Part 8 (2/2)
That's the horse that the tiger rides on”
”Did it take hi to learn that?”
”Well, it did not take this horse long; but we tried eleven others before we could get one to stand it They're just like men, all different What one will stand another won't look at Well, good-bye”
Just like ers of various sorts through life to get a living
THE CAT
Most people think that the cat is an unintelligent ani but mice and milk But a cat has really reat deal dom, the cat has the most many-sided character
He--or she--is an athlete, a hter, a sport of the first water All day long the cat loafs about the house, takes things easy, sleeps by the fire, and allows himself to be pestered by the attentions of our womenfolk and annoyed by our children To pass the time away he sometimes watches aof ennui; and people get the idea that this sort of thing is all that life holds for the cat
But watch hi fall, and you see the cat as he really is
When the family sits down to tea, the cat usually puts in an appearance to get his share, and purrs noisily, and rubs his of the faht or a love-affair that is couest at table the cat is particularly civil to hioing So to eat, the guest stoops down and strokes the cat, and says, ”Poor pussy! poor pussy!”
The cat soon tires of that; he puts up his claw and quietly but firuest, ”the cat stuck his claws into hted faent? _He wants you to give hiuest dares not do what he would like to do--kick the cat through the --so, with tears of rage and pain in his eyes, he affects to be very much amused, and sorts out a bit of fish froerly receives it, with a look in his eyes that says: ”Another time, my friend, you won't be so dull of comprehension,” and purrs uest's boot before eating it A cat isn't a fool--not by a long way
When the faathers round the fire to enjoy the hours of indigestion, the cat slouches casually out of the rooins for his to the top of the fence with one easy bound, drops lightly down on the other side, trots across the right-of-way to a vacant allotoes, he throws off the effeait becomes lithe and pantherlike; he looks quickly and keenly from side to side, and s, cabmen hips, and small boys with stones
Arrived on the top of the shed, the cat arches his back, rakes his claws once or twice through the soft bark of the old roof, wheels round and stretches himself a few ti order; then, dropping his head nearly to his paws, he sends across a league of backyards his call to his kindred--a call to love, or war, or sport
Before long they co circuitously, and halting occasionally to reconnoitre--tortoiseshell, tabby, and black, all domestic cats, but all transforer are they the hypocritical,for fish andblades with a Gascon sense of dignity Their fights are grim and determined, and a cat will be clawed to ribbons before he will yield
Even young lady cats have this inestis, that they can work off jealousy, hatred, andcoht, and all keep the Your cat ht cha!
Just think how ets out of his life than you do out of yours--what a hurricane of fighting and love his life is--and blush for yourself You have had one little love-affair, and never had a good, all-out fight in your life!
And the sport they have, too! As they get older and retire froo in for sport more systematically; the suburban backyards, that are to us but dullness indescribable, are to the-places where theyArthur's knights or Robin Hood's hbouring verandah Consider the fascination of it--the stealthy reconnaissance fro, the noiseless approach and the hurried dash, and the fierce clawing at the fluttering bird till its e; the exultant retreat with the spoil; the growling over the feast that follows Not the least entertaining part of it is the de ho the house-mistress say: ”Tom must be sick; he seems to have no appetite”
It is always levelled as a reproach against cats that they are more fond of their home than of the people in it Naturally, the cat doesn't like to leave his country, the land where all his friends are, and where he knows every landeography, to exploit another tribe of dogs, to fight andenough for that sort of thing So, when the family moves, the cat, if alloill stay at the old house and attach hie of boarding hi to sacrifice his whole career for the doubtful rehich fidelity to his old
SITTING IN JUDGMENT
The show ring was a circular enclosure of about four acres, with a spiked batten fence round it, and a listless crowd of back-country settlers propped along the fence Behind them were the sheds for produce, and the machinery sections where steam threshers and earth scoops huhtseers wandered past the cattle stalls to gape at the fat bullocks; side-shows flourished, a blase goose drewshowman displayed his ed the youth of the district to come in and be thuate opened at the end of the show ring, and horses, cattle, dogs, vehicles, motor-cars, and bicyclists crowded into the arena This was the general parade, but it would have been better described as a general chaos Trotting horses and ponies, in harness, hirling round the ring, every horse and every driver fully certain that every eye was fixed on the their necks and lifting their feet, whizzed past in bewildering succession, till the onlookers grew giddy Inside the whirling circle blood stallions stood on their hind legs, screay-fronted bulls, with dull vindictive eyes, paced along, looking as though they were trying to reround bull always seerievance