19 OCTOBER 1945, Page 14

FIRST CATCH YOUR MAID

Snt,—Mr. Gardner in his witty article was concerned with the problem of swinging cats, and the inevitable indignity to that proud and reserved creature. Surely, the old saying relates to a cat of nine tails and not to a cat of nine lives. Even so, why our ancestors should be so anxious to brandish whips in their homes remains something of a mystery. Was it a question of preserving discipline among the domestic staff? That might suggest another reason why the housemaid, so it is reported, has joined the hansom cab, in Madame Tussaiiirs as a specimen of an extinct race.—