and stroking her. "You never do any harm, but catch the mice in our
mother's barn. But you are a little sly, and, if you should catch
birds, right or wrong, I'm afraid I should box your ears. You must
learn to do without birds for your dinner."

"When I was in England," said Mrs. Chilton, "I saw, exhibited in a
cage about five feet square, rats, mice, cats and dogs, a hawk, a
guinea pig, a rabbit, some pigeons, an owl and some little birds,
all together, as amiable and merry as possible. Miss Puss sat in the
midst, purring. The others ran over her, or flew upon her head. She
had no thought of hurting them, and they were not afraid of her.

I found, on inquiring, that the way the keeper establishes such
peace and harmony is by systematic and constant gentleness, and by
keeping the animals all well fed. They are called the happy family.

The cage was always surrounded by a crowd of people curious to see
such natural enemies so happy together. Nothing but the law of
kindness could make all those creatures so civil and well behaved to
each other. But I must not forget my anecdotes of that respectable
animal, the cat.

You need not smile; I mean to make you respect, as well as love
cats. There are some men, and many boys who say they are domestic
tigers, that they are sly, that they steal, that you cannot trust
them; that the cat heart is bad, and that there is no harm in boys'
teasing them, since it is no more than cats deserve; that they were
made for us to plague; and that the only good thing they do is to
catch rats and mice.