Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1886-08-13
Stories About Cats.

A German diplOmatist OF the last CEN
fury has recorded good observation re-
speeding favorite female cat, and advan-
ces it as proof of consecutive and conclu-
sive reasoning on the part of the animal
II noticed" says Baron Won Gleichen,
''that she was constantly looking at her
self in the glass, retreating from her own
image and running back to it again, and
especially scratching at the frames; for all
my glasses were inserted in panels. This
suggested to me the idea of placing tot
let mirror in the middle of the room, so
that my cat might have the pleasure of
examing it all round. She began by max
ing sure (by approaching and Withdrawing
as usually that she was dealing with
glass like the others. She passed behind
1t sever times, more quickly each time;
but, seeing that she could not get at this
cat which was always too quick for her,
she placed herself at the edge Of the mir
ror, and looking alternately on one side
and the other, she made quite sure that
the cat which she had just seen neither
was nor had been behind the mirror. Then
she arrived at the conclusion that the cat
was inside it. But how did she proceed
to test this conclusion, the last that re-
NAMED to her2 Keeping her place
at the edge of the mirror, she rose on her
hind feet and stretched out her paws to
feel the thickness of the glass; then. aware
that it did not afford sufficient space to
contain cat, she withdrew dejectedly
Being convinced that the matter in ques-
ton was phenomenon impossible for her
to discover, because it was outside the cir
Gle of her ideas, she never again looked in
any glass, but at once renowned an object
which had vainly excited her curiosity -
We ourselves have known cat, says
the London Spectator, who would recog-
niZe his masters footsteps after three
months absence, and come out to meet
him in the hall, with tail erect, and pur-
ring all over as if to the very verge of
bursting. And another cat we know. who
comes up every morning between six and
seven clock to wake his master, sits on
the bed. and very gently feels first one
eyelid and then the other with his paw.
When an eye opens. but not till then, the
cat sets up loud purr, like the prayer of
a fire worshipper to the rising sun.
Those who say lightly that cats care only
for places, and not for persons, should go
to the Cat Show at the Crystal Palace,
where they may see recognitions between
cat and owner that will cure them of so
shallow an opinion. When we were last
there one striking instance fell in our way.
Cats greatly dislike these exhibitions; a
cat. as rule, is like Queen Vashti, un-
willing to be shown, even to the mobiles, at
the pleasure of an Ahasuerus. Shy, sensi
tive, wayward and independent, cat re-
sents being placed on cushion in wire
cage, and exposed to the unintelligent crit
icism, to say nothing of the fingers of a
mob of sightseers. One very eminent cat.
belonging to the Masters Common Room
at Christ Church, Oxford, whose size and
beauty have on several occasions entaiIed
on him the hard necessity OF attending a
cat show, takes, it is said, three days to re-.
cover from the sense Of humiliation and
disgust which he feels whether he gets a
prize or not. On the occasion to which we
refer, a row of distinguished cats were sit.
ting, each on his cushion, with their backs
to the sightseers, while their faces, when