The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1884-01-10
A oily Lark.
4 STORY FOR BOYS.

night a pair Of we'll kept horses stood (or
lay doWn), and were You to have crept
into the haylott across the hay and down
into a snug corner you'd have found three
soft, fat little kittens with round eyes and
sharp tails.
If they had caught you looking at
them, no matter how kindly, they would
have scuttled oft and tumbled heels over
heads into their warm nest. They were
shy kittens, for they came OF long line of
ancestors who had never risen to the
dignity of house eats, whose arched backs
bad never been stroked into less deii-
ant angle 10y friendly hand. They had
descended from cats given to pr0Wling
around back yards and bowling their
wretchedness at night on fences or old
rickety sheds. Foretathers and parents
had never had anything given to them
but bad language. Their whole genoa
logical catenaton had been roughly hand
led. The family had been stoned and
prosecuted, and had not thriven on this
treatment. 4 race ii was OF ILL looking
beasts, whose legs seemed too thin to
support their lank bodies, and morally
they did not hold elevated views of life
Whether i'll blood they We're intrinsically
bad. or whether under similar treatment
ana full allowance OF food they would
have been as good as the demure-lnOk-
lng cats they sometimes saw summing
themselves in the same windows with ac-
cessible and tender-ioOk NJ canareS,
cannot say. | only know that under
their own circumstances they would have
.t,,1 i,a -
save for their not being much larger.
But whatever eNtenuating reasons the
deep students OF cat nature might have
found for certain thieVish acts, and eiac-
ulatlonS which sounded very much like
Oaths-uttered, when for 10 good reason
they were stoned away from mess bar
lels Just as they were securing Il tempt
ing bone-l, who have only a superficial
knowledge OF the subject, will not at
temp to discover. only know that the
family existed as an unpleasant fact.
The mother Of these three sharp tailed
little kittens in the hay was a big-mouth-
ed, faded Hooking beast, whose sides cav
ed in, whose tail dragged in Il detected
sort Of way; whose head seemed to hang
from her shoulder blades and whose
greedy eyes led a wandering existence in
search OF something TO eat. In color she
was hideous mixture Of black and yell
lowish grey, and her fur lay in tangled
patches In short she was cat whose
whole appearance and demeanour were
likely to offend the artistic eye ana NOR
al instincts OF the boy given to the fire.
quenting Of alleywayS. His aesthetic ma
ture would revolt at sight of her and
a -curdlng yell from him would
send her skimming teatly over the
ground, through some friendly opening in
fence, to Il place OF safety.
But as with human beings, even the
worst cat is not totally bad, and this un-
slightly beast had moments in which an
other and better, or at least a gayer side
OF her nature Strove to assert itself This
side was most apparent when she return
ed to her kittens after All extended
stroll, in which she had summed herself.
sharpened her claws on splintery fence
posts, stolen bits from fermenting gar
hage heaps, secured ii bird or mouse,
and followed generally her evil feline
propensitieS. As she nearGd the careful
ly hidden nest the kittens, hearing her
cautious tread upon the hav, would sally
ioytully forth to meet her. They would
ovelpower her with affection, jump upon
her rough back, or tenderlv chew the tip
of her emaciated tail The wicked glare
would then die cut Of her eyes and be re-
placed 10y kindly light. She would re-
spond TO their sportlveness with a stiff,
half-ashamed playfulness. She would
with as little tierceness as possible tussle
with them, and tumble them over in Il
way to make their foolish little hearts
thump with wild excitement and happ-
ness. And never having seen a good or
we'll brought up cat, these simple minded
creatures thought she was the suftest,
kndeSt, most beautiful cat-mOther in the
world. They put their silky paws around
her neck and meWed out their kitteni ish
complaints just as prettily and sincerely
as some babies know tlatter and fondle
their mothers.
The hardened animal used to soften
morally and physically under this loving
treatment, even her coarse fur seeming
less harsh after being stroked 10y their
tender little paws. And in response
to their plaintive tale of hunger, she
nourlshed them from a mysterious supply
which kind nature seemed always to keep
up to the demand. Then when satisfied,
they sank to sleep, soft mass of tails.
paws, and ears, the hungry mother doz-
ing off with eyes half closed and one
long arm laid protectingly over them.
Almost anyone with less exalted moral
and artistic ideas than the aforemention-
ed boy might have been touched by this
picture of maternal fidelity.
The morning which have reached af-
ter such roundabout fashion proved a
cold one in early winter. The school
bells were ringing in all parts Of the city,
and boys and girls were hurrying gaily
forward in response to the summons which
came so clearly on the frosty air. They
greeted each other in cherry voices, and
the conquerlng army gathered strength
and passed on. But this army, like all
others, had its stragglers, and two of them
dropped away from it and entered an al
ley-the one upon which the home of the
kittens faced. Evidently they had no
reason for doing so, except to prolong
the distance to school. Occasionally they
would stop to crush in a thin white film
of ice which had formed over some deep
foot print, for the alley, which had been
muddy only the day before, was now
frozen into stiff ruts, and looked dismal
enough to be suitable stage upon which
to enact tragedy. Christmas was soon
to be nigh, and they talked in desul-
tory way of the fact They could not
have taken a very spiritual view Of the
approaching festival l suppose boys are
not much given to, or they could hard
ly have turned so readily from the ad-
vent of 'peace on earth" to fill with wild
terror the palpitating heart of even an
insignificant member of degraded
house. However, their thoughts about
Christmas, whatever they might have
been, were speedily scattered to the