Black cat

“ For a whole month I lay in ambush, witnessing the same spectacle every morning, when one day I saw a huge black cat arrive first at the place of meeting and hide itself behind a rock, almost under my hand. A black cat could be nothing else than an enchanter, according to what I had learned in my childhood, and I resolved to watch him. ”

“ The black cat holds the cosiest chimney-nook,
Straight in the blaze his gold-stone eyeballs look,
And children four do pay him flattering court.
The baby brings to him its picture-book,
And shows the way to build a castled fort.
The black cat shares, indeed, their every thought and sport. [Pg 101]
II
The black cat came to us a twelvemonth since;
The black cat is a stranger with us yet;
We treat him well; we call him our Black Prince. ”

“ Black cats were always more especially connected with superstitious feelings, and I was once accosted by a peasant's wife, who, with a phial in her hand to contain it, requested I would give her a few drops of blood from the tail of my black kitten; not only to bring luck to her hearth, but to keep pestilence from her doors. Even lately, a working woman told me not to turn a stray black cat from my house ”

“ In the latter country, black cats are in general thought to be ill-omened creatures, and, if one is found on a sickbed, it foretells death; or if on a grave, it signifies that the soul of the departed is in the possession of the evil one. In earlier times, I conclude that black cats were usually considered to be especially evil-boding; but this notion has apparently undergone a change, so that now the white or light-colored cat is often reckoned the forerunner of evil, while the black one is the harbinger of good. ”

“ Black cats are only the showy properties of magic, easily materialised, even by beginners, at will. It must be confusing for such an orderly animal as the cat to exist in this intermittent way, never knowing, so to speak, whether it is there or not there, from one moment to another. ”

“ Girt around with fear, and mystery, and subtle associations of evil, the cat comes down to us through the centuries; and from every land fresh traditions of sorcery claim it for their own. In Brittany is still whispered the dreadful tale of the cats that danced with sacrilegious glee around the crucifix until their king was slain; and in Sicily men know that if a black cat serves seven masters in turn he carries the soul of the seventh into hell. In Russia black cats become devils at the end of seven years, and in southern Europe they are merely serving their apprenticeship as witches. ”

“ A black cat for show purposes should be of a uniform, intense black; a brown-black is richer than a blue-black. I mean by this that when the hair is parted it should show in the division a dark brown-black in preference to any tint of blue whatever. The coat or fur should be short, velvety, and very glossy. The eyes round and full, and of a deep orange colour; nose black, and also the pads of the feet; tail long, wide at the base, and tapering gradually towards the end. ”

“ Did he not share with me as a brother the firewater of his gourd, to give me strength to sit my horse, and rejoin the warriors Of my tribe? Black Cat is a great chief. Ingratitude is a white vice; gratitude is a red virtue. Black Cat will save his brother. ”

“ I was waiting for mademoiselle in the necromancer's vestibule when suddenly he came out looking wild, ran out to the nearest house, and speedily returned carrying—a big black cat!"
"Oh! Oh! I begin to see! The black cat is the cabalistic animal par excellence! ”

“ But you mustn’t run away with the idea that black Tom is a pugnacious animal, or fond of fighting for fighting’s sake. No, Tom is never aggressive; he stands a good deal before he is thoroughly roused, and, to tell the truth, I have more than once seen a tortoiseshell thrash a black cat double its size. But if there is a lady cat in the play, the affections of a queen to be gained, or if black Tom has made up his mind to carry war into the heart of a rival’s camp, doesn’t he go at it with a will! ”

“ It is not, in my belief, a distinct breed, but merely a light-coloured form of the black cat. In fact, I have ascertained that one shown at the Crystal Palace, and which won many prizes on account of its beautiful blue colour slightly tinged with purple, was the offspring of a tabby and white she-cat and a black-and-white he-cat, and I have seen the same colour occur when bred from the cats usually kept about a farmhouse as a protection from rats and mice, though none of the parents had any blue colour. ”

“ A black cat is the theatrical emblem of good-luck, and when a new piece is produced the proper thing to do to secure success is to entice a black cat to come on behind. At the Haymarket they apparently take fortune by the forelock by keeping a black cat in front. ”

“ It was a black cat—a very large one — fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. ”

“ Black goes mad; it calls to him, he feels; it pulls him ... and he hurls himself forward—to be reduced to sheer spitting and spluttering at the sight that confronts him.
A cat like himself, but with feathers and wings, rolls a beaked head forward out of the bundle before him! It hoots mournfully, like the wind sighing among the giant stones—and tears his nose with its claws....
Black, also, blows himself out and glares fiercely at the enemy, while his tail whips restlessly to and fro. He is suddenly a cat of nine tails standing there! What is more, his body does not stand on all fours ”

“ In one story, in place of rubbing the Aladdin lamp, that what one wishes may happen, one must pull the black cat's tail. It is gratifying to reflect that black cats have their own peculiar method of retaliation for such experiments. ”

“ Worse than this, there was a large black cat with a white star on its breast, mumbling a fish's head in the middle of the floor, that didn't even have the grace to leave off when we came in.
'Oh, my dear, darling Dad!' cried Auntie May, rushing to him. 'How glad I am to see you; and how are you, and why do I find you all—silted up with cats like this?'
Mr. Graham put down his palette and his mahl-stick, and Zobeide ran off with the latter, and Fred jumped on to the former, and he kissed Auntie May again and again, and answered her question rather slowly. ”

“ The babies had themselves possessed kittens that they had loved and lost. Directly they were big enough they took to tree-climbing and bird-nesting, and finally stayed away altogether. It was in their blood,—the blood of ancient German cats, passed on through rows and rows of fathers and mothers who also had had stones thrown at them, and had climbed trees and eaten birds; and what is a poor cat to do? Rose, the black cat in the kitchen, had developed such strange and unpleasant habits of spitting and biting, and clawing, that it had been banished from the playroom. ”

