Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-11-06
THE BLACK CAT.
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE.

| For the most Wild yet most homely mar.
rative which [ am about to pen, | neither
expect nor solicit belief Mad, indeed,
would be to expect it in case where my
very senses reject their own evidence. Yet
mad am l not-and very surely do l not
dream. But tomorrow die, and to-day
would unburthen my soul. My immediate
purpose is to place before the world plainly,
succinctly, and without comment series
of mere household events. In their conse-
quences these events have terrifed-have
tortured-have destroyed me. Yet l will
not attempt to expound them. To me they
have presented little but horror-to many
they will seem less terrible than barQques
Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be
found which will reduce my phantasm to
the common place-some intellect more
calm, more logical, and far less excitable
than my QEn. which will perceive, in the
circumstances I detail with awe, nothing
more than an ordinary succession of very
natural causes and effects.
From my infancy l was noted for the do
cility and humanity of my disposition. My
tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous
as to make me the jest of my companions.
was esDeniallv fond Of n,-;.-,-ls- sd :pas
INDUCED by my parents with great variety
of pets. With these l spent most of my
time, and never was so happy as when
feeding and caressng them. This peculiar.
ity of character grew with my growth, and
in my manhood | derived from it one of
my principal sources of pleasure. To those
who have cherished an affection for faith
full and sagacious dog, l need hardly be at
the trouble of explaining the nature or the
intensity of the qualification thus deriva-
BILE. There is something in the unselfish
and self-sacriicing love of brute which
goes directly to the heart Of him who has
had frequent occasion to test the paltry
| friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere
man.
married early, and was happy to find
in my wife a disposition not uncongenial
with my own. Observing my partiality for
domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of
procuring those Of the most agreeable kind.
We had birds, gold fish, fine dog, rabbits,
a,small monkey, and a cat.
This latter was remarkably large and
beautiful animal, entirely black, and saga
cious to an astonishing degree. In speak
ing of his intelligence, my wife, who at
heart was not little tin tured with super
stition, made feqnent allusion to the an
cient popular notion which regarded all
black cats as witches in disguise. Not
that she was ever serious upon this point,
and / mention this matter at all for no bet
ter reason than that it happens just now to
be remembered.
Plut0-this was the cats name-was nv
favorite pet and playmate. l alone fed him,
and he attended me whenever | went alb ut
the house. 1t was even with difficulty that
| could prevent him from following me
through the streets.
Our friendship lasted in this manner for
several years, during which my general
temperament and character-through the
instrumeutality of the fiend intemperance
had q blush to confess it) experienced a
radical alteration for the worse. l grew,
day by day, more moody, more irritable,
more regardless of the feelings of others
suffered myself to use intemperate Ian
guage to my wife, At length, l even Of
fered her personal violence. My pets, of
course, were made to feel the change in my
disposition. not only neglected, but ill
used them. For Pluto, however, I still re-
tained sufficient regard to restrain me from
maltreating him, as made no scruple of
maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or
even the dog, when, by accident or through
affection, they came in my way. But my
disease grew upon me-for what disease is
like alcohol land at length even Pluto be-
gan to experience the effects of my ill
temper.
One night returning home much intoxi-
Gated from one of my haunts about town,
| fancied that the cat avoided my presence.
seized him, when, in his fright at my vio-
lence, he inflicted slight wound upon my
hand with his teeth. The fury of demon
instantly possessed me. I knew myself no
to take its flight from my body, and more
thrilled every fibre of my frame. l took
opened it, grasped the poor beast by the
throat, and deliberately cut one of it's eyes
from the socket blush, l burn, shud-
der while l pen the damnabie atrocity.
When reason returned with the morning
when l had slept off the fumes of the
nights debauch-I experienced sentiment
half of horror, half of remorse, for the
crime of which had been guilty, but it
was at best a feeble and equivocal feeling,
and the soul remained untouched. l again
plunged into excess, and soon drowned in
wine all memory of the deed.
In the meantime the cat slowly recovered.
The socket of the lost eye presented, it is
true, a frightful appearance, but no longer
appeared to suffer any pain. He went about
the house as usual, but, as might be ex-
pected, fled in extreme terror at my ap-
proach. had so much of my old heart
left as to be at first grieved by this evident
dislike on the part of a creature which
had once so loved me.
But this feeling soon gave place to irri-
tation; and then came, as if to my final
and irreyocable overthrow, the spirit of per-
verseness. Or this spirit philosophy takes
no account. Yet am not more sure that
my soul lives than am that perverseness
is one of the primitive impulses of the hui
man heart; one of the indivisible primary
to the character of man. Who has not a