THE LONDON CAT.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 737, 8 March 1877, Page 3

THE LONDON CAT.

A Londoner's house may be Ms castle, but his garden is decidedly his cat's. No, not his cat's, the London cat recognises no human possessor ; he is a free citizen-— or, if the term be preferred, an Arab — the oasis m whose Sahara is a dustheap, or a snug corner on the garden wall. Victor Hugo says that Paris has her child, the gamin, as the fcji'estp has its bird ', he might have added, as London has her cat. Ib oannofcf be disputed that the London "cat is a species apartj Take, for instance, his cynical indifference to broken bottles. The feline commu nity all over the world like to lie softly, and are sensitive upon the subject of moisture; but,' 1 now, watch the London cat stretched at his ease upon a couch of jagged glass, blinking -\ forth iippn. life through a pouring November rain. His whiskers are ! drenched and drooping, his fur resembles that of a typical Leicester Square foreigner; b ( ut "tlje mind is its own place," for his 'part he is free and happy. His passionate love of independence and his rejection of a fixed place of •abode to be the dearest desire, of his race) are further proofs of his originality. Attempts have \ksk macfe 'io; reolaiin him and bring

hfldewii?ifcMir«tlre s 'pale*of r oiyilise4 i rBQ« tt ciety. • In consideration of a little .txioasing an 'assured home Has often been offered him, but always he has resisle'd^ka'chjbverture's. ! 'We 'have* m mind a cat' of an imposing presence, whose black coat, though dingy and/ lustreless from exposure and poor diet, was unspecked- with any tuft r of "whiteness, and lent him ,so much dignity that he went by the Wrae of i the ? Black ;> Prince. He was fan inh.abitan.t,O;f London, and could not otlWwis'e' 1 h*aVe specified his abode .,';, Jbut^every _ day, at 2 ; o'clock^ precisely, wheffthe bell rang for the children's Jdimtier, he presented himself aii'a certain house, and waited on the :i wiriyow.redge of thepailoiir until. "his. wants jtvere attended to. Although nothing ' could be more decorous, than*; bis, own behaviour, lie was pronounced by the governess to be a comiptor'bf'the/children's manners, and to disturb that silence and absorption m, ; their meals , to vvhicH^ell-b'i-ed youiig; English folks should be trained. Accordingly,. /vapio'u§ f '-cli'Bcburagirig ! : devices were attempted to induce him to renounce his visits. A/ bucket 6f cold water was poured "over him ; ' on another occasion the assailed him with a'broomLj /( ■bn.:a tliird, ha was taken by a member of the family five miles m an, ejnnibus, ; and then droppedby the wayside ;■ andfin'ally/ he.was given .'oyer to th^', butcher's' bo^ ] whp i'w^s, bribedrto^make,fiway with him. t Bat even this, ; last attempt failed. ! is On the following day> asfthe'dinhfer bell •i'arig; i precisely at 2 o'clock, Black Prince reappeared, at his post. ; iA:t iength this persistence, softened all hearts ; [ -: it was decided- thatj? since he refused to be improved off face of the r earth, his reformation be attempted^ The window wasithrpwn open, he was taken id, well fed, washed, and decorated with a blue velvet collar, finally -putJ tb/'aslefepih a basket filled, with new hay m the back kitchen. The< jneoct morning = he, i had; disappeared. The; dinner bell rang at 2 o'clock; but . the parlour window:ledge'was deserfcedi '■ : Where^ater, the !l: housemaid's 1 brbbm, and' even the butcher's boy' failed, this 'last cruel I kindness proved effectual-^---the children saw Black Prince's face no more.r-! Examiner.'