“ Some bodies give out flashes and sparks by being rubbed. If you stroke a black cat briskly in the dark, you will see faint flashes of light come from her fur, and on very cold nights in the winter season, flannels that are worn next the skin crackle and give sparks when taken off and shaken."
These things astonished Lady Mary. She tried the experiment with the amber and thread, and was much amused by seeing the thread attracted; and she wanted to see the sparks from the cat's back, only there happened, unfortunately, to be no black cat or kitten in Government House. ”

“ Baltimore, Md., American:—The literary contents of the unique new Boston magazine, The Black Cat, are quite as fascinating as its exquisite covers.
Evansville, Ind., Daily Courier:—With its beautiful appearance and excellent short stories—all for five cents—The Black Cat is bound to become a general favorite and popular success.
New York Mail and Express:—The Black Cat will prove a literary pet. It publishes good, strong short stories,—the most difficult literary product to obtain. It is clean, stirring, enterprising. ”

“ A long thin tail is a great fault, and detracts much from the merits it may otherwise possess. A good, deep, rich-coloured black cat is not so common as many may at first suppose, as often those that are said to be black show tabby markings under certain conditions of light; and, again, others want depth and richness of colour, some being only a very dark gray. In form it is the same as other short-haired cats, such as I have described in the white, and this brings me to the variety called "blue." ”

“ The cunning bird has long ago noticed that Black is an earthbound animal—and now he has been so foolhardy as to leave the ground and venture up into his opponent’s hunting-ground—yes, into its very nest—he should soon be made to regret his insolence!
The old crow is also strongly influenced by the prospect of an easy victory and a good feast afterwards. With all its might it fastens its claws in the black cat’s shoulder. ”

“ The time came at length when the cat lost its good name and people began to look upon it as an imp of evil and the companion of the witch and the sorcerer. A black cat was the worst of all and its life was a hard one. ”

“ A large black cat is looking up at me from the outer darkness, with her burning, phosphorescent eyes. I hate a black cat. Not that I am superstitious, yet in my memory and my nerves there is a residue of everything that superstition has created concerning black cats. ”

“ The black cat's name was Charlie, but Auntie May never knew that, and she christened him Blackavice, because he had a black face. He was a really comfortable old thing, and the night after I came back we all listened to him, sitting on different high things in the room. We cats never like to be crowded up together unless we are sleeping, and then we prefer it because of the warmth. ”

“ Burlington, Vt., Free Press:—The outward attractiveness of the Black Cat magazine is more than fulfilled by the interest of the original, stirring, complete tales that make up its contents.
Boston, Mass., Daily Globe:—Its captivating contents,—stories that are stories,—render The Black Cat emphatically the periodical for the story-loving public everywhere.
Manchester, N. H., Daily Mirror:—The most uniquely fascinating magazine ever published is the Black Cat. Certainly any one who spends five cents for a copy will find his investment repaid many times over. ”

“ Springfield, Ill., Daily News:—The Black Cat is exactly such a new departure in story-telling as any man or woman will appreciate. It furnishes the most delightful five cents' worth ever put into print.
Boston, Mass., Daily Post:—Surely any one who buys a copy of the new five-cent story magazine, The Black Cat, will pronounce it the most fascinating five cents' worth on earth. ”

“ Boston, Mass., Daily Herald:—The Black Cat has reached the climax of the story-telling art. Both press and public seem to have agreed upon this. In street cars and hotels, in drawing-rooms and in railroad stations, this magazine's outward attractiveness and interesting inwardness are the subject of continued conversation. ”

“ She sang in G-sharp how the Aldermen and the Mayor considered her an imposter, and did not think she was wise at all, and they wished her to take her Black Cat and move beyond the limits of the city. She sang it beautifully; it sounded like the very finest Italian opera-music.
"Deary me," piped the Wise Woman, when she had finished, "how very grand these gentlemen are." Her Black Cat put up his back and spit.
"Five times one Black Cat are five Black Cats," said the Wise Woman. And, directly, there were five Black Cats, spitting and miauling. ”

“ The Black Cat has many of the characteristics of the tortoiseshell, but is essentially a town cat, and is wont to dream his life away in shady corners, in underground cellars, in theatres, and in all places where he can, in fact, retire to monastic quiet. ”

“ BLACK CATS.—Of course, it is lucky for a black cat to walk into your house, but failing an actual cat, a counterfeit one serves the same purpose. Thus, people who pin their faith to black cats often make stuffed ones, or draw pictures of them, and look to the creature of their own handiwork to serve the role of mascot. ”

“ Your glance lights again on the gentle author herself, and you watch the pen gliding easily over the page, which rests on a diminutive shred of well-worn blotting-paper. The face is fair and smooth, the hair, slightly grey, is simply parted back from the forehead, and the three-quarter profile, which presents itself to your gaze, is straight and well-cut. She wears a little white cap, and a long black gown, trimmed with jet, and close by her side lies an enormous Persian tabby cat of great age.
The study is divided from the adjoining room by heavy curtains drawn aside and a Japanese screen. ”

“ It is believed that some women have the power to change their soul into a black cat, who then goes about in the houses where there are sick people. Such a cat has a peculiar way of mewing quite different from its brethren, and is easily recognised. It steals quietly into the house, licks the lips of the sick man and eats of the food that has been prepared for him. The sick man soon gets worse and dies. ”

“ Hartford, Conn., Daily Times:—What sets the Black Cat magazine apart from any other is the fact that its stories are not only absolutely new, but that they are well told, and offered on their merits as stories. ”