Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-06-25
FELINES AND CAT LORE.
The place That ssPuss Takes In
Hearthstone History

| tae BIttSDurg DlSpalcn by Nellie BLY,,
together with the following truthful
account Of wonderful cat, has caused
the writer os this article TO look up
the literature OF that mysterious fe-
line. A friend of mine, Mr. Harring-
ton, who resides in Brooklyn, about
seven years ago lived on his farm at
Farmindale, Long Island, 26 miles
from the City of Churches. He had
at that time a pei cat, whom his
daughter had taught many tricks,
such as begging, jumping over the ex-
| tended arm, etc. Holes were made in
her ears, Through which c9lored rib
bons were passed, by way of orns>
ment, and, puss having a habit OF
hunting through the neighboriug
woods, the ribbons woald get caught
in the mderbrush, 50 that the ear
holes tom out, leaving Sits. She
suddenly disappeared one day. Mr..
Harrington removing with his family
TO Brooklyn shortly afterward. Fan
ny, so the cat was called, had passed
from the recollection of the members
of the household, when 10 and behold,
she walked into their city home one
day about three months ago. after az
absence of seven years Where she
had been, and how she had found her
way to the Brooklyn residence was
mystery to the family. There can be
no doubt of her identity. The Sits
are in her ears in the same place, and
she went through, without difficulty
or mistake, the old tricks, and con
Quoted herself as formerly in all her
actions aud habits. She mast now be
about 10 years of age, and had litter
of kittens few aays ago.
The cat is the principal performer
in many stories of folk lore. 1t is
associated with religious rites, as we'll
as with those of witches. The learned
Egyptians w0rshipped the cat as the
Goddess Pasht, the Hame evidently
taken from the feline speech. The
Able Gallant has studied this tongue
and detected more than twenty differ
erent reflections, and was certain that
the cat always uses the same sound to
express the same thing. They surpass
all other animals in singing with
words, and their entrails are used for
the principal musical instrument.
which gives a sound sympathetically
suggestive of its source. '"Thrice the
brindled cat hath mewed, says the
Macbeth witches, when working up
catastrophe. Macbeth had favorite
called Muezzar-tAe name clearly de-
rived from the cat language-which
NO treated with high consideration.
Probably it was she, not the dove,
that whispered in his ear, and inspired
the Koran.
Cats have high place in heraldry,
races and clans having been named
after them. The Gaelic name OF the
Duchess of Sutherland means 'the
great lady of the cat Speaking of
its independence, Ulampfleur says:
MAN has sought the society of the
cat; it is not the cat that has sought
the society of man" Chaufort said
1.-The cat does not caress us, ii caresses
itself on u.s." 1t is a mysterious, Dig
nified, self contained nature. counting
no notice, revealing no emotion, re-
eeiving all attention as a just tribute
to merit, submissive to no whippings,
dignifedly resenting all abuse, having
the courage of entire confidence in
ability to take care of itself, and as
impressive aud impertuable as a sphinx
which has created the belief that it is
being of mysterious and occult
knowledge.
Thus the creature bears a double
character-one as a familiar house,
hold animal, with a propriety for
mice, canary birds and such small
deer; the other as mysterious being,
having strange relations to spirits of
good and evil, to witches, to fate, and
as an iufalliable weather prophet.
The nature of our minds leads us to
think more of her evil propensities;
but all that runs in popular tradition
so the cat, such as stealing to the
cradle and sucking the sleeping baby's
breath, is ridiculously unfounded AS
to the popular belief that the cat has
nine lives, it has some color in the
popular belief of all ages that the cat
has relations with the beings that are
called spirits, and that it haunts the
cat-slayer
Fancy fills the unknown with won
ders, and of the cat it must be said
that of all animals it is the most mYs~
FERROUS. With a combination of the
springiest muscles, it has ever the air
OF repose. Instantly discerning every
thing about, it has the manners OF
observing nothinn. The amount Of
electricity in its fur is another of its
wonderful peculiarities. 1t always
has the look of contemplation and
contentment. Yet this presiding and
protecting divinity of the freside,
| that prefers the chimney corner by
DAY and the warm side of everything,
sallies out into the cold and boisterous
night, and for ought we know, may
be mounted on the shoulder of some
witch, as she rides through the air on
her broomstick to some midnight
orgie; or tabbie may be bent on a
visit of social converse, her natural
modesty preferring the vail of night
and the guardianship of 'the man in
| the moon.
Many are wont to say they hate
cats, and they commend themselves,
ana that they add thereto by saying
! tboA fba,~ l,r~a 1nrc Rot Anp HnOr *