The San Francisco call., 1896-08-02
any Literary Zoo" Is a
Charming Fireside
Companion
MY LITERARY ZOO. New York: D. Apple
ton & Co, publishers For sale by Doxey; cloth,
price rs cents :
The world has not seen him yet,
Who has not loved a pet.


| Who has not loved pet.
compilation of stories and anecdotes
| framed about the dumb favorites OF distin-
gufshed men and women of all ages, as well
as re production OF various tributes to insectsr
birds and animals which have been written {.
| about with love, pity or admiration, must ap|
peal to the fancy of every lover of pets and
will find favor with every one interested in
hearing recalled the many noteworthy instant
ces of affection between the lower order of
animals and their owners. In her pleasing
work, "My Literary Zoo," Miss Kate Sanborn
J has covered q wide range OF literature, history
and biography, and the result of her labor is
certainly praiseworthy. OF course the reader .
meets host OF old familiars, but he finds them
in new company and in new environments.
and the meeting has fresh charms, Such book
ought to be q fireside treasure. Miss SAM
/ born's own bright comments are not the least
readable portions of the volume. Sne has,
| fguratively speaking, lifted the pet dogs and
cats of literature out OF the. books in which
they grew famous and placed them Side by
side, as in great exhibition, with plaeard
depending from the collar Of each .canirfe. or
feline to inform the spectators of the peculiar
title to celebrity boasted by. each particular
animal of the show. Dogs and cats occupy
the largest part of the work.
There passing references to the field
| favorites of the poet Burns: to Wordsworth'so
| of dear Uncle Toby in ;'Tristram Shandys'
to the overgrown bluebottle fly; to the Greek
| grasshoppers that made music to the ear of
Socrates; to Bruce and the spider, and 10 the
facts that cackling geese saved Rome; that
| Virgil amused his leisure hours with a gnaf,
and that Homer made pets of frogs and mice.
In the few pages devoted to the horse are
quoted poems TO pet steeds by Lord .Erskfne
| and Bayard Taylor, and this pathetic anec-
dote OF great British statesman, as told by
! Edward Everett:
In the decline of his life, when living in''retre-
ment on his farm at Beaconsheld, the rumor went
up TO London that Edmund Burke had gone mad,
and went round his park kissing his cows and .
horses His only son had died not long BEFORE.
leaving petted horse which had been turned into
/ the park an q treated as privileged favorite Mr.
Burke, in his morning walks would often. stop
! to the animal. on one occasion the
horse recognized Mr.. Burke from dStances.
and coming nearer and nearer, eyed him with
most pleading look of recognition and.
! said, plainly words could have said, II
have losL him, tool" and then the DOOR dumb
/ beast deliberately laid his head on Mr.. Burke's
bosom. Overwhelmed by. the tenderness OF the
| animal, expressed IN the mute eioquence of holy
natures universal language the lIustrous states
man for moment lost his self-possession, and
clasping his arms around his sons favorite ami
| NAL lifted up that voice which had caused the
arches of Westminster Hall echo the noblest
| strains that sounded within them, ana wept
aloud. Burke is gone: but, sir so hold me heaven,
| if L were called upon designate the event or
! the period in Burkes life that would best sustain
a charge of insanity, it would not be when, in a
gush of the holiest and purest feeling that ever
! stirred the human heart, he wept aloud on the
| neck Of q dead sons favorite horse.
| 1--WE long for affection altogether igno-
rant of our faults" says George Eliot. Heaven
has accorded this to US in the uncritical canine
/ attachment" And so we listen again to sto-
| ries of affec ton between dogs and their mas
ters, from that of the dog Argus which died
/ of Joy on the return of Ulysses after twenty
years. absence, to that of the dog Nero, which
| Bismarck honored with formal funeral. .
Miss Sanborn does not neglect to refresh the
memory of her reader with the historical facts
that Egyptians held the dog in alteration as a
representative of one of the celestial signs that
the Indians considered him one of the secred
forms of their deities; that the dog is placed at
the feet OF women in monuments to symbolic
affection and fidelity; and that many of tie
! Crusaders are represented with their feet.on a
dog, to show that they followed the standard
of the Lord as dog follows the footsteps of
his master.
In this literary 1900 we find Arthur's dog
| Cavall alongside of Dora's dog Jip; and Doug
lass dog Luffra, from the "Lady of the Lake."
! has a place near Landseer's dog Brutus,
painted as the Invader of the Larder." Then
there is Katmir, the dog of the Seven sleepers;
~
human beings, and Sir Isaac Newton's dog .
Diamond, which by overturning candle, de-
| stroyed a wealth of precious manuscript.
Many poetical tributes to dogs by great
I writer's are quoted, such as those from the
pen of Mrs. Browning, Lord Byron, Words
| worth Cowper, Spencer and Matthew Arnold.
\ The author and compiler observes. that
while public sentiment is not SO unanimously
! in favor of cats, yet they have their warm ad.
mirers while In Egypt they were worshiped
| as an emblem of the moon. 'When q cat died
the owners gave the pody showy funeral,
| went in to mourning and shaved off their eye
brows Diodorus tells of Roman soldier who
| was condemned to death for killing q cat It
is said that Cambyses, King of Persia, when he
went to fight the Egyptians, fastened before
| every soldiers breast live cat, and their ene-
| mics dared not run the risk of hurting their.
sacred pets, and so were conquered"
We are told that artists, monarchs, poets,
| diplomatists, religious leaders, authors have
| all condescended TO care for cats, and that q
| mere list of their names would make big
book For instance, to quote Miss Sanborn:
| Codefroi Mind German artist, called the
| "Raphael Of Cats" People would hunt up his
attic and pay large prices for his pictures Inthe
long winter evenings he amused himself by carv-
ing tiny cats out of chestnuts and could not make
! them fast enough for those who wanted to buy.
Mohammed was so fond of his cat Muezza that
once when she sleeping his sleeve, he cut
of the sleeve rather than disturb her. Andrew
Doria, one OF the rulers OF Venice, not only had
portrait painted of his pet cat but after her death
lad her skeleton preserved treasure. Riche-
lieu's special favorite was splendid Angora, his.
resting-pIace being the table covered with State
papers. Montagne used to rest himself by frolc
with his cat. Fontenelle liked 10 place his "rom"
in an armchair and deliver an Grafton before him.
| The cat of Cardinal Wolsey sat by his side when
he received Princes, and Petrarch had his pet
| feline embalmed and placed in his apartment.
Miss San nDorn cannot help remarking thatthe
| idea OF the cat being the pet OF old maids
| alone is far from true. Even so dignifed a
parsonage as Pope Plus TX is shown to have
| allowed his cat to sit with him at table, wait
ing his turn to be fed in a most decorous.
| manner There are numerous extracts from
poets and authors who have devoted stanzas
| and periods to cats, and the pages are alf full
| of interest.
"It would be pleasant to believe it was q.
| proof of good and tender nature to delight
/ in PETS" observes Miss Sanborn, "but men and
/ women notorious for cruelty and bad lives
have been devoted to them, lavishing tender.