altercation speedily fired both hall and kitchen, and divided the
company into partisans for this cat or for that dog.

A new rule was made, which exasperated the cats, and their complaints
deafened the whole neighbourhood. Their advocate advised returning
absolutely to the old rules and decrees. The law books were searched
for, but could nowhere be found. And that was no wonder, for the books
which had been hidden in a corner by one set of partisans at first had
been at last devoured by mice. This gave rise to another law-suit, which
the mice lost and had to pay for.

Many old cats, cunning, subtle, and sharp, and bearing a grudge against
the whole race of mice beside, lay in wait for them, caught them, and
cleared them out of the house, much to the advantage of the master of
the establishment.


So, returning to my moral, one cannot find under heaven any animal, any
being, any creature who has not his opponent. This appears to be a law
of nature. It would be time wasted to seek for a reason. God does well
whatever he does. Beyond that I know nothing; but I do know that people
come to high words over nothing three times out of four. Ah, ye human
folk! even at the age of sixty you ought to be sent back to the
schoolmaster.




XL