This is a tale not of the black cat but of a Siamese neighbour and is told in illustration of the strange attraction that certain scents have for cats of all kinds. A lady who is both a lover of cats and of flowers tells us that nemophila has an extraordinary fascination for the feline tribe. It happened that, at the time when Siamese came to live with her, she had in her garden a fine bed of nemophila, Remembering that this flower belongs to northern climates and would be unknown near Bangkok, she resolved to see if it would attract Siamese as much as all other cats, although be could never have smelt it before in his life. She picked him up and carried him down the garden. A breath of south wind blowing towards them from the nemophila bed caused him to prick up his ears and look eagerly. Arrived at the bed, the lady set him down by~it. Siamese sniffed long and deeply. Then he nibbled at the flowers, then sniffed again, then fairly lay down and rolled in them. That was his undoing. The bed was covered over with wire netting, and thereafter Siamese could only sit outside it and sniff. If he had never smelt neniophila before, he would make up for lost time as far as circumstances permitted.
Mar. 23.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.