With Cats, some say, one rule is true:<br />Don’t speak till you are spoken to.<br />Myself, I do not hold with that —<br />I say, you should ad-dress a Cat.<br />But always keep in mind that he<br />Resents familiarity.<br />I bow, and taking off my hat,<br />Ad-dress him in this form: O Cat!<br />But if he is the Cat next door,<br />Whom I have often met before<br />(He comes to see me in my flat)<br />I greet him with an oopsa Cat!<br />I think I've heard them call him James —<br />But we've not got so far as names.