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THE CAT tude of neutrality towards a beast whose most striking characteristic is indifference. This is especially the case with French authors. From the shuddering cry of Ronsard, " No living man, of things beneath the sky, Can hate a cat more bitterly than I I hate its eyes, its face, its very stare;" to the fervent lines of Baudelaire, whose love for his cats was a fantastic passion, we find much that is beautiful, but little that is temperate. " Only a Frenchman," observes M. Gautier, " can under- stand the subtle organization of a cat." Only a Frenchman can write about his cats in minute de- tail, with delicate sympathy, and with a high quality of imagination. The Germans have been prompt to recognize Pussy's mysterious personal- ity, and keenly alive to her domestic usefulness; but they have seldom sought to make of her a friend. In England and in America the cat's progress to favour has been slow and sure. A hundred years lie between Miss Joanna Baillie's — " careful, comely, mousing cat," and Mr. Swinburne's " Stately, kindly, lordly friend," xvi
THE CAT; and, in these hundred years, English writers have at last learned to value at their utmost worth the qualities which so long repelled enthusiasm. They have much to say about the cat's beauty; but they grow eloquent over her love of liberty, her manifest reserves, her contemptuous serenity of bearing. They describe with delight her nocturnal wander- ings, her human interest in her own comfort, the calmness with which she permits herself to be waited upon, and her steadfast refusal to bend her will to the capricious demands of humanity. They have discovered that she is the most charming of play-fellows, the most soothing of companions ; and that the friendship which is hard to win and hard to hold is worth at least as much as the friendship which is given for the asking. I have laboured con amore to pursue the vicissi- tudes and the triumphs of the cat, as set forth in French and English letters. I have tracked her soft footprints along quiet paths and broad highways. I offer the fruits of my toil to all who share my deference for the most self-respecting, my admiration for the most charming, my love for the most lovable of beasts. xvn
Page 1 and 2: THE CAT by AGNES REPPLIER Classic L
Page 3 and 4: World Public Library The World Publ
Page 5: OUR FRIENDS, THE BEASTS A SERIES OF
Page 8 and 9: Copyright, 1912 By STURGIS & WALTON
Page 10 and 11: THE CAT AMONG FOES To a Cat Which H
Page 12 and 13: THE CAT IN THE NURSERY CONTENTS Edu
Page 14 and 15: THE CAT
Page 16 and 17: THE CAT There is no word of Shakesp
Page 21 and 22: The Cat THE CAT On some grave busin
Page 23 and 24: THE CAT: The Cat of Egypt The numbe
Page 25 and 26: THE CAT= The Cat as a Royal Envoy T
Page 27 and 28: THE CAT= An Appreciation I value in
Page 29 and 30: THE CAT= The Cat I like the simple
Page 31 and 32: THE CAT^ Around, in sympathetic mir
Page 33 and 34: THE CAT A Poet's Kitten I have a ki
Page 35 and 36: THE CAT= Erected stiff, and gait aw
Page 37 and 38: THE CAT: And yet, for that thou has
Page 39 and 40: THE CAT: that crossing the room? Wh
Page 41 and 42: THE CAT= Good and Bad Kittens Kitte
Page 43 and 44: THE CAT= Dido We have got the prett
Page 45 and 46: THE CAT= The Strength Which Lies in
Page 47 and 48: THE CAT; The Kitten and the Falling
Page 49 and 50: THE CAT Pussy-Willows I sometimes t
Page 51 and 52: THE CAT= Practice Cultivate your ga
Page 53 and 54: THE CAT Auld Bawthren grey, she kit
Page 55 and 56: THE CAT= A Cat Philosopher and comr
Page 57 and 58: THE CAT: To a Cat which had Killed
Page 59 and 60: THE CAT: Why, why was pigeon's fles
Page 61 and 62: THE CAT= my gossip, sisters, let hi
Page 63 and 64: THE CAT= Anathema Maranatha That ve
Page 65 and 66: THE CAT: False Gods Now shall ye se
Page 67 and 68: THE CAT= On a study of those who, a
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THE CA^ A Martyr In the Reigne of Q
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THE CAT= A Cat's Conscience A dog w
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THE CAT — Rrrrrrrrr There was no
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The Cat's Progress =THE CAT Outlawe
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THE CAT self still in the cat's way
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Far-travelled Nicias hath wooed and
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THE CAT, Postscript to a Rondeau, A
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The Cat's Coronach And art thou fal
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Catus, the Cat =THE CAT As to the C
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Hinse of Hinsefeld THE CAT I have a
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Hodge, the Cat Burly and big his bo
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The dear old Doctor! fierce of mien
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Atossa Thou hast seen Atossa sage =
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THE CAT, grew bold and restless, we
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Moumoutte Chinoise =THE CAT I remem
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=THE CAT object of affection, unles
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The Two Cats THE CAT The spring was
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THE CAT friend sleeping by the fire
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THE CAT her turn to be helped, beha
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Don Pierrot de Navarre THE CAT Pier
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=THE CAT his displeasure by going t
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Nero THE CAT I own that when Agripp
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THE CAT mew, as if fearing he might
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=THE CAT can see him now, standing
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THE CAT and look into my face, foll
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Tom of Corpus The Junior Fellow's v
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THE CAT Oliver A long series of cat
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Mentu =THE CAT The wild nature in M
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The Shah of Persia -THE CAT Cats of
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THE CAT with his two soft paws —
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A passing scent could keenly wake T
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=THE CAT rival, the mutual fear whi
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mdRmuko Apeak concernina /Cab Inmii
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=THE CAT I only know they make me l
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THE CAT The hand, and person genera
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The Ratcatcher and Cats The rats by
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But let us limit our desires, Nor w
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THE CAT The captain's humanity did
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THE CAT without his mascot, but to
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The Point of View THE CAT " Dog," s
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An Encounter THE CAT One day a frie
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The Retired Cat A poet's cat, sedat
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Awaken'd by the shock, cried Puss,
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Moral. Beware of too sublime a sens
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THE CAT An Outcast My father had a
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A Poet to the Rescue =THE CAT Passi
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The Colubriad Close by the threshol
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Discipline THE CAT A female cat is
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THE CAT On the Death of a Favourite
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yiUkJmmi
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Marigold =THE CAT She moved through
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A Sea Fight THE CAT "Prince," said
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Six little mice sat down to spin, P
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The Cattie Sits in the Kiln-Ring Th
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Grisette Dines Always well behaved
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The End. World Public Library Assoc
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