[Granville-Hough] 13 Nov 2009 - Cat Predicts

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:09:05 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: CatPredicts - 13 Nov 2009

  The CatÆs Prediction at the Quilting Bee:

The female members of a community, or of an extended family, gathered 
periodically to make quilts. In the early days they not only had to card 
the wool or cotton, but they also had to spin the thread for quilting. 
Each woman had to bring four cuts of thread to each bee. It was a good 
dayÆs work to spin four cuts of thread, and sometimes women had to work 
late at night, spinning to get their quota. Then, at the quilting bee, 
the quilt pattern, a work of art made of hundreds of pieces of scrap 
clothing, was sewed, with cotton or wool batting between, to the back of 
the quilt.
At the end of the quilting bee, everyone admired the handiwork, but one 
last act was performed. Four hopeful young girls, each on a corner, held 
the new quilt taut, and a housecat was thrown to the middle of the 
quilt. Whichever girl the frightened cat ran closest to would be the 
first to get married. It could have been a self-fulfilling prediction, 
for the lucky girl could begin looking around at the young men to choose 
one so she could indeed be first.