realized. In my early days at the meat market I used to slip out on the
sidewalk and try to spell out the words on the daily bulletin blackboards,
such as "Spare ribs, 25 cents," "Best spring lamb, 30 cents," and "Best
rump steak, 45 cents." I used to wait until some plump old lady with a
market basket came along and read these signs. She often scolded, but I
did not then know why. I have since learned that my childhood was in a
time when the high cost of living was in everybody's mouth. As I had
learned so much in that way, I felt that I was able to skip the primary
grade, and so started in with a great deal of confidence to pick up an
education. For instance, the fact that I was allowed to roam in the
various rooms in the evenings permitted me to observe, among other things,
how the earth revolved on its axis. I often proved this fact by tapping a
large globe with my paw and watching Africa chase Asia and Asia in turn
pursue America as it turned swiftly around.

The janitor had an office in the basement, and I was supposed to stay
there during the school session, but I used to creep softly up the
stairway and listen at the class-room doors. Often the door of a
dressing-room chanced to be open and I could enter here and watch through
the crack of the school-room door. I learned to read in this manner, and
took up arithmetic, which was rather difficult, but I studied hard
evenings and made good progress, until I came to vulgar fractions.

Remembering mother's dislike of anything unrefined, however, I closed the
book and did not dare to go on. I fared very well, for the janitor's wife
sent me bread and milk, and occasionally bits of fish and meat. I had the
run of the school at night and consequently could learn a great many
things while prowling around in quest of rats and mice; in fact, I always
managed to catch a few and leave them where they could be seen (I did not
care to eat them) before I settled down to hard study, and so revealed to