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.

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.

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.

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.

S. Virginia Levis.