Anthologies of cat tales (13 in 1), an

Mrs. Freeman's story is a subtle symbolic treatment of the theme. In The Blue Dryad the cat is exhibited in his useful capacity as a killer of vermin. A Psychical Invasion is a successful attempt to exploit the undoubted occult powers of the cat. Poe's famous tale paints puss as an avenger of wrongs. In Zut the often inexplicable desire of the cat to change his home has a charming setting. Booth Tarkington in Gipsy has made a brilliant study of a wild city cat, living his own independent life with no apparent means of support. I should state that the ending of the story, which is a chapter from Penrod and Sam, is purely arbitrary. Gipsy, you will be glad to learn, was not drowned. He never would be. If you care to read the rest of his history you must turn to the book from which this excerpt was torn. There seem to be three excellent reasons for including Mark Twain's amusing skit: in the first place it is distinctly entertaining; in the second place Mr. Clemens adored cats to such an extent that it would be impertinent to publish a book of cat stories without including something from his pen; in the third place Dick Baker's Cat[1] celebrates an exceedingly important feline trait, the inability to be duped[Pg xii] twice by the same phenomenon. It is interesting to record that Theodore Roosevelt liked this yarn so much that he named a White House cat, Tom Quartz. Contents MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN: THE CAT, GUY WETMORE CARRYL: ZUT, ALGERNON BLACKWOOD: A PSYCHICAL INVASION, HONORÉ DE BALZAC: THE AFFLICTIONS OF AN ENGLISH CAT (translated from the French by Carl Van Vechten) BOOTH TARKINGTON: GIPSY, G. H. POWELL: THE BLUE DRYAD, MARK TWAIN: DICK BAKER'S CAT, EDGAR ALLAN POE: THE BLACK CAT, THOMAS A. JANVIER: MADAME JOLIC?UR'S CAT, W. H. HUDSON: A FRIENDLY RAT, WILLIAM LIVINGSTON ALDEN: MONTY'S FRIEND, PEGGY BACON: THE QUEEN'S CAT, CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER: CALVIN,