Evening star., 1925-01-04
Heard and Seen

For heavens sake. stop writing
about CATS writes q. b. F. Every
Sunday you write about cats, cats and
more cats. Frankly, l am fed up on
cats. as the saying is. Let us have
something about dogs, pigs, horses.
cows or some of your other animal
friends-or even human beings.
Cats, at best, are sly, sneaking
quadrupeds, without one trace of af- Z
fection, despite the fact that your
own cat manages to put one over on $
you when he wants something. Hon
est, do you think his purring, when
he wants meat, is caused by love of
you?
Not on your life. When that cat
purrs. as when every other cat in the
world purrs, he is after something,
and knows perfectly we'll, in that
crafty brain Of his. that his innocent
biped friend is easily fooled.
The cat must laugh up his paw
when he takes you in so easily. You
are reading your own affection into
him, and enjoying the transmutation.
Wei, it speaks well for you, but
give us rest on cats, pleaseu
~
Now, that is tough on the cats. But .
somehow / do not believe that the
man who wrote those words really :
hates cats. Behind his letter, sort of
between the lines, as II were, turks a
sneaking affection for felis domes-
ticus.
No, the real cat hater would not
speak so of them. He would put in q
few nasty licks about striped var
mints,' or some other such pleas
antry. and end up by making an
abrupt demand for the cessation of
cat tales.
But why shouldn't I, or any other
honest man, write about cats? There :
are so few to write about these crea-
lures that they need the pen of every
one. no matter how humble, to give
them their place in the sun Of good
print.
There are many who write about
the President, scores who write about
politics at large. Each member of the
House and of the Senate has some
hometown correspondent who busies
himself with the great mans doings
and sayings
The dog has Albert Payson Ter
hume. and the birds had John Bur
roughs 81
But the cat. alone of animals. had
no one to sing his praises, week bv
week. 1t is true that the cat has his
Homer--Carl Van Vachten-whosa
monumental work, THE Tiger in the.
House." stands as the standard cat
book OF this day and generation =,
But who. besides your humble serr@d
ant. has risen to write Of the cat
week by week, to detail the good
points and the failings of this very
small friend OF mankind?
So allow me, dear q. B. F..s5to
write about the cat in peace. 7ea-s
80 -
x* --sts
He is q very small friend of mans
indeed. judged from the standpoint of :
weight. in a world OF ponderous mat
tor, where the large animal has a ,
beefiness, where quantity everywhere
assumes a weight In the scales
usually beyond its worth. .-tsas, Z
The cat seldom weighs overs 20
pounds, usually around 10 or IL, and
IL he reaches Is pounds he is re
garded as very large for house cat. :
II is true that his natural affection
Is small, compared with that OF man?'
or perhaps even with that of the dog
But this should not be held against
him, for how. Is he to know? There
is no fairness in this world inveiEh-
Ing against anything in creation be-
cause It is not like something else
The dog Is not the cat, and the cat Is
not the dog. The horse Is not the
COW, and the COW is not the horse.
No, we have ts take the cat as we
find him. Those of us who find him
fair to look upon, and soft to pat,
and entertaining to watch. comical,
in his moods, cleanly in his habits
are we not TO be congratulated?
For we have discovered something
that you, G. b. F., have not found.
Where you see only "siy. sneaking
quadruped." laughing in his paw at
US, we see a miracle in fur.
when our cat meows to get out
and goes down the path in the dark
we see more than just cat--we see
little thing starting out in the i'm
nense, mysterious blackness, ears
alert. eyes shining, brave In the faces
of the unknown.
May we face the unknown dark
ness as well when our time comss.
G. E. TRACEWEILA