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- The cat which died of grief
A lady in France possessed a cat which exhibited great affection for her. She accompanied her everywhere, and when she sat down always lay at her feet. From no other hands than those of her mistress would she take food, nor would she allow any one else to fondle her. The lady kept a number of tame birds; but the cat, though she would willingly have caught and eaten strange birds, never injured one of them. At last the lady fell ill, when nothing could induce the cat to leave her chamber; and on her death, the attendants had to carry away the poor animal by force. The next morning, however, she was found in the room of death, creeping slowly about, and mewing piteously. After the funeral, the faithful cat made her escape from the house, and was at length discovered stretched out lifeless above the grave of her mistress, having evidently died of a broken heart. - Harriet Martineau
Harriet Martineau - Study of a cat from nature
Study of a cat from nature - Lynx in a tree
Lynx in a tree - The Cat and the Knocker
When you see Puss seated by the fireside, blinking her eyes, and looking very wise, you may often ask, “I wonder what she can be thinking about.” Just then, probably, she is thinking about nothing at all; but if you were to turn her out of doors into the cold, and shut the door in her face, she would instantly begin to think, “How can I best get in again?” And she would run round and round the house, trying to find a door or window open by which she might re-enter it. I once heard of a cat which exerted a considerable amount of reason under these very circumstances. The house is situated in the country, and there is a door with a small porch opening on a flower-garden. Very often when this door was shut, little Deb was left outside; and on such occasions she used to mew as loudly as she could to beg for admittance. Occasionally she was not heard; but instead of running away, and trying to find some other home, she used patiently to ensconce herself in a corner of the window-sill, and wait till some person came to the house, who, on knocking at the door, found immediate attention. Many a day, no doubt, little Deb sat there on the window-sill and watched this proceeding, gazing at the knocker, and wondering what it had to do with getting the door open. A month passed away, and little Deb grew from a kitten into a full-sized cat. Many a weary hour was passed in her corner. At length Deb arrived at the conclusion that if she could manage to make the knocker sound a rap-a-tap-tap on the door, the noise would summon the servant, and she would gain admittance as well as the guests who came to the house. One day Deb had been shut out, when Mary, the maidservant, who was sitting industriously stitching away, heard a rap-a-tap at the front door, announcing the arrival, as she supposed, of a visitor. Putting down her work, she hurried to the door and lifted the latch; but no one was there except Deb, who at that moment leaped off the window-sill and entered the house. Mary looked along the road, up and down on either side, thinking that some person must have knocked and gone away; but no one was in sight. The following day the same thing happened, but it occurred several times before any one suspected that Deb could possibly have lifted the knocker. At length Mary told her mistress what she suspected, and one of the family hid in the shrubbery to watch Deb’s proceedings. Deb was allowed to run out in the garden, and the door was closed. After a time the little creature was seen to climb up on the window-sill, and then to rear herself on her hind-feet, in an oblique position at the full stretch of her body, when, steadying herself with one front paw, with the other she raised the knocker; and Mary, who was on the watch, instantly ran to the door and let her in. Deb’s knock now became as well-known to the servant as that of any other member of the family, and, no doubt to her great satisfaction, it usually met with prompt attention. [Edited slightly] - Rolling on the crimson rug
- Two kittens playing
- Kittens and Cats
A mother cat with her three kittens - Cat stalking a bird
- Two cats running
Two cats running - A Cats Eye
A Cats Eye - Cat sitting on some cloth
Cat sitting on some cloth - Cat cleaning itself
Cat cleaning itself - Two cats
Two cats - Cat looking back
- Cat Eating
- Cat licking its paw
- Affection
Affection - Cat looking at the moon
- Girl holding a cuddly cat
Girl holding a cuddly cat - Bobcat
Bobcat crouching - Cat going down stairs
- Cat having a good yawn
- Cat on an old book
Cat on an old book - Kitten with paw up
- Cat sleeping in its bed
- Cat in tree
Cat in tree - Cat having a stretch
- Cat looking over a wall
- Kitten thinking
- A Cats Eye
A Cats Eye - Cat and Shadow
- Cat
- Kitten practicing a snarl
- Cat lying on its back
- Two kittens play fighting
- Other Pets
A cat looking at fish in a fishbowl - Cat cleaning itself
- Cat Sitting up
- Cat with its shadow
- Cat sitting pretty
- Two kittens playing on a suitcase
- Two kittens
- Cat slinking along
- Kitten looking down
- Cat climbing into basket
- Cat sitting on a fence
- Cat watching a bug
- Cat
Cat - Kitten laying down
- Kitten and dragonfly
- Kitten climbing
- Kitten
- Kitten with paw out
- Cute Kitten
- The End
- Cat and Lunch
- Head of Royal Bengal Tiger
- Friends
- Cuddling the cats