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The White Cat Ghost
from What The Animals Do and Say, by Eliza Lee Follen
Mr. W., a friend of mine, whose word might be taken for any thing, told me an extraordinary anecdote of a cat, which he said he knew to be true.
Moonlight Cat
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A friend of his was setting out on a voyage to some place, I forget where. Every thing was carried on board, and the two friends were in the cabin about taking leave of each other.
"I asked my friend before parting," said Mr. W., "whether he had every thing that he wanted; if there was nothing more that he could think of to make him more comfortable or happy on his voyage."
"One thing," he replied, "would add to my pleasure very much, if you would bring it to me. In the counting room of my store is a small white cat; I am very fond of the poor thing, and she will miss me I know; I should like to take her with me."
I immediately went ashore and found his little cat looking very sorrowful in his lonely room; I carried her to him. They seemed mutually pleased at meeting."
When the vessel returned, Mr. W. received this account from the officers of the ship. They said that his friend made a great pet of the cat, and fed her always at his own meal times. He taught her to stand on her hind legs and ask for her food; he made her jump over a stick for his amusement; in short, he taught her to perform a great many amusing tricks. The officers and men were all very fond of poor little puss.
At length, the young man became very ill. The cat would not leave him night or day. At last, one day, she left the cabin and began to run about the ship, making the most terrible mewing. The sailors offered her food; she refused it. She would not be comforted.
Finally, her cries turned into a complete howl. She manifested the greatest suffering, and, at last, she ran off to the end of the bowsprit and leaped into the sea. Just at the moment that the poor little faithful, loving cat was swallowed up by the waves, her human friend breathed his last, and they both entered the invisible land together.
Such an extraordinary event, and the gloom which a death at sea always casts over a ship's company, both together, made the sailors even more than usually superstitious.
They all declared that, every night at that same hour when the sick man died, a white cat was seen leaping into the ocean.
The white crests of the breaking waves might easily thus appear to an ignorant person who lives, as a sailor does, in the midst of the wonders and sublime scenes which the ocean presents, in the awful terrors of its storms, or the serene glory of its quiet hours.
But the love of the poor dumb animal for its master--that was a beautiful reality.
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