The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1884-01-10

winds by a cat, who came sneaking out
through hole in the stable door.
She did not notice them, for, weak and
hungry, she was only thinking of GER
tain back yard, presided over by rather
a wastetul cook, into which the most
toothsome tidbits occasionally found
| their way
The first intmation she had of their
| presence was a bewidering series Of
"me- cows and ''scats " which sent her
! flying across the alley in the direction of
/ her goal. Then seeing that she would
| be intercepted before she reached it, she
turned and beat hasty retreat toward
her home. Dancing, leaping, and over
| flowing with the ioyouSness of the mo-
ment, she turned her back upon her
/ other foe, who met her with a well-aimed
/ blow from a stick, which took her quite
Oft her legs Before she could recover
| herself the enemy was clasping her tight
| ly between his knees, and pressing her
close to the ground.
1t was in vain that she claWed and
twisted, that she spit and swore with all
the reckless courage of a desperate at
| bay She was not the first cat he had
conquered The fun was only beginning
eli, Tom, here's lark tor you Bring
us that old tin cup over yonder I've got
string Come, I'll hold her while you
tie it on y
The boy addressed as Tom kicked an
old tin cup loose from its frozen bed, and
glowing with the prospect Of such uneX-
pected fun, bounded to the side Of the
captor and captive.
| Thee eyes of the terrified vagrant stood,
1t lashed the ground with its tail But
boy number two, quickly rumagng
through pocket indicated by boy num-
managed to keep the tail still long
enough to tie the cup tightly to it.
"Now then, give her a send-ot1 go it
old gir" he cried, as the other loosened
his hold. She did not wait for a second
invitation to 90, but shot away from her
prosecutors at pace to realize their
highest expectations.
They bent up and down. and yelled
with laughter, ard cheered her on with
loud shouts.
The cup leapcd and ratified over the
hard ground, ard caught upon obstruc-
tions along the way which caused the
painting outcast to roll over in a way
that fairly convulsed these humorous
fellows.
When she had disappeared they gather
ed up their books and went on to school.
They We're late, and got tardy marks,
but as they said, they'd take a lickn'
any day rather than miss such fun as
that" They could hardly study just for
the remembrance OF it.
Late that afternoon through a partly
opened door stole d eat. Sne was bruised
and draggled and torn, and from her
mutilated tail hung Il string and the re-
mains OF a tin cup. She was staggering
With hunger and WEAKNESS, and burning
with thirst. She had reached that stage
where life had 10 more terrors for her
\ moment before She had tried to steal
into the stable to her kite 5, but the
coachman was Just driving i'm, and he cut
at her with his long whip more to see
whether he could hit her from his high
place, than from any malice he felt to-
wards htr-so she fled in an opposite
direction, and the kittens hearing the
heavy tread OF tie horses upon the stable
floor sCampered into their nests and hid
themselves.
The cook it was kitchen into which
the cat had come-was busy preparing
the evening meal and When She saw the
wretched looking beast staring wildly at
her flung her the trimmings of a iuicv
steak, telling her to take it and be gone
The poor animal had never before en-
j0yed the boon of even an ungraciously
offered gilt, and this one came too late
Instinct made an Intellectual attempt to
gain the meat, but the eat fell choking in
Il fit
The cook leaped upon a chair and
shouted for help. All the ldies Of the
family responded, and from safe perches
where, with means and little walls of
terror, they watched the eat Writhe
awhile, then straighten stIttly, and
breathe her last
When they made sure She was safely
dead, they gathered around and looked
at her. In sympathetic voices they
called her poor creature. one Of them
confessed that she had seen her before,
and had thought at the time she looked
very hungry, and had intended to give
her something to eat, and tEen-had for
gotten to. The cook lifted her up ten
derby, and informed them that she was
''nothing but Skin and bones" at which
they all cried out with one voice, ''poor
starved, hunted creature.
SO, as sometimes happens in this
strange world, the miserable creature
who had never had a kindly word spok-
en- to her in her life, by her tragic death
drew over herself q flood Of sympathy.
In the stable it began to grow dark.
Ihe kittens came out and trisked about
as kittens love to in the gloaming Now
and then some noise would give them
the excuse for a grand alarm, and they
would rush off pell-mel to their nest,
where they would crouch, scarcely breath
ing But after a while they grew very
hungry and rather tired, and sat demure-
" about on the hay waiting for their
mother to come back. Then they grew
Sleepy ana sat awhile longer, nodding
their chutfy heads -tilEllv they cuddled
together and tried to sleep.
But they missed the protecting paw,
the evening meal, and the warmth Of
their mother, So it was a sorry night
they passed.
After kitten fashion they dreamed
7ll' W tto tilCio tldl iLtN Ntit SliltotuillA
and dressing her rich, beautiful fur, and,
taking pleasant little liberties with her
graceful ears and tail-only to awaken
to the amazing consciousness that they
were alone, and to feel awtully hungry.
Next morning they began their watch
again, crying pititully for the missing cat,
and the next day, and the next. Then
came a singing cold night, and the fol-
lowing morning, when the coachman
went up into the loft to close a window
which had blown open, he found the
three little kittens, cuddied together,
frozen to death.
And SO the jolly lark ended.
Annie HoWells Frechette.
Mr.. Alexander G. Cochran, Captain
Eads' legal adviser, has been giving a
me- ,1,, ,,t ~,