The Opelousas courier., 1885-08-01
GME T00ic.

Mrs. Cashel Hoey, in her "Book or
Cats" tells these stories: Every day
after breakfast, | made it a rule to
throw a bit of bread into an adjoining
room, as far off as | could, SO as to in
duce my cat to after 1t as it rolled
away. This custom l kept up for sew
eral months, and the cat always re-
garded that piece Of bread as the tit
bit Of its dessert. Even after 1t had
eaten meat, it would await with atten-
tive interest the minute when it was
to start in pursuit of the morsel of
soft bread. One day held the coveted
scrap in my hand, and swung it about
for a long time, while the cat eyed it
with a kind of patient eagerness, and
then, instead of throwing it into the
next room, I threw it behind the upper
portion of a picture which was-slightly
inclined forward from the wall. The
surprise of the cat. who, closely fol-
lowing my movements, had observed
the direction in which / threw the
bread, and its disappearance, was ex-
IRENE. The uneasy look of the animal
indicated its consciousness that a ma
ter al object traversing space could
not be annihilated. For some time
the cat considered the matter, then it
started off into the next room, evident
ly guided by the reflection that the
piece of bread having disappeared, it
must have gone through the wall. But
the bread had not gone through the
wall and the cat returned d%isappoint-
ed. The animals logic was at fault.
| again attracted its attention by my
gestures. and sent a second piece of
bread to join the first behind the pic
ture. This time the cat jumped upon
a divan and went straight to the hid
ing place. Having inspected the
frame on both sides it began to ma
neuvre so dexterously with its paw
that it shifte I'D the lower edge Of the
picture away from the wall, and thus
got at the two pieces of bread.
A German diplomatist of the last
century has recorded a similar obser-
walton respecting a favorite female cat,
and advances it as proof of consecutive
and conclusive reasoning on the part
of the animal. 81 noticed" say
Baron Won Gleichen, "that she was
constantly looking at herself in the
glass, retreating from her own image
and running back to it again, and es-
pecially scratching at the frames, for
all my glasses were inserted in panels.
This suggested to mi the idea of plac-
ing a toilet mirror In the middle of the
room. SO that my cat might have the
pleasure of examining it all round.
She began by making sure (by ap-
preaching and withdrawing as usual)
that she was dealing with a glass like
others. She passed behind it seve-
raj times, quickly each time; but,
that she could not get at this
which was always too quick for
her, she placed herself at the edge of
The mirror, and looking alternately on
one side and the other, she made quite
,ure that the cat which she had just
seen neither was nor had been behind
,he mirror. Then she arrived at the
that the cat was inside it.
But how did she proceed to test this
the last that remained to
her? Keeping her place at the edge of
he mirror, she rose on her hind feet
md stretched out her fore paws to feel
he thickness of the glass; then, aware
hat it did not afford sufficient space
10 contain a cat, she withdrew defect
sdly. Being convinced that the mat
5er in question was a phenomenon
impossible for her to discover, because
It was outside the circle of her ideas,
she never again looked in any glass, but
1T once renowned an object which had
excited her curiosity"