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The Book of the Cat
The Book of
The Cat
WITH FACSIMILES OF
DRAWINGS IN COLOUR BY
Elisabeth F. Bonsall
AND WITH STORIES AND VERSES
WRITTEN FOR THE PICTURES BY
Mabel Humphrey
New York
Frederick A. Stokes Company
Publishers
COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY.
PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER, 1903.
Snowball and Ebony.
Down at my feet on the red tiles in front of a roaring great fire sit agreat black cat and a soft white Angora pussy. They are named Ebony andSnowball and are as different in nature as they are in colour, but aredevoted friends for all that. Possibly because of it! for where Snowballis timid, Ebony will bravely lead the way; while if Ebony is cross,Snowball will purr and coax and cuddle until he gradually grows peacefuland pleasant again.
From the time he was a tiny kitten Ebony had known no home, and suchfood as he had was picked up when and wherever he chanced to find it. Hehad won many and lost few of his many cat battles, but he did not liketo fight and never did it unless obliged to.
Snowball had never struck or received a blow in all of her carefullyguarded life. She was a finely bred Angora that had taken many prizes atthe cat shows, while her meals—far from being i