THE REV. J. a WOOD ON DOMESTIC PETS.*

Iv Petland Revisited we have another of Mr. Wood's delightful books about animals. The great charm of his writing is that he treats of members of the animal, and even of the reptile and insect worlds, not as he would of species, or of families, but as individuals. The following short passage indicates the spirit, and is an admirable example of the whole book. Mr. Wood is speaking of his cat, Pret,' who was one of the prominent characters in his former book, Petland :—" The breed is of French origin, and is, I believe, called chinchilla' by fanciers, on account of the softness and colour of the fur. But I know and care nothing about fancy,' and the points of fancy' animals, whether they be cats, dogs, poultry, pigeons, or singing-birds." Thus briefly he disposes of all that part of the question, and applies himself to individual creatures, whether cat, dog, spider, butterfly, tortoise, or what not.

This volume is divided into three distinct portions. The first part deals exclusively with cats, the second with dogs, and the third with "unconventional pets." To our minds, the section devoted to dogs is by far the most interesting, though Mr. Wood contends that cats are in all respects equal to dogs. We cannot help thinking that there cannot be a clearer demonstration of the error of this assertion than Mr. Wood's own book. The anecdotes he relates of cats are certainly very amusing and inter- esting, and very wonderful; but we add to ourselves " wonderful for cats," for they do not compare in any way with the anecdotes of dogs which follow them. Mr. Wood is of opinion that the excessive sensitiveness and nervous excitability of cats is the cause of the lack of appreciation they meet with from man- kind. The nerves of some creatures are so highly strung, that it is scarcely possible to treat them with sufficient gentleness to secure their complete confidence, and therefore the capabilities of their natures remain always unknown to us. Mr. Wood puts his theory into practice in the case of his own pet cat, Pret ;' and he certainly deserved success in his experi- ment, for Pret ' was treated by him with more than the fore- thought and indulgence which would usually be shown by a parent ; and in return, ' Pret ' gave to him his warmest affection and most complete confidence, and—more than the trouble of a .child. It does not appear to us, however, that even this favoured

Petland Revisited. By the Be,. J. G. Wood. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

cat reached the level to which many dogs have risen under less auspicious circumstances. Mr. Wood also gives it as his opinion that cats are more special and exclusive in their

affections than dogs, and says that, whereas a dog loves every one indiscriminately who is fairly kind to it, a cat only loves one

person, and only that one if he or she understands its exceed- ingly sensitive temperament, but that that one it loves devotedly and relies on implicitly. Most cats, Mr. Wood says, have to pass their little existences without meeting any one who responds to the calls made upon their sympathies. In this last remark we heartily agree with Mr. Wood; but we should reverse the first proposition. It is the cat generally that com- placently takes its place, purring friendlily, on the knee of any amiable stranger, and the dog generally that gives its exclusive devotion to its own master. Still, though not going so far as Mr Wood goes, in placing the cat on a level with the dog, we entirely concur with him when he says that cats are very sensi- tive creatures, very little understood and poorly appreciated by the generality of people, and allowed to suffer untold miseries without exciting interest enough to stir up the humane to their protection. Mr. Wood dwells especially upon the fate of cats in town-houses periodically vacated by their inhabitants, who leave them in the hands of a " care-taker " on board-wages, utterly regardless of the destiny awaiting "the cat" under such circumstances. The cat, accustomed to her daily meals, her fireside and her comfortable bed, finds herself suddenly without food and without a home. In London she is too often snapped up by those horrible wretches who kill cats for the sake of their

skins. It is thought necessary that the skin shoal be stripped from the body while it is still warm, and too many instances have been known of cats nailed while alive to a board, the skin torn from the body, and the still breathing animal flung aside to die. Should she escape such a fate—or, still worse, that of being dissected alive for the sake of " science "—she becomes, among cats, what the " street-arab " is among children. She prowls about the squares, catching birds where she can ; when there are no birds, slinking into houses and stealing, fearing the voice or step of a human being, and totally altered in looks and

character.

Such, no doubt, is the melancholy fate of many a quondam pet, and very shocking it is to think of the suffering which really kind people allow to overtake the animals dependent upon them from sheer thoughtlessness alone. Mr. Wood relates one very remarkable anecdote of a cat that was born and lived for some time on the West Coast of Scotland, and whose master re- moved subsequently to a farm on the East Coast :—

" There were no cross-railways in those days, so that the man had to take all his goods and implements by ship, and thinking to do the cat a kindness, he left her in her old home. Some weeks after he had settled down in his farm he came home from hie work, and found hie cat waiting for him. How she had found out his residence, and how she crossed the wild country, which she had never seen, and which is cut up by lakes and mountains, it is impossible to say."

