The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-03-03

" I'm not going to take my turn, thank
| YOU and Mint put him gently on the ground,
| and llded her paws. -s... ......... d.. .... 81
r" low is this?' said Douglas, sternly; "you
voted rs the rest did" -il
~ know it" said Mint, ''but forgot how ne
went across the yard and halfway down the
lane, after dark, to pick me some catnip that
night l was i'll, because Aunt Nancy said it
might cure me- 1t did cure me, and ingrati-
tude is the blacklist of crimes"
d" You are excused" said Douglas. "NeXt!"
| LadysBlanche stepped forward and picked
Freddy up in Their soft white paws. He
wondered what She would find to do to him
ways been kind TO her-she was so pretty and
ladylke..
She seated him comfortably on r lap and
pulling handful of oolored ribbons from
pocket in her fur, began to tie DIS hair up in
little points. She pulleq very hard, ana each
bunch, as it was tied. r'lt like forty or fifty
mosquito-bites; but she talked to him gently, in
a soft, purr ng voice, all the time she was doing
it, telling him how, becoming it was, and oc-
casionally stopping to stroke him. A shrek
of laughter from the other cats greeted her
finished work and then Peter the Great came
eagerly forward, exclaim1ng:
1t my turn now! I've got the walnut
shells all readyP' And turning Freddy on his
back. Peter squeezed his hands and feet into
walnut-shells that were much too tight for
them, and then put him down on all fours, and
told him to walk Spanish" Every time
Freddy tried to rise, or even to roll over, Peter
grasped him, and set him down on his hands
and feet again. Each step he took was sepa-
Tulc pdlH, ING sUPlS SeGmeu 10 grow IlR0ter
every minute, but just as he thought he could
sterniy:
Times up! Nextr'
Then Peter the Small advanced, and. without
saying word, picked up Freddy's feet thus
obliging him to walk on his hands, Although
Freddy had managed desperately to pull of
the walnut shells before his next prosecutor
began, he did not enjoy being "Wheel-bar-
rowed about the yard his legs firmly held
and his arms and hands compelled to sustain
hnln Nyni0hf pofo yor,ff octnr o,,af Soc
and Freddy, afraid to stop moving his hands,
was GREATNESS with fatigue before he once
more heard Douglas say:
times upl Nextl" This time he added:
"As he begins to show signs of waking, the
six kittens can all go at him at once"
fell upon him, the Oldest exclaiming:4 Iff
Wen make him walk tght-ropc first
stretch the clothes-line, some of your
Five pairs of willing paws stretched the
clothes-line between two posts, and Freddy
was set upon it and left there, unsteadily bal
ancing himself, many feet from the ground.
w tn a faint hope of gaining the nearest post
and sliding down it, he set out on his perlous
journey, with trembling feet and sw mining
head. He wavered-he was almost gone, and
a savage hiss arose from the cat audience
A few inches farther he crept, waving his
arms W Idly, and then-he fell.
1t was not only a dream-fall, either His
feet went into the frying pan, he rolled from
the shelf, and walked, spluttering and choking,
with his head in the little tub of brine which
Aunt Nancy had that morning mixed for her
pickles.
The Kettle was boiling over, and the water
Kissed angrily on the stove. .t .Et
He struggled to his feet, just as his mother
and Aunt Nancy, each having heard the COM
motion. came in mt different doors
80 mammal! he cried running into his
mothers arms, save me from the cats! in
deed, indeed III never tease them or hurt
them any mOreW ...t.I 81
Little by little, Freddy was convinced that
he h" d been dreaming, but his dream had been
so terribly vivid and real that he never forgot
it. He was very gentle with them after that
but particularly tender and atfectionate to
Mint.
didn't help to torment me, m mma," he would
say-for his mother had agreed to pretend"
that it had all really happened" and it was
just because I'd been l tile nd to her, only
once. Oh, think cats are a great deal better
than boys-that is, most cats than most boys!"
-MdrYdret PdndegrGt in Youths Companions.