The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-10
III SPHINX OF HEARTHsToNE
The Character of Puss rs Compared With
That of the Dog.
From the London Spectator.

COMPARED to n cat, u dog Is IL very simple and
transparent creature. Sometimes, indeed, he is
guilty of acts of deception and hypocrisy, but
they are crude and ingenious compared to the
unfathomable wiles Of a cat. Mr.. North's dog,
for instance, who ate the pigeon out of the pie
and stuffed up the hole with Mr.. North's ink
sponge, was not an adept in tho art of theft;
and IA fox terrier with whom the present writer
enjoys the intimacy of a common household has
disgraced herself this last week by what was. to
all intents and purposes. n lie, when n little
more astuteness would have shown her the fu-
tility of falsehood, in the face OF an alibi. She
had been tearing up paper and strewing it
about the floor, with fine literary freedom. when
the servant whose duty 1t was to clean the car
pet asked her. with magisterial severity. Who
tore those letters?' The culprit looked at first
terribly abashed, and hung her head ana tail in
"a a trial. observed. ~ wonder did Gym do IT."
IGyp was the offenders usual companion and
fellow sinner. but as II Glanced WAS miles on
at the moment. Instantly the perfidious little
wretch perceived n way of escape from the pen-
atty Of her own miSdeeds, by throwing the
shook her tail frantically and almost nodded,
You are right. 1t WAS that wicked Gyp! AS
for me, ! am quite incapable OF touching a piece
It is as useless for a dog to attempt these
receptions as for IL good honest EngIlslimnn 10
case Is quite different with a cat. She Is u do
nestle s~phinx-whos, countenance Is solemn
as that OF neT Stony lIOlo'S 10 INV .Hho Gt'HtN
for sixty centuries over the field of death at
GhiZeh, and whose tail Is not, as George Eliot
describes the tail lv of 3. dog tpey = h Vehicle arcsot f9 pr , the
case Of lson mine. r rage rot NO no , PRn'bi" ortnm 81 we " care are
f mr"a evil, No one fathoms her impiacable re:
sentiments, her deep. unspoken suspicious OF
her enemies. or her unaltereble confidence and
gratitude toward her friends. Few people at
tempt TO study her she Is rarely even given n
name unless 4 be the bannle and meaniTGless
-..,IautInn Ninninl nj Is EDOkRn or. Ike n
poor workhouse orphan. by her surname. as
tine cat. or in tho v%ocative, ,Puss'-and
smother, but rarely watched with any attention
or sympathy; such as many OF us eeStow on or
profound in a cats feelings, since there are
| numberless instances, on record where they
have persisted and died Tor GRIEF Rt th me,n loss OF
which occurred last week affords touching proof
of a sentiment still more rare, in any animal
pure Gof fr Gs Riiittls Si %S5SJ and ia" pet Dog FL;
died last Monday morning about > o'clock:
had an internal complaint. She was dear,
little, Rffectionate, intelllgent creature, ma
had, always beer treated as SL9aIy a. a chtia,
grave his hOusekeeper's children shed many
Tears, Yesterday leaEl from him as fol,
lows: "AnotheT Of my domestic pets was nm
old black cat, which came to me 4 kitten years
ago. a few weeks before ! broYsht Fi9 from
oxford d0d T aS yac gFe eiha up e .GfHsh from Sa the s MGne
plate and drinking from the Same glass;
have often seen them stand slue nS sue ncloFe
nv Are, and occasionally put thcir, mouths to-
aether, as though they were absolutely kiss
Sng We'll, the poor old cat seemed very miser-
able all day yesterday, that is, Monday, the
day on which Flo had died early IN the
Ehn could not he found last night when the
house was closed. but rs this occasionally hap
Warning Size was found still and cold, stretched
out by the side u Flo,s Er@ys. could not
nSn eyes. Whether it is only a coincidence,
/ viii not pretend to say, but would rather
believe that the poor gLim9l dled from grlel
fla Size Know that Flo was dendi such q
fart as this leads 10 strange thoughts, or whaI
would lie called strange, by those who can Sc,
In these creatures only a dog or only a cat
SVhen we reflect on the amount Of Though
and tenderness OF sentiment which this stOrl
reveals, does il not seem AS II, in our usua
treatment OF cats, we must be stupidity ignor
ing something very wondertui and beautnu
49, baalds Us all day lOnRl