"Ah! doctor," said one, waggishly, "it"s a jolly good thing we drank the bet beforehand."
Black Tom"s queen is usually a very lively lady, and up to any amount of fun and mischief.
_Merits_.--For house-hunting they are the _best_ cats you can have.
They are very beautiful and graceful; and, indeed, a well-bred, well-trained black Tom is a veritable prince of the feline race. The finest cat of this sort I ever saw was at Glasgow Show, "Le Diable" to name. He _was_ a beauty. What att.i.tudes he did! What grace in every movement! and such a colour and coat and eye! I forget now who owned him, but I remember I gave him first prize after only one glance at the others. Black cats are not so easily seen at night, and their hearing is extremely keen; so, likewise, is their eyesight. As a rule, they kill rats and mice more for sport than anything else, and are fonder of tackling larger game. In the field, however, their colour is against them, and makes them a good mark for the keeper"s gun. I prefer seeing black Tom in the parlour, or on a hosier"s counter, or coiled up in a draper"s window.
_Points_.--1. _Size_: You want them large--as large an possible, and with great grace of motion. 2. _Head_: The head is medium-sized, and not too bullety; a sharp nose, however, is an abomination in a black cat. The ears must be rather longish, and shapely, and well-feathered internally, and set _straight_ on. 3. _Eyes_: A brown eye is best, next best is hazel, which in turn is better than green, but green is better than yellow. 4. _Colour_: All black; not even a toe must be white, nor _one hair of the whiskers_. 5. _Pelage_: A beautiful, soft, though not too fine, fur, and inclining rather to length than otherwise, and as sheeny as a boatman beetle.
Points of the black cat.
Size, 15.
Head, 5.
Eyes, 5.
Colour, 15.
Pelage, 10.
Total, 50.
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE BLACK-AND-WHITE CAT AND THE PURE WHITE.
I have been asked to give a few hints as to the best and most useful cla.s.sification for show purposes, and may as well do so here. For a large show, the cla.s.ses can hardly be better arranged than they are in the Crystal Palace catalogue, or that of the Edinburgh or Glasgow Shows.
For smaller shows I beg to suggest the following:--
ONE. Long-haired cats, any colour, male or female.
TWO. Short-haired black and black-and-white, and white.
THREE. Short-haired tabbies, any colour.
FOUR. Short-haired tortoisesh.e.l.l and tortoise-and-white.
FIVE. Anomalous, as Manx, etc.
The first cla.s.s would include Persian, Angora, and other long-haired cats--black, white, tabby, or tortoisesh.e.l.l. The third cla.s.s would include all tabbies--brown, red, and grey or silver. Cla.s.s Four must have tortoisesh.e.l.l-and-white as well as tortoisesh.e.l.l, or it will be a small cla.s.s, owing to the rarity of the pure tortoisesh.e.l.l. The last cla.s.s will give a place to Manx, six-toed cats, wild cats, and hybrids, as well as any curious foreign p.u.s.s.y that may be forthcoming. At all shows you find a great many cats entered in the wrong cla.s.s. I think it a pity that secretaries don"t arrange these in their proper cla.s.ses; it is not right to exclude merit through mistake. In judging, prizes should be withheld where there is no compet.i.tion; and where there is want of merit in any one cla.s.s, some of the prizes should be withdrawn and added to any cla.s.s of _extra_ merit. We come now to the _black-and-white cat_.
A good black-and-white cat is a very n.o.ble-looking animal. If well-trained and looked after, you can hardly have a nicer parlour pet.
He is affectionate in his disposition, and cleanly and gentlemanly, so to speak, and makes himself quite an ornament to a well-furnished drawing-room. I must speak, however, of the demerits of my pets, as well as of their good qualities, and feel constrained to say that I have sometimes found black-and-white Tom a p.u.s.s.y who did not trouble himself too much about his duties as house-cat; he much preferred the parlour to the kitchen, a good bed to a hay-loft, and seemed to think that catching mean little mice was far below his dignity. If well treated black and white cats are apt to turn a little indolent and lazy, and if improperly fed and housed, they degenerate into the most wretched-looking specimens of felinity you ever looked upon. All the bad in their character comes out, and their good qualities are forgotten. Their coat gets dry, and tear, and are cinder-holed; and, instead of the plump, round-faced, clerical-looking cat which used to adorn your parlour window, you have a thin, emaciated, long-nosed, pigeon-loft-hunting, flower-unsc.r.a.ping, dirty, disreputable dunghill cat. Of course, the same may, to a certain extent, be said of most neglected cats, but the two breeds that show to the least advantage, when ill-used, are the black-and-white and the red-and-white, and more especially the former.
_Merits_.--I like these cats more for their appearance than anything else. When nicely marked they look reverend and respectable in the extreme. I consider them but very ordinary p.u.s.s.ies in regard to house-hunting. A naval officer who cannot go to quarters without having his hands encased in white kids, and a black-and-white cat, carry on duty much on a par. Neither do these cats make over good children"s pets, being at times a little selfish. They are beautiful creatures, nevertheless, and well worthy of a place at our parlour firesides.
_Points_.--1. _Size_: As big as possible, but not leggy; reasonably plump for the show-bench, but _very_ graceful in all their motions; with stoutish short forelegs, and plenty of spring in the hindquarters.
2. _Head_: The best black-and-white Toms have large, well-rounded heads, with moderately long ears, and a well-pleased, self-contented expression of face. The whiskers are usually white, but black is not objectionable. The eyes are preferred green, and sparkling like emeralds of the finest water.
3. _Colour and markings_: The colour is black-and-white, with as much of the former, and as little of the latter as you can find. I like to see the nose and cheeks vand.y.k.ed with white, the chin black, white fore-paws, white hind legs and belly, and a white chest. This is all that is needed for beauty"s sake; but, at all events, the markings must be even.
4. _Pelage_: Fur should be longish (and I don"t object to its being ticked all over the back with longer white hairs), silky, and glossy.
Points of the Black-and-White Cat.
Size, 10.
Head, 5.
Colour and markings, 25.
Pelage, 10.
Total, 50.
The next cat on the boards is the white cat.
It is very remarkable--and most students of feline nature must have had an opportunity of observing this--the great difference in the temperament, const.i.tution, and nature of cats, which colour alone, apparently, has the power of truly indicating; and this is nowhere more easily seen than in the peculiar characteristics of the pure black p.u.s.s.y and the all-white one. The black cat, on the one hand, is bold, and free, and fierce; the white, far from brave, more fond of petting and society, and as gentle as a little white mouse. The black cat is full of life and daring; the white of a much quieter and more loving disposition. The black cat stands but little "cuddling;" the white would like to be always nursed. It takes but little pains to teach a black cat to be perfectly cleanly, but much more to train a pure white one. In const.i.tution the black cat is much more hardy and lasting, the white cat being often delicate, and longing apparently for a sunnier clime. A black cat is often afflicted with _kleptomania_, while a properly-educated white puss is as honest as the day is long.
The senses of the black cat are nearly always in a state of perfection, while the white is often deaf, and at times a little blind. Again there is nothing demoniacal about a white cat, as there often is about a black one. I remember, when a little boy at the grammar school of Aberdeen, receiving a box from the country containing lots of good things, and marked, "A Present from m.u.f.fle"--m.u.f.fle was a pet tabby of mine--and, childlike, replying in verse, the last lines of the "poem" being--
"And when at last Death"s withering arms Shall throw his mantle thee around, May angel catties carry thee To the happy hunting-ground."
Well, a blue-eyed white p.u.s.s.y was my idea of an "angel cattie" then, and it is not altered still.
It will be observed, however, that the colour of the kittens of the same litter will often differ, and the question naturally comes to be asked, Do I a.s.sert that the nature and temperament of cats in the same litter will not coincide? I do so aver most unhesitatingly; and the thing is easily explained if you bear in mind that a litter of differently-coloured kittens has had but _one_ mother, but _many_ fathers. Although born from the same mother in one day, they stand in the relation to each other of half-brothers and half-sisters. Except when the odds in colour is very distinct, as in black, white, or red, the difference in const.i.tution, etc, will not be so easily perceived, but it is there, nevertheless. _Colour follows the breed, and temper and quality follow colour_. This is the same all throughout nature, and is often observed, though but little studied, by dog fanciers. I have only to remind pointer and setter men, how often hardiness and good stamp cling to certain colours. That "G.o.d tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," I believe to be merely metaphor, but I am ready to go to death on it that He paints the petals of the flower and the blossoms on the fruit-tree, to the requirements of the tender seedlings. What sort of fruit would you grow in the dark, or under deeply-coloured gla.s.s shades?
Lest I be found guilty of digression, I shall say no more now on this subject.
_Merits of the White Cat_.--A _pet_, gentle and loving above a cat of any other colour, though at times dull, and cross, and wayward; "given,"
as a lady said, "to moods of melancholy." Not a bad mouser either, when "i" th" vein," and a good cat for a miller to have, not being easily seen among sacks of flour.
_Points_.--1. _Size_: Seldom a large cat. 2. _Head_: Smallish, and as nicely rounded as possible; ears not too long, and well-feathered internally; eyes of "himmel-blue;" eyes ought to be both the same colour--if not so, deduct five points. 3. _Pelage_: Fine, soft, and glossy; but a too long coat shows a cross with Angora. 4. _Colour_: White as driven snow, if intended for a show cat; if not, a very little black wonderfully improves the const.i.tution.
Points of the White Cat.
Size, 5.
Head and eyes, 15.
Colour, 25.
Pelage, 5.
Total, 50.
CHAPTER SIX.
THE BLUE CAT; AND TABBIES--RED, BROWN, SPOTTED, AND SILVER.