Concerning the Origin of Cats 



Nowadays, there is a current superstition that a 

 black cat brings good luck to a house; but in the 

 Middle Ages they believed that the devil borrowed 

 the form of a black cat when he wanted to torment 

 or get control of his victims. There are plenty of old 

 traditions about cats having spoken to human beings, 

 and been kicked, or struck, or burned by them in 

 return ; and invariably, these tales tell us, those who 

 are so bespoken meet some one the next day with 

 plain marks of the injury they had inflicted on the 

 froward cat, — which was sure evidence of witchery 

 and sorcery. Doubtless full many a human being 

 has been put to death, in times past, on no stronger 

 evidence of being a witch. Humanity did not come 

 to the rescue of the cat and bring her out from the 

 shadow of ignominy that hung over her in mediaeval 

 times until 1618, when an interdict was issued in 

 Flanders prohibiting the festive ceremony of throw- 

 ing cats from the high tower of Ypres on Wednes- 

 days of the second week in Lent. And from that 

 time Pussy's fortunes began to look up. 



To-day, travellers on the edge of the Pyrenees 

 know a little old man, Martre Tolosan, who makes 

 and sells replicas of the original models of cats found 

 among the Roman remains at a small town near Tou- 

 louse. These are made in blue and white earthen- 

 ware and each one is numbered. Mine, bought by a 

 friend in 1895, is marked 5000. They are not exact 

 models of our cats of to-day, to be sure, but they 



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