<h2 id="c23">MUSIC-LOVING FELINES.</h2>
<p>According to observation, music has
power, not only to soothe the savage or
the troubled breast of civilized man, but
its potency extends to the brute world as
well. Among those animals which appear
to be charmed by musical sounds, it
would seem difficult to find any manifesting
a keener delight than the ordinary
domestic cat.</p>
<p>The London Spectator some months
ago referred to an instance where a cat
showed marked pleasure in a whistled
tune. This recalled to memory the circumstance
of a certain cat, a beautiful
creature with black and ecru stripes,
whose appreciation of the musician’s art
awakened in him inordinate emotion.
Were he within hearing distance of the
piano the eliciting of a few chords was
sufficient to beguile him into the parlor.
When permitted to walk across the keys
he always appeared pleased with his performance.
But he was discriminating
and exhibited decided preferment for vocal
renditions over instrumental. The
“Miserere” from “Il Trovatore” affected
him more deeply than anything else, and
might appear to confirm the theory held
by some that the possession of a soul is
not limited to the human creation.</p>
<p>Settling himself in front of the singer,
he would listen with bated breath and
eyes widely dilated. Never would he
move a muscle, unless after a prolonged
interval in the music, when he would
softly approach the vocalist to caress her
face and neck with his paw or to smooth
her cheek with his own. His coaxings
always had the sought for effect, when
he would once more seat himself with
becoming decorum to imbibe the harmony
which seemed to ravish his being.</p>
<p>This is by no means an isolated instance
of fondness for musical discourse
on the part of cats, though this particular
case affords an extravagant illustration
of that æsthetic sensitiveness which
characterizes probably the whole feline
tribe.</p>
<p><span class="lr"><span class="sc">S. Virginia Levis.</span></span></p>
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