Those who have followed the fortunes of 'Pret ' with interest in Petland, will find the end of his career, as told in Petlatul Revisited, no less interesting. Pret's ' tastes were peculiar ; he had a violent predilection for food well saturated with cayenne pepper. But the peculiarity of his tastes was not more unique

than the depth of his gratitude :—

" Ho is, with regard to his meals, a most grateful cat ; and, how- ever hungry he may be, never thinks of eating until he has purred his thanks, and rubbed his head against my band. This trait of character was once displayed in a most affecting manner. One day Fret' had been shut-up in the loft, on account of a lady visitor who had a strange antipathy to cats. I was gone to town that day, and did not return till after midnight. As I was going upstabs I heard Fret's' voice calling me in a very anxious manner, and, on inquiry, I found that the poor cat had been forgotten, and had been shut up during the whole day without a morsel of food or a drop of milk. Of course, I immediately procured some milk and meat for him, and carried it up to him. The poor creature was half-wild with happiness when he heard my footsteps, and on seeing the plate of meat and saucer of milk he flew at them like a mad thing. But scarcely had he lapped a drop of milk when he left the saucer, came up to me with loud purring, and caressed me, as if to express his thanks. Then he went to the plate, but only just touched it with his nose, and again came to thank me for having attended to his wants both of food and drink. It quite brought the moisture to my eyes to see the affectionate creature, though nearly wild with hunger and thirst, refraining from enjoying his food until he had returned thanks."

Wonderfully touching as this trait in Pret's ' character is, it does not equal in pathos the closing episode in the life of a little Scotch terrier, which is one of the most affecting little stories we have ever read When, in 1866, my niece, Miss Janet S. H—g, was at the boarding-school of Miss H—, Avenue de Neuilly, she had lessons in painting from M. H—n. At the beginning of the session, he told my niece a few anecdotes about his little Scotch terrier, called Medore.' He was obliged to leave Paris for a time, and not being able to take the dog with him, left it in charge of a friend. By some curious chance the friend was called suddenly to St. Petersburg, and, not knowing what to do with the little creature, took it with him. Both man and doe.' reached St. Petersburg safely ; but shortly after their arrival the dog was lost, and, though every effort was made to recover it, M. H—n's friend was obliged to write and say that M6dore ' was hopelessly lost. About the end of May, some months after the letter had been received, M. H—n came as usual to give his lesson. He seemed in great grief, and in broken accents asked to be excused from giving the lesson, as he was quite incapable of it. ` My poor little dog ! my poor little dog !' was all that he could say for some time. At last, being encouraged by his pupil's sympathy, he told her the whole story. For some time a miserable, half-starved dog, covered with scars and bruises, had per-

sisted in scraping at his door ; and the servants, being annoyed by its persistence, kicked the dog downstairs repeatedly. But as soon as it recovered from its fall it returned to the door, and renewed the scratching. Whenever Mr. H—n entered or left the house,

the dog kept jumping upon him and trying in every way to attract his attention. °At last an idea flashed across his mind. Could this disreputable-looking animal be by any possible chance

the dog which had been lost at St. Petersburg ? He fixed his eyes upon it, and said, Medore !' The dog gave a piercing cry, and fell at his feet. He picked it up, carried it into the house, and laid it gently on a sofa. But ` M6dore ' was dead."

Any one who can fail to appreciate the intense pathos of this little story, the cruel trial to the little animal who had

travelled alone those thousands of weary miles to have to plead so long to his own master for recognition, and

