With somber, sea-green gaze inscrutable."
It is pleasant to think that the race memory of puss goes farther back in time and farther east in geography than the witchcraft cruelties of Christendom. The Mohammedan faith has been kinder to her than ours. Persia has ever held her in affection. Mahomet cut off the flowing edge of his sleeve rather than disturb Muezza's nap. But most of all her inherent aristocracy springs from those shining centuries by the Nile, when under the protection of the moon-eyed goddess Pasht she was honored in life and embalmed in death. The supreme Ra, the Sun God, was addressed as "the Great Cat," and The Book of the Dead holds the mystic text: "I have heard the mighty word which the Ass spake unto the Cat in the House of Hapt-re."
TO HAMLET, A COLLIE
Strange dog, with terror planted in your heart,
At your dim root of life a piteous dread
Foreboding evil doom, a panic bred
Of some fierce shock to puppy nerves! No art
Home kindness can devise prevents your start,
Wild stare and panting breath at each new tread;