The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-04-09

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harmless, necessary cat"
The story is told of how once at a
splendid banquet at which Lord Rob
erts was the guest of honor he was
seen, in the festivities, to shudder and
grow pale His titled host whispered
to him anxiously:
"Are you ill?"
mo-" replied Lord Roberts, greatly
agitated; but there must be cat in
the ROOM
81 think you are mistaken" said
his host. wondering.
81 cannot be mistaken" returned
the great soldier. "There is a cat
feel It. If You will pardon me ! will
leave the room"
He rose hastily and went into an
adjoining apartment. The servants
were assembled and a search was
made. In a remote corner of the
banquet hall was found a kitten. II
was removed and then Lord Roberts
once more took his place at the table.
This strange obsession has been va
riously explained. Some would think
1t due to prenatal influence. The pres
.ent writer is inclined to think that
cat fear Is analogous to snake fear.
Is Cat Fear the Same as Snake Fear?
We may lay it down as a general
proposition which will hardly be dis
puted. and that all white races have
an inborn horror OF the serpent. -.
This horror can never be eradicated.
IL is in the blood. Moreover, It has
nothing to do with the fear inspired
by the serpent's power to harm and
kill. for II is excited just as much
by the non-venomons as by the veno-
nous snake. In fact, It is not so
much fear as an indescribable loath-
ing.
The mere dread OF injury is a who'll
ly different sensation, and this dread
of injury is all that the dark-skinned
faces feel. Thus, Hindu shuns a
cobra, and is terrified by its presence;
but he Is terrified in precisely the
same and to the very same extent at
the approach of man-eating tiger.
In both cases the quality of his emo
ton is identical.
On the other hand, ms Kipling has
noted In kim" the white man does
not shun the snake because he is
afraid of it, but because II makes
him sick and faint even to look upon
IL.
Now, the particular loathing which
Is excited in all white persons by the
serpent. extends to creatures, or even
10 inanimate objects. which resemble
or suggest the serpent.
The Dread Of Writing Things.
Thus. most of us will shudder and
shrink back when a large eel IS
thrown, writing at our feet. We
know perfectly well that IT Is not a
snake. Yet, we do not like to touch
it, and most OF us do not care to eat
II.
As to objects that are inanimate,
we all know that many OF them are
utterly condemned when we call them
"snaky." Snaky locks, snaky ring
lets. snaky eyes, snaky movements
there are a score of such expressions.
which mean that we regard with re-
pulsion the things TO which they are
applied. Coming TO the point now
a little reflection will show that cat
Is essentially a snaky creature Most
OF us do not realize this, becausee we
lack the observing eye and the habit
OF comparison, we are not ultra SEN
sitive
But just watch a cat as 1t moves
about at ease. as 1t lies in the sun, or
as it curves itself in its usual position
when about to sleep. Its stealthiness.
its sinuosity, the undulations of its
1.-THE body, are all closely comparable
with what we notice in the snake.
II the cat has glosy fur, and IL II
be barred with stripes, there are mo-
ments when the resemblance is so
striking as to almost make us SILVER.
There are many who feel this at
times, but only in a momentary way
and In a special mood.
Others, however. are always con-
scious of it, or, at least. they are
conscious of a feeling of repulsion
which they cannot explain, but which
in all probability represents the SER
pent-dread, the loathing of the snake
and of everything that suggests the
snake, even when ones mind is not
aware of the underlying reason.
II is the dread which explains the
antipathy TO cats which was felt by
Napoleon and Lord Roberts, and
which is felt by many others of less
note, and in a greater or less degree
We may call it cat-fear. IL you like;
but in the last analysis. it is second.