Henry Ward Beecher was a 19th-century clergyman, abolitionist, and social reformer. He was pastor at the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn for decades. While advocating for human rights, Beecher was also a fan of cats, and held them to a different standard than he did humans. In fact, Beecher praised cats as being fine examples of their unique place in the world, which is very different from the place of people, and therefore beyond our judgement.
Beecher wrote an essay on cats for his publication, the Christian Union, in 1870, explaining his views and his fondness for the species. It ends with the story of a young boy in Indiana who was worried about his cat. His family was moving to Arkansas and couldn't take the two-year-old queen with them. The boy had thought about sending the cat to Beecher, but his father said they couldn't afford the shipping cost. The story has a happy ending, and you'll be glad you read it, along with the essay, at The Hatching Cat. -via Strange Company
Update: Here's another of Beecher's essays on cats, from 1869.
(Image: Henry Ward Beecher with his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe)