Evening star., 1924-09-06
THIS AND THAT
BY &. f.. TRACEWELL,

l..
ti"n, the mother. of many evils, has
them in its grip. They may not real
lze 1t or ever admit il, but they are
the victims of thought habits handed
down to them from the DAYS when
cats and witches" were associated
In saying this I am making all
possible allowance for honest differ
ence of opinion, and the fact that at
least seven out of ten persons declare
that they hate cats" Their reasons
advanced for this dislike are so easily
disproved that the only answer left
is that given.
Whence or how this propaganda
against cats got its start is hard to
trace, but today it may be met with
in fine fettle in a majority of folk.
These are not afflicted with the well
known disease recognized by medical
science, felinaphobia = intense, in
grained fear of felis domesticus
Recently l asked the first ten per
sons | met whether they liked cats.
Three answered yes: seven said no in
d very positive manner. About the
same proportion is to he met with
generally Yet the world has been
living with its cats since prehistoric
times.
x X X X
Confound the cats, All cats-alway-
Cats Of all color-hlack, white, gray;
By night a nuisance and 10y day
Confound the cats.
l asked one Of these cat Eaters to
tell me just exactly why he dislikes
cats. He did SO readily, and, being a
man Of unusual intelligence his opin-
ions are worth much more than mere
announcements of dislikes.
In the first place." he said, "cats
are dirty. In the second place, they
do not respond to human affection.
In the third place they still have so
much Of the jungle in them Flashes
Of the wild beast can be seen, and it
never can be tanned out of them. In
the fourth place, their noises are
hideous.'
There ySI have a picture of poor
puss drawn by a typical cat hater-a
man who speaks of them with diff
Guilty, grudging even the few seconds
he allots to a discussion of their fail
ings, as he sees them.
This man ignores cats, as best he
may. If he meets Tom in a friends
house, he politely refuses to see the
striped varmint." Even if that
affection such as the cat hater says
il does not possess, jumps up beside
him to climb into his lap, he con-
tinues to act as if no cat were in
evidence at all.
If attention is called to the crea-
ture's glistening coat and snow-white
shirt front" the foe of all cats will
make no comment whatever. This is
one point where politeness fails him.
Ia Foir M
praise" nor adopt Mr.. Dawes policy
of praising with a faint damn
Now, first of all, a cat is not dirty.
He is undoubtedly the cleanest of
all animals. He has to be, by the
very nature of his being. AS pointed
out in Carl Van Eechten's Tiger in
the House." the cat is ultra clean in
order to have no odor to warn mice of
his presence.
So he cleans and polishes himself
at every opportunity, in the charac-
teristic fashion of the cat family, one
of his most charming and amusing
habits. The nicely with which he
licks away, rolling out that red
tongue, washing his face and whis-
kerS with his wetted paws, bespeaks
volumes for his cleanliness.
The cat has very dry fur, his skin
having of itself no odor whatever,
gives off a very disa agreeable smell.
known as doggy smell"
Undoubtedly there are dirty cats,
the same as there are dirty children
and unkempt men and women. A
typical alley cat is not apt TO be 1914
per cent pure. Neither would a man
who led the same sort of life. Ger
tainly environment has much to do
with cats as we'll as with children.
Give d cat half a chance, however,
and he will keep himself as clean as
a pin.
X :. x
The charge that cats do not respond
to human affection is based on ig-
norance of cats; that is all. 1t is
common belief, hinging largely upon
an unconscious comparison with that
other household pet, the faithful dog.
AS pointed out before in this COL
umn, much unhappiness and mis-
understanding comes about because
people are not willing to accept other
persons and things for what they are.
Some men want cats to be dogs and
roses to be asters. They rail at golf
because it is not like tennis, or growl
at bad boys because they do not
act like grown men.
The house cat is one of the great
est sufferers from this mode of faulty
thinking. The average cat hater-I
will ba willing to bet that the man
who wrote the Hymn of Hate also
hated cats-does not like cats because
they are not dogs. What IA reason.
No self-resp specting cat in the world
would want to be like dog.
What" meows Tom. why should
/ want to be like one of those stupid
things, with their soldering, put-on
affection, their senseless doing of
tricks, their inane barking, even at
the moon. their eternal quest for
amusement? Give me plenty of meat,
a quiet cushion and a seemly amount
of affection and I am satisfied |
could do tricks, too. If l wanted to;
but, honestly, / have too much brains
to fall for any of that silly stuff. I
have enough sense to come in cut or
the rain, you know"
Cats do demonstrate affection, in
many ways. All one has to do is
to find this out. There is no cat
fancier but can give many instances
of affection on the part of his cat.
AS for the traits of the jungle in
the cat, this is exactly one of his
greatest charms. He is nearer to his
Maker than men, and Is guloed Soiely
by his instincts. And who gave him
his instincts? So independent that he
might serve as statue of liberty,
utterly free and natural, the cat con-
descends to be the friend and COM
panion of fettered man.
As for his "hideous noises" The
cat has a musical quality in his
voice, as matter of cold fact, that
results from his use of the vowel
sounds. The dog makes use only Of
the harsh consonants, hence his char
Or iS