Temperament and Some writers have told us that long-haired cats are less affectionate than short-haired cats. This is a mistake, although long-haired cats, on the average, are more intense, more nervous, more highly strung, more pugilistic and have more pluck and daring than the short-haired cats. The cat has great intelligence; in fact, is one of the most intelligent if not the most in telligent, of the domestic animals, and it is this fact that precludes the possibility of teaching the average cat tricks. For the cat sees through the manoeuvre, and refuses to be made a fool of. 'In respect to memory they are phenomenal and far exceed the average dog in this quality. Their powers of conversation are well devel oped, accompanied by delicate inflections of the voice that need to be known to be understood. Dupont de Nemours says: °The cat has also the advantage of a language in which the same vowels as tl.ose pronounced by the •clog exist, with six consonants in addition, m, n, g, h, v, and f." It requires study to get to know cats, and Rouviere, the actor, said that no one could really understand a cat unless he himself be came one. A cat, of all the domestic animals, has retained the greatest part of its wild nature and traits, and the easiest way to get at a cat is by kindness and by trying to learn cat ways. A cat never gives in to coercion. Liberty is the last thing it will resign; and often it will not resign that except in exchange for death. The cat should be used as the emblem of liberty.
It is a mistake to suppose that a cat cares only for places, for it is only the innate con servation of the animal that gives this impres sion. Regularity is the keynote of its existence and what it does one day it likes to do the next; and certainly to places where it has been reared and has lived it shows great attachment. But on the contrary there are cats that would settle down anywhere, that have crossed and re crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and have lived quietly in any locality their owners chose. A cat is one of the finest mothers on earth.
Cat-fanciers' Associations.— The fortunes of the cat are now more or less regulated by clubs and associations, and there are homes, hospitals and refuges in many places and in many lands. The principal clubs are the Na tional Cat Club founded in 1887, with head quarters in London; the Scottish Cat Club, founded in 1894; the Cat Club, London, founded in 1898; the Northern Counties Cat Club, the Silver and Smoke Persian Cat Society, the Siamese Club and the Orange, Cream, Fawn and Tortoise-shell, founded in 1900; the Black and White Club, the Blue Persian Society, the Chin chilla Cat Club, the Short-haired Cat Club, the Midland Counties Cat Club, the British Cat Club and the Manx Cat Club, founded in 1901. All the above are in Great Britain, but many have members in America. In the United States there are the Beresford Cat Club, founded in 1899, with headquarters in Chicago; the At lantic Cat Club, with headquarters in New York; the Chicago Cat Club, the Louisville Cat Club, the Pacific Cat Club; the Orange and Cream Society, with headquarters in Chicago, the Washington, D. C., Cat Club, the Detroit
Club, etc. All these have been founded since 1899; so we can see that the advances made of late years have been sudden and rapid; and they will continue to grow; for shows are held in many of the principal cities and are yearly fixtures. Prices for cats increase; and whereas $25 was considered a good price a few years ago, some of the best have been recently sold for $250 each, and many at $75 and $100. The largest price of which we have record as having actually been paid in cash for a cat is $300, which was the price Lady Decies paid Mrs. Greenwood for Lord Southampton; although I expect to see this exceeded in time to come, for competition enhances values, and the best speci mens and most perfect will bring high prices from those who want them: All this will tend to draw attention to the cat and better the race and its general conditions.
Cats have had their artists: the Egyptians, the Japanese, the Chinese, Salvator Rosa, Gott fried Mind (°The Raphael of Cate)), Burbank (a master little known), Cornelius Wisscher, the Dutch artist, whose cat has become typical, J. Grandville, Harrison Weir, Louis Wain, adame Ronner and Adam.
Members of the English royal family breed and exhibit cats at the regular exhibits of the present day. The Duchess of Connaught, the sister-in-law of the late King, was the organizer of the National Cat Club, one of the associations which maintains a thoroughly re liable studbook for cats; the Queen mother Alexandra herself is one of the active members of the Ladies' Kennel Club, and both Princess Christian and her daughter, Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, have taken many first prizes with their valuable feline pets.
A Few Hints to Breeders.— Do not try to keep too many; a good cat well reared will bring more money than 8 or 10 badly nurtured, undersized kittens. Cats are not gregarious, and when crowded together become diseased and mangy, and prematurely die. One litter of really good cats will give more pleasure and profit t6 the owner than five or six litters of poor ones.
Liberty is necessary to the health alike of the present and of the coming generations, and these latter should never be out of our minds when mating.
Meat is the main diet of all the carvivora to which order domestic cats belong. The best diet for cats is composed largely of meat, for which their teeth are adapted. Without meat they will not long remain healthy. They vary in their tastes, and what is fancied by one is not always preferred by another. Fish they are fond of, but as a rule house cats should not be given much raw fish. Cats kept in confinement should have grass, vegetables and changes of diet provided for them. Grass is a necessity.