We are always horrified when our cat Sally catches a mouse, Our motherly heart is wrung with pity when we hear its squeaks.
But when we asked our cat why she did it her explanation was so sensible that we wished we hadn't mentioned it.
She said:—"Cats are born to catch mice.
It is their business in life. It has been estimated that if cats did not catch mice the world would be overrun with vermin. Moreover, if we failed in our obligation to society at least 50 per cent. of us would be destroyed as idle parasites.
"Personally, I am tired of catching mice. There is nothing new to learn, When you have caught one mouse you have caught them all But, like you, I have children to bring up. It is our duty to teach them how to earn their keep and become useful citizens.
"Of course, you won't teach your children io catch mice. You will probably pay a lot of money to have them taught something which is no use to them or anybody else.
"At present I am only catching mice to instruct my children in a difficult technique learned in the hard school of experience. I think I can say without boasting that -every kitten I send out into the world is a fully trained mouser.
"If you still object to it I will ask you to consider three things.
"Do you think it's worse than hunting foxes?
"Would yow like your house full of mice?
"Don't you think it's time you stopped behaving like an old woman?"
—Nat Gubbins in the "Sunday Express."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.