St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-10

yet lily cat 10 tHTOW LII OFcIUOdIu. lOl
wind"
This is an old superstition of the
mariner. 1t would be hard to say how
it originated, but it is probable that it
was originally intended as a sacrifice to
Neptune, the god of the sea; as on land
the gods were prOpitiated by offerings
of the de yOut, SO Jack sought to calm
the sea gods ire by Offering him cat.
The old sailor, even in this advanced
age, regards the cat as veritable
weathers gauge. The old landsman is
often puzzled to account for some of the
strange sea terms, and questions are
often asked as to the meaning of the
word ''cat's-paw.. 1t is simply aquaint
idea of the mariner, who sees in the
the water resemblance to the frOlics
of the cat. Does pussy jump around
good-hum0redly there will be a good
breeze and fair. But when she arches
her back and sweHS her tail, then look
out, for her scOwling look will be as a
calm to the storm it fOreShadOwS, and
the flashes from her eyes but as sparks
: to the blue Streaks of Zig-Zag lightning
which will certainly soon illuminate the
sky: ~
There is nothing so tedious, so aggra-
waiting to the sailor as dead calm. Let
it blow never so hard, let the thunder
roll and the lightning flash as it may,
yet the sailor, wet to the skin and
weeks. stay in the "doldrums." In a
storm the ship at least seems to be do
ing something, though that something
may be nothing but a steady drift to lee
ward, as the ship lays to under close
reefed tOpSails. But in calm she lies
like log on the water, heading all
around the compass, rolling gently in
the ocean swell, the flip-hap of the great
sails alternating with the Swish-swaSh
of the wavelets as the vessel laves her
sides in the water. Only an occasional
cat's-paw disturbs the surface of the
water, filling it for moment like a
PASSING BREATH ON A LADY's MIRROR.
Drift, drift drift, day after day, the
on the waters until the eye becomes
Wearied with the eternal brightness.
| Tile sailors go about their work list
leSsly. Not so the officer OF the deck.
He does not heed the heat nor the
stream OF perspiration pouring down
his face. He PAGES the poop with
quick, nervous tread, whiStling for a;
wind. Yes, he is scanning the horizon
north, south, east and west, and with
his whole soul whistles for wind.
This is another old. old belief of the
sailor. This superstition at least can
not be traced to the Precipitation of the
gods. 1t probably had its origin in the
lmpatlence of the mariner, who, while
his vessel lay becalmed, remembered
with regret the hOarSe moaning and
shrieking and whistling of the wind.
and invOluntarily tried to initiate it.
: And this suppositiOn is strengthened by
the character of the whistling. The
sailor does not whistle ''Annie Laurie"
or any other popular song. 1t is series
of short and long sounds, now high,
now low, like those produced by the
wind blowing in its might through the
ropes and rigging.
Only little while ago
/ was WhiStling to San Antonio
For capful of wind to fill our sail,
And instead of breeze he has sent gale.
So says Longfellow in the Golden
Legend" having doubtless often heard
of the sailors superstition. Whistling
while the wind is blowing is thought to
increase the gale. The privilege of
whiStling is generally confined to the
officer of the deck and the captain, not
that it is actually forbidden TO the sea-
men, but nothing annoyS an officer
more than to hear sailor or boy whis-
lii1lS, dIu IL Is StucIdlly StOpptu ny Tile
polite gift of rOpe-yarn and the dry
request to ste that up Sir Walter
Scott in ''Rokeby'; has the passage:
What gales are sold on Lapland's shore,
How whistle rush bids tempests rear. -.
The custom of selling the wind is
probably here referred to. This is al
most altogether in the past. Still in the
North of Europe and the British isles
there is belief among the fishermen
that the wind is salable, and there is
on record that one Bessie Miller, as late
as 1914, sold wind to the fishermen of
the Hebrides for the sum of sixpence
head.
Sailors have other superstitions in re-
gard to the wind. Perhaps the most
common and possibly the best founded
is in the action of the sea birds. When
they begin to circle around the vessel
in an uneasy and restless manner. sell
dom alighting on the water, it is re-
garded as sure sign of the approach of
a storm, though on shore in some parts
of England there is rhyme which says:
When the birds fly low
Look ont for q hlow