

"Oh, Selima shuns my kisses!
Oh, Selima hates her missus!
I never did meet
With a cat so sweet,
Or a cat so cruel as this is."

In such an instance I am disposed to think that Selima's coldness
was ill-judged. No discriminating pussy would have shunned the
kisses of such an enlightened little girl. But I confess to the
pleasure with which I have watched other Selimas extricate
themselves from well-meant but vulgar familiarities. I once saw a
small black-and-white kitten playing with a judge, who, not
unnaturally, conceived that he was playing with the kitten. For a
while all went well. The kitten pranced and paddled, fixing her
gleaming eyes upon the great man's smirking countenance, and pursued
his knotted handkerchief so swiftly that she tumbled head over heels,
giddy with her own rapid evolutions. Then the judge, being but human,
and ignorant of the wide gap which lies between a cat's standard of
good taste and the lenient standard of the court-room, ventured upon
one of those doubtful pleasantries which a few pussies permit to
privileged friends, but which none of the race ever endure from
strangers. He lifted the kitten by the tail until only her forepaw