New-York tribune., 1909-09-05
"P0OR PUSSY" LOSES CASTE THROUGH GOVERNMENT ACTION

women. Thus. J. Hampden Porter got the fol-
lowing tale first hand from people who believed
in 1t. and which 1 quote from The Journal Of
American Folk Lore:
M II. owned a mill among the Smoky Noun
taips in Georgia. Three OF his millers died sue
cessiveiy OF some obscure disease that puzzled
the doctors. After q while people felt afraid OF
going into the place. which became vacant But
one OF the neighbors. who lived down the stream
volunteered to run the mill The first evening
while kindling q fire on the hearth. a brindled
cat sprang out OF the chimney and quietly took
place In a dark corner near the door. BY and
by the cat got up and walled at the door. claw
ing 10 be let out. She rubbed against the mans
legs. and looked UP him. Then his worst
fears realized and seizng an axe he
struck at her. cutting off one paw. With a wild.
half human scream. the creature darted up the
chimney and disappeared. while he. thoroughly
nnerNed. fastened home, and found that hs
wife had bled to death from severed hand"
These superstitions with regard 10 cats have
served In a measure 10 protect them. and among
the peasantry. both throughout Europe and in
America. as well as among the seafaring classes.
the killing OF cat is supposed to bring mis-
fortune. II remains to he seen to what extent
this belief win be affected by the proclamation
of the Department of Agriculture that cats are
utterly useless, and virtually deserve externi-
nation vermin.
PUSSY'S SHRINE IN EGYPT
Ancient Egypt seems to have been the only
place in the world where cats We're ever wor-
shipped, although they hnd place in Scand-
navian mythology. Freyja. wife OF Odin. Goddess
of Fruitfuness. and from whom we take the
name Friday, being always shown III a chariot
drawn by two cats On the banks of the Nile
Pussy was associated with the alteration OF the
moon and the goddess Pasht, the Egyptian
Af~,y.n to tad
Bubastis, on the Nile her particular city
and 10 her shrine there, ii is recorded, hun
dreds OF thousands of Egyptians made Pilgrim
ages each year. 1t WAS the City Of Cats Thither
dead cats were brought from remote parts of the
country. to be embGlmed and buried with appro-
pirate ceremony To-day mummed cats dat
ing from those times to such an extent
drug in the market in Egypt that they have
actually been exported to America for use in
the preparation of fertilizer When q cat died i'll
a house at Bubastis or in the district. the fam Z,
lily put into deep mourning the members
shaved their eyebrows. prayed, and tasted for
several days 1t was high crime and a sin to
harm cat, and the historian Herodotus. we'll
Diodorus relates cases of Roman soldiers who
were put to death in Egypt for having acct
dentally killed cats
The memory of the ancient sanctlty of the cat
not altogether died out in Egypt. Each year
the Egyptian pilgrimage dis "a Jched from Cairo
to Mecca bearing the sacred carpet adorned
with verses of the Koran that Is to serve as a
covering Of the Caaba for the ensuing twelve
months is accompanied by an aged and half
nude dervish. with a long white beard. who.
seated a camel. has baskets slung on either
side, filled with cats while he holds others in
his arms and seated on his knees. He is known
the Father of Cats. and this singular Gus
tom, for which Koranic authority can be
found. is undoubtedly a relic of the former wor-
ship OF cats In Egypt and OF their being brought
in pilgrimage to Bubastis.
Nobody seems quite to know the origin OF cats.
But OF the oldest legends on the subject
comes from Italy. In which country alone poor
Pussy has a patron saint In the person of st.
Francis Dc Raula. According to Antonio de-