listen to you.

Now study the selection as a poem, comparing it with several
typical poems which you have already studied. Remembering your
definition of poetry (page 138), what is the real poetical value of
this delightful composition? Is it a true poem? Find some other
poems written by Dr. Holmes. Bring them to the class and read them
aloud.

Talk with your teacher about the life of Dr. Holmes and about his
prose and poetical works. As a poet, how does he compare with
Longfellow? with Whittier? with Walt Whitman? with Browning?

DOGS AND CATS[36]

Most people agree that the dog has intelligence, a heart, and possibly a
soul; on the other hand, they declare that the cat is a traitor, a
deceiver, an ingrate, a thief. How many persons have I heard say: "Oh, I
can't bear a cat! The cat has no love for its master; it cares only for
the house. I had one once, for I was living in the country, where there
were mice. One day the cook left on the kitchen table a chicken she had
just prepared for cooking; in came the cat, and carried it off, and we
never saw a morsel of it. Oh, I hate cats; I will never have one."

True, the cat is unpopular. Her reputation is bad, and she makes no
effort to improve the general opinion which people have of her. She
cares as little about your opinion as does the Sultan of Turkey.
And--must I confess--this is the very reason I love her.

In this world, no one can long be indifferent to things, whether trivial
or serious--if, indeed, anything is serious. Hence, every person must,
sooner or later, declare himself on the subjects of dogs and cats.

Well, then! I love cats.

Ah, how many times people have said to me, "What! do you love cats?"

"Certainly."

"Well, don't you love dogs better?"

"No, I prefer cats every time."

"Oh, that's very queer!"

The truth is, I would rather have neither cat nor dog. But when I am
obliged to live with one of these beings, I always choose the cat. I
will tell you why.

The cat seems to me to have the manners most necessary to good society.
In her early youth she has all the graces, all the gentleness, all the
unexpectedness that the most artistic imagination could desire. She is
smart; she never loses herself. She is prudent, going everywhere,
looking into everything, breaking nothing.

The cat steals fresh mutton just as the dog steals it, but, unlike the
dog, she takes no delight in carrion