New York City is today (January 3, 2022) experiencing its coldest day yet of a very young winter. I have never much minded the cold. My sentiments on the subject are in accord with those of Justin, one half of The New Leaf Journal’s Justin and Justina fictional dialogue duo: “Cold is a state-of-mind.” But nevertheless, I thought that today would be a fitting day to re-print a poem about a very warm cat from the January 3, 1882 issue of Harper’s Young People. The poem, titled Winter Quarters, comes with no named author (we will have to assume the cat wrote it) and an illustration of a cat in a muff. The cat’s poem requires no introduction or additional commentary.

Reprinting Winter Quarters from Harper’s Young People

Below, you will find the etching that went with the Winter Quarters poem followed by the poem itself.

Etching of a cat in a silver fox muff sitting on a damask chair. It was printed in a January 1882 issue of Harper's Young People to accompany a poem titled "Winter Quarters."

WINTER QUARTERS.

Look at me here in my mistress's muff;
My proper name is Vanity Puff;
My striped coat is, of course, very fair,
But silver-fox has a stylish air.

The muff, you see, is jolly and warm,
And suits a cat that's afraid of storm.
Snow is a nuisance, and cold I hate;
It suits me exactly to sit in state.

On a damask chair with a robe silk-lined,
And comfort take with an easy mind,
While I feel myself an aristocrat,
And not a commonplace household cat.