The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-10


treas her garden. He has great collection Of
them, beautifully bound, and d forever pottering
after them and as an forever pottering after
him, and can't bear ito be out Of his sight. Of
s% qSs = % Gis %
taste so nice. / gnaxed bit Of one Of them scci-
dentally, and was 90 pleased with IL that ate the
whole back. II was one of ever so many-big
course 1t could not be missed, and l was thinking
whether could not try another, when She came
"oh. Johnny what have you been doing ;"
And think She nearly cried. Johnny, your
master will be 60 grieved. You must be
And whipped I was; and I own. for the first
time in my life, did dread the coming home of
But, instead Of looking angry, he only looked
sorry told my mistress not to herself, put the
book back in its place and said: Poor Johnny,
he wouldn't have done 1t had he known" and
out of my reach. That was all. Now, what do
you think of my masters Was he not a-brick?
And 1t sometimes occurs to me, that, after all,
my mistress is not quite 30 bad as She seems that
make me good little dog, and 2 pleasure instea d
Of nuisance TO myself and other people. She
now and then looks very kindly at me, even when
l pay no attention at all, and says am the pref.
which, but 1t is all one), and that She should be
SO fond Of me If were only good. Perhaps may
be good some day-I don't know. 1t is q great
Stiii. people do alter very much sometimes, as,
for instance, me and my first enemy-the frst
rival introduced into the house-whom hated
with violence that now seems ridiculous.
1t was only kitten-a very small. gentle, fright
ened little thing-which don't suppose meant me
any harm in the world. Still had never seen
kitten before; and this one was 80 very black;
not white hair upon it; and when you looked at
It In the dark you saw nothing-aosoluteiy no.
at you. all by themselves, enough to make any re-
spectacle dog angry.
Then it was such silly shaped anmal-not q
bit ike me with short ears and the most ridicu.
lous, long, thin tall For ell that it could jump
about anywhere, even on the table, where would
have given anything to get to-, and couldn't.
And 1t could climb trees-run up them as quick
as lightniDg-while had to stay barking at the
bottom. The servants made such o fuss over
it, and my mistress walked about with 1t sitting on
her shoulder; and even my master condescended
TO look at 1t sometimes, and called il nice lit.
tie thirg." No wonder felt furious and for
days-n8y weeks-can ! truly say that did
my best TO make that kittens life really miser-
able.
Yet she nevet ill.used me. She was snch gen.
tie little kitten poor dear-I may say that for her
now; she never scratched me until almost wor-
ried her TO death; she was so patient, unobtru-
sive-she would never have got in my way II had
not persistently attacked her. And even then, her
worst revenge used to consist in running up this
tree l have spoken ola big apple tree on the
lawn-from the height Of which she could look
down upon me, quite safe and independent, with
her back up and her tail thrice big its usual
size, as fierce as If she would have liked TO eat me
up-which, however, she didn't.
OF course, this was all pretense, as doubtless
she was admiring me ell the time, and wanting to
play with me; indeed, she told me SO afterward,
when condescended TO make friends and play
with Der. You see, liked TO play, and was SO
very hard up for companions that even cat was
haffo hon mot nd oofd "a Wa
such gentle little cat and so sensible, too, in her
way. When we got TO conversation, instead of
fighting she used to explain to me ell the amusing
things about the garden-a large toad that lived
in the strawberry bed, and large family of frogs
who were very happy In the little pond, and
above all, the birds, who were endless fun.
Our garden is full of birds. They know they
are never shot at, nor have their nests taken, so
they come and build here year after year
robins, chaf6nches, black birds, thrushes-and
the nghtingales, though they do not build here.
sit and sing, and make an awful clatter all night
long. During May and June they quite annoy
me, and bark at them necessarily, but they do
Well, and the kitten fraternized, especially on
the subject Of birds. / used to bark at them, and
make them hy OF. and she ran up trees after them,
and sometimes she caught them, snd she always
gave me q bit, or took 1t from her and ate il my
self. She could easily catch another, you know.
And even when we caught nothing, the pursuit
There was one young water-wsgtail- deserted
by his parents-which used to hop about on the
lawn, where she and / led 1t pretty life. We
sure, II my mistress had not driven US away,
scolding severely, for she loved that little
water wsgtail; why, never knew.
So, on the whole, We spent very happy sum-
mer-the kitten and land settled into downright
friendship; quarreling .sometimes-all friends
debut still making the best Of enc another. |
RENE mber even now how, when had teased her
until was quite tired out-biting her ears and
her tail, and even taking her into my mouth and
carrying her, she was SO small--she would come
and sleep beside me on the kitchen hearth, with
her two paws efectionately round my nose. be-
lieve she thought me the very best Of dogs and
am sure was very kind to her.
We might have lived in harmony for many years
but for something which happened. suspect it
was poison, for we had farm close by, and over
heard our gardener say they were laying 1t for the
rats. But one Sunday morning my kitten wouldn't
play with me as usual. She told me she couldn't
that she felt very Ill but refused to believe her,
and thought it all sham, until she crept away and
laid herself down on the lawn, writing and moan.
ing, where she remained hour after hour, no bet
don't like TO think of it. 1t was such sunshny
Sunday, the birds singing and hopping about, the
bees SO merry in the flower BEDS could not
much enjoy anything. and could not bear to come
Lear my poor little kitten and see her suffering, 30
went away TO the other part Of the garden, think.
ing what a dear little kitten she was, what good
friends we had got to be, and how often had
Ve8eQ Def, ana now III b1e gut Ocbtef, "Ouiu
never vex her again.
Yet there she lay, making no fuss, troubling no
body-only so very, very i'll. The servants came
often to look at her, seeming very sorry and when
/ ran to meet my master and mistress coming in
from church, overheard the parlor maid half
crying, tell them about her. and my mistress went
straight to after her. and staid beside her ever
so long. The poor little thing seemed TO know
her voice or the touch of her hand as Shestroked
her. for she painfully dragged herself few inches
| CT so and laid her head upon my mistress feet.
| Then my mistress began to cry, too.
But won't write any more Of this, for il makes
me melancholy, and am little dog that likes to
be merry. Aud besides she had happy life while
che was here-my poor kitten-and everybody
was so fond Of Der.
They did all they could for her, but it was of no
use. doubt if any of the household ate much
dinner that Sunday-I know nobody thought Of
! giving me mine-but should not have cared for
| IT, was so sorry. The last sight saw was every
| body standing around the little cat-my master,
mistress and the servants-and some Of them with
| exceedingly red eyes. ran away to the far end
| of the garden, and when came back my kitten
| was gone.
have never seen her since. hope she is con-
tent end comforts HE someVhere though have