THE SAGACIOUS CAT.
The next evening, when Mr. Lee returned home, he gave Minnie a small
parcel, which he told her was a present from their late visitor. It was
a beautifully bound book, containing many interesting stories on her
favorite subject.
She could not rest until she had persuaded Ida to read it to her. Two
of the incidents are so remarkable, that I shall quote them to close my
book on Minnie's pet cat, hoping my young readers will be encouraged by
these stories to be kind to pussy, and indeed to all the creatures that
God has made.
"De la Croix, a lecturer on experimental philosophy, was one day proving
to his class that no creature could live without air. For this purpose
he placed a cat in a large glass jar, under the receiver of an air
pump, and began to exhaust the air.
"Puss flew about, feeling decidedly uncomfortable, but, after a quick
examination of her situation, saw a small aperture, upon which she
placed her paw.
"The lecturer went on; but puss did not, as he expected, fall down
lifeless. She had discovered a method of preventing the air in the jar
from escaping. When he ceased pumping, she took her paw away; but the
instant he took hold of the handle, she put it there again.
"Finding her too sagacious to be quietly killed, De la Croix was obliged
to send for a less intelligent cat before he could proceed with his
lecture."
"In April, 1831, an exhibition of six cats was opened in Edinboro', by a
company of Italians, which gave astonishing proofs of their
intelligence. They were kept in a large box, and each came forth at the
command of the owner, seeming perfectly to understand its duty. They had
been taught to beat a drum, turn a spit, strike upon an anvil, turn a
coffee roaster, and ring bells.
"Two of them, who seemed to be more sagacious than the rest, drew a
bucket suspended by a pulley, like a draw well. The length of the rope
was about six feet, and they perfectly understood when the bucket was
high enough to stop pulling. Most of the time they stood upright on
their hind legs.
"One of them would turn a wheel when a piece of meat stuck on a spit was
put before it. But the instant the meat was removed, she stopped,
considering the labor needless till the meat was replaced."
Transcriber's Note
The following typographical errors were corrected:
41 I suppose" changed to I suppose,"
95 So well changed to "So well