The Portland daily press., 1883-02-22
One of the Penates..
[Harper's Bazar.l


abuse that the family cat receives at the
hands of the general world. We do no
speak of those who starye her, those whet
turn her outdoors at night, who go away
for the season in the country and leave
her to forage for herself, but of those who
simply slander her by injurious report. Ac-
cording to these scandalous people, the cat
is without beauty and without affection
she is ungrateful, cruel, stupid, treacherous.
and dishonest. Strange that on such a
worse than worthless being should be Law
ished the religious worship OF nations and
so much of the household love of uncount-
ed individuals as poor Pussy has received
But let us look at the charges. Without
beauty? She is being whose outlines are
beauty itself; she is a succession of supple
curves, and every curve obeys the law of the
line of beauty, and all that beauty is height
ened by the further beauty of gloss and
movement. How brilliant are those eyes,
likeness to which gives value to the jewel
now in most request-the cats eye quartz,
that otherwise were a worthless pebble
She is clad in furs shining with life, and
which, while upon her, are incomparably su-
perior to those dead furs which princess is
proud to wear. Every motion is grace, and
whether she is black or white, or gray, or
tortoise-shell, every tint she assumes is a
pure and charming one. Is she without
affections When she goes to meet her chos-
en- friends in the family and fawn about
their feet, when she caresses them in their
sickness, and sometimes dies broken-heart-
ed in their death, it would seem to manifest
love for them. When she suffers little chill
dren to lift her by the tail and carry her
round by the heels, dress her up in caps and
aprons as doll, and infict upon her a
thousand well-meant pains, it looks as
though she loved them. There are innumer-
able instances on record of the affection of
cats for children, and entirely contradictory
of the outrageous old notion of their sucking
the breath of babies. Puss, indeed, often
makes her nest in the cradle, but not be-
cause she loves the little milky breath, nor
because she loves the warmth, but because
she loves the baby. She has been known to
fly at the biggest and most ferocous dog en-
tering the room where her little friend Law
sleeping; to jump from the cradle when the
ing and standing with her fore-feet on the
cradles edge, nervous and anxious till the
mother took up the child; and one belong
ing to Mrs. Wilson, of Cults, near Aberdeen.
Scotland, once accosted his mistress with
piteous meaows, running repeatedly to the
door, and endeavoring to fetch her with him,
and finally succeeding, when the lady found
her sick and feeble child rolled from the So
ia where it had been left, and So enyeIoped
in the rugs and wraps that it would present.
ly have suffocated if help had not been
brought by the cat. When, moreover the
cat conquers her hereditary attachment to
places, and follows persons about in their
peregrinations, it cannot be because she
loves to travel. Dr. Stables, surgeon Of
the British navy, tells us of his cat, which,
although at six years old the mother of a
hundred kittens, yet found time to accom-
pany him in all his travels, having Jour
neyed over twenty thousand miles in his
company, usually bestowing herself, when
she judged that it was fitting time, in the
little basket that carried her. but on one oc-
casion, having taken so long an airing before
starting her master was obliged to leave
without her, she hailed him, as he walked
along the railway platform, from a first-class
carriage that she had thought it best to take
to save time.
But when people say that Puss is cruel
they forget that all carnivorous animals, and
man among them, are cruel too. Yet Puss
is sometimes more Yirtuous than man in
this regard, and will live for years with the
tempting morsel of bird playing about her,
disputing her dinner, and alghting on her
very head. Dr. Good told long ago of one
that had lived at peace with tame canary,
suddenly, to the horror of the family sefzing
1t in her mouth and springing to the top of
tall secretary, whereupon it was found that
strange cat had entered the room, which
authenticated fact from scientific authority.
must be held to dispose of the accusations
both OF cruelty and stupidity if there were
not other instances in plenty to do the
same.
As for the treachery and dishonesty of
Fuss, which may be classed under the same
head, that charge is simply libelous. The
cat is naturally hunter. If you take her
away from her hunting fields and expect her
to live the civilized life of the parlor, she
must be fed regularly, as any other civilized
being must be. The best of us, when fam
ishing or when simply hungry, can be
tempted to help ourselves. What credit to
this little dumb creature, then, that she
does not do it oftener! The cook would
have whipped Puss for eating some of the
oysters. Sand what for" said the table
girl, "when he did the dacent thing to lave
any?" There are really few honester per-
sons than well trained and well treated
property, as any grocer who keeps his pet
parading on the counter can tell you Whv
we should expect those little furry paws to
keep themselves from picking and steal |
ing any more than our own fingers, in like |
circumstances, is not to be explained by
merely calling names.
Certainly cats are to every household
where they are loved at all part of the
Lares and Penates, and to such households
1t is no matter of marvel that the Egyptians
deided them, and laid their poor little car
casses away at last with all the honors
given to the royal mummy. But it was not |
merely as the friend of the hearth that this |
was done; for Egypt was the land of grain. |
and the enemy of rats and mice preserved il |
from incalculable loss. In our own country. |
where it can hardly be denied that such |
vermin cost many thousand dollars worth |
of damage yearly, the cat is no less valuable |
an animal than she was in ancient Egypt,
and if she is not deifed, she should certainly |
be treated with indulgence and respect.