Description: Selling is a 1938 magazine article about: CATS Title: THE PANTHER OF THE HEARTH Author: Frederick B. Eddy, Formerly President, Siamese Cat Society of America and Empire Cat Club of New York Subtitled "Lithe Grace and Independence of Spirit Contribute to the Appeal of Cats, "The Only Domestic Animal Man Has Never Conquered"” Quoting the first page “Beside me in his favorite chair sits Toby, my Siamese cat. He and I have been friends for more than nine years, but always on a basis of complete equality. Like the rest of his kind, he would tolerate no less honorable a relationship. I have taught him to roll over, as one teaches a dog, but he obeys my command only when it pleases him to do so. He understands me perfectly, yet often when I am most desirous of showing him off he flatly refuses to humor me, merely gazing at me in slightly superior fashion as if to say: "Aren't you making yourself a little ridiculous by being so insistent?" It is this distant attitude, this air of self-sufficient independence and even superiority, that constitutes for numerous cat lovers the unique appeal of their pet. Indeed, many celebrities who have numbered puss among their familiars have felt that the cat was the dispenser of favors rather than the man. "When I play with my cat," observed Montaigne, "who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?" A writer who is widely known as a lover of dogs once put it another way. "The cat," he said, "is the only domestic animal man has never conquered. "Take a human baby, a puppy, and a kitten, put them on the floor and bring danger near. The baby will cry for help. The puppy will roll over on its back, wave its paws in the air, and beg you not to hurt it. But the kitten will arch its back, spit, and prepare to fight. You can't conquer a cat." This gentleman went on to bemoan the trait, remarking that because of its unconquerable nature the cat, unlike the dog, cannot be trained to do any useful work, apart from its purely voluntary pursuit of rats and mice. As to useful work, it is well to reflect that if all the cats in the world should die tomorrow the rodents would come close to inheriting the earth. As long ago as 936 A. D. laws for the protection of cats were passed in Britain, since in safeguarding food from rats and mice they have no equal. During the terrible Black Death epidemic in Europe the relative abundance or scarcity of cats in various localities was found to bear a distinct relation to the prevalence of the scourge, the rat-borne bubonic plague. The United States War Department once engaged "ten necessary cats" to keep rodents from nesting in some 8,000,000 yards of airplane and balloon fabrics-and incidentally received an object lesson in the wholehearted habit of the feline tribe to "increase and multiply." Within a few months the number had risen to "9 cats and 12 kittens," causing the disbursing officer to raise his official eyebrows and write a letter expostulating as follows: "While it is to be admitted that the maintenance of such a force of cats is of advantage and tends to preserve Government property, such a radical increase in the number of cats being maintained at Government expense makes it fitting to inquire where this increase is going to stop, and as to whether or not the attention of these cats has been given entirely to the elimination of rodents; also as to whether this increase, if continued, will not place an undue burden on the Government in view of the probable exhaustion of the supply of rats, and the necessity of purchasing unlimited quantities of cat meat." "The natural increase," came the answer, "had not been foreseen and could not in any way be regulated." Two weeks later the disbursing officer was writing again, this time to protest that…" 7” x 10”, 46 pages, 22 B&W & 25 color photos These are pages from an actual 1938 magazine. 38K2 Please note the flat-rate shipping for my magazine articles. Please see my other auctions and store items for more old articles, advertising pages and non-fiction books. Click Here To Visit My eBay Store: busybeas books and ads Thousands of advertisement pages and old articles Anything I find that looks interesting! Please see my other auctions for more goodies, books and magazines. I'll combine wins to save on postage. Thanks For Looking! Luke 12: 15 Note to CANADIAN purchasers: Since 2007 I've only been charging 5% GST on purchases. Thanks to a recent CRA audit I must change to the full GST/HST charge. Different provinces have different rates, though most are just 5%. My GST/HST number is 84416 2784 RT0001
Price: 9.99 CAD
Location: Hubbards, Nova Scotia
End Time: 2025-01-23T09:36:18.000Z
Shipping Cost: 1.57 CAD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
date of origin: 1938
Modified Item: No
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Animal Class: Cat
Type: magazine article
