The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (10.1896)

Dogs, Cats, Books, and
the Average Man
A Letter to the Editor

From “The Yellow Dwarf”

Sir :

I hope you will not suspect me of making a bid for his
affection, when I remark that the Average Man loves the Obvious.
By consequence (for, like all unthinking creatures, the duffer’s
logical), by consequence, his attitude towards the Subtle, the
Elusive, when not an attitude of mere torpid indifference, is an
attitude of positive distrust and dislike.

Of this ignoble fact, pretty nearly everything—from the
popularity of beer and skittles, to the popularity of Mr. Hall
Caine’s novels; from the general’s distaste for caviare, to the
general’s neglect of Mr. Henry James’s tales—pretty nearly every-
thing is a reminder. But, to go no further afield, for the moment,
than his own hearthrug, may I ask you to consider a little the
relative positions occupied in the Average Man’s regard by the
Dog and the Cat ?

The Average Man ostentatiously loves the Dog.

The Average Man, when he is not torpidly indifferent to that
princely animal, positively distrusts and dislikes the Cat.

I have used the epithet “princely” with intention, in speaking

of