and lean and wizen-faced, it was to her the people looted 

 when a cow died, or a child took the croup, or the apple-trees 

 were bhghted. The old woman would be watched, and if it 

 were discovered that the companion of her soHtude was a cat, 

 especially a black cat, no further evidence was required. She 

 was a witch without a doubt ; well versed in the black-art — 

 thanks to the teachings of the black oat — and capable of per- 

 forming equestrian exercise on a broomstick, or by a glance of 

 her poor old bleared eyes of killing a cow at a longer range 

 than could be accomplished by the most perfect of modem rifles. 

 This seems like a joke now, but, in sober earnest, there was a 

 time — Matthew Hopkins was then ahve — when on no better 

 proof of witchery than above given, many a grey-headed man and 

 woman has been strangled by drowning or consumed by fire. 



Sailors are very superstitious as regards cats. Should the 

 ship cat be inclined for fun, and scud and bustle and rush 

 about as cats will, old mariners wiQ wag their heads and 

 whisper of a coming storm. Nor may the landsman laugh at 

 Jack Tar ; for how often may we hear — especially if grand- 

 mother is on a visit — " see the cat is washing its face ; we 

 shall shortly have rain." 



Our forefathers, in the wisdom which distinguished the 

 " good old times," were firm believers in the medicinal proper- 

 ties of the cat ; and any part of the animal, from the tip of its 

 nose to the extremity of its caudal appendage, was considered 

 cfiicacious in the cure of diseases. If, for instance, a person 

 has a whitlow on the finger, he will find a sure remedy by 

 acting as follows : — Of course it is understood that the whitlow 

 is caused by a worm ; then all you have to do is to put your fore- 

 finger into the ear of a cat for a quarter of an hour every day, 

 and in a few days, by this means, the worm which caases the 

 whitlow win not be able to wriggle, and, of course, if the worm 

 cannot wriggle, it must die, and the finger will then soon get 

 well ! To the ingenious discoverer of the above remedy we 

 are perhaps indebted for the following " certain cure " for 

 epilepsy : — Take a penknife, cut the vein under a cat's tail, 

 take three drops of blood therefrom, put it into a glass of water, 

 swallow it quickly, and in a few days all disease will have 

 vanished ! To prevent weak eyes : — Take a black cat's head, 

 burn it to ashes, and blow a little of the dust in the eyes three 

 times a day. Be careful in performing any of the above opera- 

 tions, for if a person swallow a siogle cat's hair he wiU imme- 

 diately go into a fainting fit ! 



