Evening star., 1927-11-27
This and That
By Charles E. Tracetcen.

| Most of us could take much.needed
| lessons in the use of our senses from
| the humble house cat, which makes
| the most of the gifts Nature gave
| him.
Human beings under civilization
commonly tend toward atrophy of one
| or more Of their senses, particularly
those of sight. smell and hearing.
There are individuals. of course,
who have particularly keen senses.
One man will be able to smell smoke
an appreciable time before any one
else. Another can see an object much
farther than his companion.
Most people, however. allow Gus
tom and the usual to dull their senses.
Custom makes one antagonistic to-
ward the new, thereby causing the
unusual to be slowly received. The
usual thing, in itself. causes the new
happening to be looked upon askance.
Instead of instantly responding to
the situation. as our cave-men ances-
tors did. modern man incljnes to pro-
crastinate, if even for so little as few
seconds.
Walking along a city street. and
seeing smoke arise from building.
the average man is slow to grasp the
fact that something out of the ordl-
nary may be happening.
"Oh, it is only somebody starting
the furnace" he is likely to say. F1f-
teen minutes later, as he is half
mile from the scene. he hears the I1re
engines go by, and realizes that what
he took for something usual is an
occurrence distinctly out of the ordi-
nary.
The house cat never takes anything
for granted. A dog may, but cat
never. Every sound pricks up his
ears. Every sort of noise has a mean
ing for him. or, If it have no particu-
lar significance. attracts his attention
all the more for that very reason.
Jack Spratt. curled up smugly In the
living room at 4 o'clock. has his ears
wide open for the first noise from the
Kitchen. Just as the bears at the
Zoo know they will be fed at 3 O'Clock.
Jack Spratt. tiger cat. understands
the import of the next hour.
AS the clock begins to strike, ne
arises, and stretches himself nightly,
as if saving. "Well. now / am all
feaQV IOr ulnneI. II Hiucl cO uiiNOi
stood that this is not an 1nvarianie
occurrence. He does not always get up
with the stroke of the gong, but ne
has done it often enough to make
it quite plain that he has a perfect
understanding of what the hour
means.
He realizes that it is his dinner hour
lust as a human being does-his stOrn-
ach tells him so. In fact, it has been
telling him so for an hour or two.
With o'clock. however, comes per-
feet realization.
Jack listens eagerly for the first
sound that actually means dinner"
Usually this is the opening of the
refrigerator door. But he does not
start running Immediately. He waits
to hear the particular noise.
If he hears only the clink OF a milk
bottle, he does not move. only looks
interested. Let him hear the slightest
rattle of paper. however. in he dashes.
His formula is as follows: Hunger
plus 4 o'clock plus the rattle of paper
equals: meat.
We might continue to instance the
keenness of Jacks senses, but every
one who knows good house cat can
multiply instances of his own. The
cat, nearer to the primitive, lives con
stantly on the alert. not only for
sounds. but for sights. smells and
contacts of one sort or another.
The rattle of dog tag in the street.
even if the dpor and windows are