THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504220039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
WHATEVER VIRTUES Susan Besze Wallace possesses, few are more intriguing than her middle name.
Besze would be a perfect name for a cat.
And that may explain why Wallace, a reporter for the recently defunct Houston Post, has done a very wiley, frolicking and self-indulgent book about cats. Those are qualities one might expect in someone named Besze. And are sure to be found in cats.
Her book is called ``The Cat Book of Virtues'' (The Summit Group, $9.95). It is a collection of snippets and stories about the noble cat. Besze believes cats not only have nine lives but nine virtues as well.
Here are some items in the book that prove her point:
A New York Times editorial:
``Socks Clinton, unlike Madonna, did absolutely nothing to attract the world's attention. Furthermore, he will continue to do absolutely nothing. If guests at the White House hope to see him, he'll probably hide. Anyone who expects him to be cute on command has never met a cat.
``Despite his adoptive family's determined efforts to shield him from the press, Socks Clinton will stay famous all the time Chelsea Clinton's father is in office. Nonetheless, his will remain a cat's life: snoozing followed by eating followed by snoozing followed by pushing corks across the kitchen floor. At times, he may be impelled to claw the leg of a chair. But he will never have to claw his way to the top.''
Anonymous poem: A dog will often steal a bone,
But conscience lets him not alone,
And by his tail his guilt is known.
But cats consider theft a game,
And howsoever you may blame,
Refuse the slightest sign of shame.
From Guinness's Animal Facts and Feats (Gerald L. Wood):
``In 1948, Mincha, a black female cat, ran up a forty-foot tree in Buenos Aires, Argentina, never to climb down to humans again. Food was stretched to her by pole, thanks to the locals. She lived in the treetop six years and even delivered kittens there.''
From The Tiger in the House by Carl Van Vechten:
``She wants her breakfast at a certain hour in the morning; if the door of my bedroom is closed she gives little cries outside. If it is open she enters, puts her forepaws on the edge of my bed close to my face and licks my cheek. If I brush her away, in a few moments she is nibbling my toes. I put an end to this and very shortly she is marching up and down, using me as a highroad.''
Mark Twain: ``A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime.''
Jean Cocteau: ``I love cats because I love my home, and little by little they become its visible soul. A kind of active silence emanates from these furry beasts who appear deaf to order, to appeals, to reproaches, and who move in a completely royal authority through the network of our acts, retaining only those that intrigue or comfort them.''
From Cat Tales by Sara Pitzer: ``What self-respecting cat would permit itself to be clipped and groomed like a poodle, with little ruffs around its ankles and all the hair shaved off its body?''
From Guinness's Animal Facts and Feats:
``An unnamed cat survived three months without food and water in a crate with car parts in Durban, Natal, South Africa, in 1955. . . a kitten sustained fifty-three hours entombed by construction workers in a concrete wall in Skopje, Yugoslavia, in 1974.''
Susan Besze Wallace: ``True intelligence beats any amount of bragging. Cats talk the talk and walk the walk.'' by CNB