She refused to
take any nourishment, and soon ran away again, with dismal cries. At
length, compelled by hunger, she made her appearance one day at
dinner-time, and continued to visit the house after that, every day, at
about the same hour, but always left as soon as she had eaten the food
that was given her. No one knew where she spent the rest of her time,
until she was found, one day, under the wall of the burying-ground,
close to the grave of her favorite; and so strong was the attachment of
the cat to her lost friend, that, till his parents removed to another
place, nearly five years afterward, she never, except in the severest
winter weather, passed the night any where else than in the
burying-ground, at her little friend's grave.
Here is another story of a cat who exhibited in a similar way her love
for her deceased master. The incidents of this story, which, it is
believed, are strictly true, occurred in the north of Scotland. Some
years ago, a poor man residing in that country, whose habits of life had
always been of the most retired description, giving way to the natural
despondency of his disposition, put an end to his existence. The only
other inmate of his cottage was a favorite cat. When the deed was
discovered, the cat was found assiduously watching over her late
master's body, and it was with some difficulty she could be driven away.
The appalling deed naturally excited a great deal of attention in the
surrounding neighborhood; and on the day after the body was deposited in
the grave, which was made at the outside of the church-yard, a number of
school-boys ventured thither, to view the resting-place of one who had
at times been the subject of village wonder, and whose recent act of
self-destruction was invested with additional interest.
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