the feelings of the poor master when he realised the suffering he had caused to his faithful little dog—suffering a hundred times more bitter, we venture to affirm, than all the trials and privations of the road—must carry a heart in his bosom with a blind side for the animal world around him. Unfortunately, we believe, there are many such persons in the world ; many who are utterly incapable of feeling for the pains or pleasures of the brute creation ; who, in fact, have not awakened to the fact that animals can feel genuine love. In many cases, we believe sincerely that this state of mind arises from no fault in the individuals who exhibit it, but from a species of mental blindness, which we hope the growing con- cern for animals in the present day may do mach to cure. But, quite putting aside the case of all creatures that are exposed to absolute cruelty or brutality, how much suffering does not this mental blindness cause to countless small animals, —" pets " as they are erroneously (or ironically ?) called ? How many little birds are left in dark—often empty— rooms, fed perhaps regularly, perhaps irregularly, but never spoken to, never caressed, left alone to chirp their little song into vacancy, when a little notice, a little attention, would be so richly repaid ! The little wings would flutter with pleasure, and the little throats swell with musical gratitude, when the step only of the kind friend approached. The little trouble of carrying the " pet " to the sunny side of the house, to a room where its friends are sitting, would open a veritable paradise to the little prisoner, de- barred from its free life and its flights under the blue sky. Just in the same way, a dog or a cat lives out its days without a pat or a loving word, when a little real kindness and thought rarely fails to be repaid ten-fold. But,' it may be objected, ' one cannot show love to animals when one

does not feel it No, certainly not,' we answer. But then, why have them ?' The cat you may insist upon to keep away mice, and the dog to guard the house ; but why the " pets " ? Those who do not feel the power in themselves to make an animal happy— really happy, not merely to keep it alive—should not have one. Many persons who would refuse a plant because it would not get sun or air enough in their house, would not think of re- fusing an animal on the ground that it would not get happiness

enough. In this context we will quote part of the concluding passage of Mr. Wood's volume :—

" Man is the highest being that the lower creatures can compre- hend, and stands before them as a visible deity, bearing in his hands illimitable power to bless, to injure, or to destroy. It is a high posi-

tion, and carries with it no light responsibility The Divine law of universal love endures no limits, and refuses to be confined within the narrow boundaries of creed, race, locality, or rank ; and we are bound by the very conditions of existence to reflect, however feebly, the beams of Divine love so lavishly poured on ourselves."

We cannot refrain from quoting one more anecdote of a very different character to that of little Mame.' The conduct of

More' was a wonderful evidence of the depth and tenacity of a dog's affections; and the story of the collie, which we are

about to relate, is a no less wonderful evidence of the subtlety and sagacity which a dog is capable of exhibiting, though it was, in this case, of a most uncanny nature :—

" A dog belonging to the B—'s, which was a great favourite of theirs, and regarded as of thoroughly irreproachable training, was charged by some of their neighbours with worrying sheep at night. The family rebutted this charge, on the ground that the dog was fastened into their kitchen at night, and was never let out until the servants came down in the morning. The farmers, however, persisted that they knew the dog well, and had seen him going from the sheep- fold, though he had managed to escape them. When this was urged so strongly as to make it imperative on the B—'s to take some further steps, one of the daughters volunteered to sleep in the kitchen and watch the dog's behaviour. When they made-up the younglady's bed the dog looked very restless and strange, but by-and-bye he settled down, and all was silent. A little after midnight he got up, came to the bed, and sniffed about till he was satisfied that the lady was not awake. Then he leaped into the window seat, lifted the catch of the shutters, and opened them. Then be undid the latch of the window, which he opened, and then disappeared. After a long interval he came back, closed and fastened the window and shutters, and finished by licking his own feet and the marks which he had left by springing on the floor. To the terror of the seeming sleeper he now came and closely scrutinised her ; but she kept still, and he at last went off to his own bed. As soon as she heard the servants stirring, the lady rose softly, and slipped through the door. But the guilty dog had marked her. He sprang up and made a dash at her with undisguised fury, for be saw that his secret had been discovered and his character blasted by one whom be now regarded as a hateful spy. Fortunately she got the door fast shut in time, and at once alarmed the house. But the dog was now so furious that no one dared to go into the kitchen, and at last a gun was brought, pointed through an aperture, and he was shot dead."

Although descriptions and little histories of " unconventional pets" occupy nearly half this volume, we shall be obliged to give them very scant notice, as we have already outrun our space; but we may assure our readers that they are very well worthy of their perusal. A multitude of small animals, reptiles and insects are discussed in a most interesting and amusing manner,—even 'butterflies, when in skilful and sympathetic keeping, giving evidence of intelligence and affection—two having been the pets of one lady for eighteen months. The chameleon has been studied carefully by Mr. Wood ; and he gives it as his opinion that many of these reptiles die, when in captivity, from thirst. They cannot drink in the ordinary way out of a saucer or any vessel ; but they imbibe quantities of moisture when it is poured upon the branch of the tree upon which they live. The illustrations in Petland Revisited are many of them very pretty, and the book would make an excellent Christmas present to any lover of animals.