The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-07-18

An AFFECTING BUT RATHER FUNNY Incl
DKEr.-In a certain house in this city re-
sides a gentleman with q family, consisting
of q wife, several children, 9 little niece,
and an old cat with three infant cats. In
the real of the kitchen is an old concave
bottomed cistern containing water to the
depth Of four inches. One day, during the
absence of the gentleman, the trap door
over the cistern was left open. As an in
evitable consequence the three kittens fell
into the cistern. They wi around In the
water till their feet touched bottom, and
there they stood mewing in dead earnest.
Pretty soon the matron cat was attracted to
the cistsrn by the cries Of her offspring. As
soon as she compreheRded the situation,
she forthwith set up q tremendous cater
waul. This called little Nellie to the
scene. As soon as the poor cat saw her,
she ran up, took hold of her dress with her
teeth, and dragged her to the mouth of the
~cisterH, and with the most piteous mewiDg
undertook to tell her trouble. Little Nellie
ran into the house and announced the ter
rible mishap. Forthwith the mistress, kitch-
en- girl, chsmbermaid, and all the children,
rushed to the rescued The question arose /:
How to get into the cisterB Little Freddie
volunteered to run over to Mr.. VS. and
borrow his ladder. He forgot, however,
in his excitement that the ladder was
about forty feet leng and too big to get into
the cistern. The benevolent hearted baby
boy Louis sat down on the step, the very
picture of distress at the idea that his little
p~laythings, the kittens, were in such
lstrouble. The rest of the family, both old
and young, were equally distressed about
the little pets, whose plaintive mewings
could be distinctly heard, and they were in
q peck of trouble as to how to get them out
At first they took the garden-rake and lei
It down to the bottom, hoping the kittens
would have gumptiOn enough to get on to
the teeth and thus allow themselves to be
hauled up. But the kittens would not see
it in that light. The mistress then hit upon
the very brilliant plan Of letting a basket
down with the old cat in it, hoping she
would take the kittens by the nspe Of the
neck anu llb buem lubO II DdshSts 4HS
attempt was made, but instead of quietly
submitting TO be made a fish hook for the
purpose of catching her own young ones,
she became frightened, and Obeyed the
first law of nature, self-preservatiOn, as she
thought, by jumping ont of the basket
much to the disappointment of the kind
hearted mistress and the rest of the family.
What was to be done now7 Necessity is
the mother of invention. The eldest daugh-
ter of the mistress suggested that a rope be
tied around the body of Mary, the
chambermaid, and that they let her down
into the cistern to secure the kittens, and
then haul her up. No sooner proposed
than adopted. Accordingly Mary had the
rope tied around her, and all tho older
hands, consisting of the mistress, the kitch-
en- girl, and the daughter, united in letting
her down. She secured two of the kittens
alive, the third one being drowned. She
was hen hauled up, when she delivered
the two kittens to the grateful old cat, who
manifested her pleasure by the most enthu-
sisstic purripg.
Thus were the tribUlations of the dis
tressed group brought to an end, after an
hours painful endurance.