Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-02-06

while she ate and purred--he rarely meweC
and she gave him bits OF bread from hei
plate now and then. She talked to him too
Mice Willy" said she, mice cat, Got uI
on the window to see me bring in the squash.
| es, didn't he There's beautiful lot Of 'em
an he shall hev some stewed for his dinnei
tomorrow, 30 be shall"
And the cat would purr, and rub his sof
coat against her, and look as IL be knew jus
what she meant.
There was prayer. meeting in the church
vestry that evening, and Ann Alillet went
| She never missed one. The minister, wher
he entered, always found her sitting there al
the head Of the third seat from the front in
the right.hand row-always in the same
place, a meek, erect little figure, in poor
| tidy black bonnet and an obsolete black coat
with no seam in the whole Of the volumin.
GUS back. That had been the style of out
side garments when Miss Millet had laid
aside dressmaking, and she had never gone a
step further ia fashions. She had stopped
| just where she was, and treated her old pat.
terms as conservstively as she did her Bible.
She had bad pretty voice, people said,
when she was young, and she sang now in q
thin sweet quaver the hymns which the min
lister gave out. She listened in solemn en-
| joyment to the stereotyped prayers aud the
speakers remarks. He was q dull, middle.
aged preacher in dull country town.
After meeting, Ann went mp and told him
how much she had enjoyed his remarks and
inquired after his wife and children. She al
ways did. To her a minister was an unpub-
lished apostle, and bis wife and family set
apart on the earth. No matter how dull a
parson labored here he would always have
one disciple in this old woman.
When Aun had walked home through the
frosty starlight she lit her lamp first, and
then she called her cat. She had expected
to find him waiting to DO let in, but he was
not. She stood out on her little piazza,
which ran along the rear corner Of her house
| BY her kilchen-door, and called, willy !
Willy Willyl"
She thought every minute she would see
him come bounding around the corner, but
she did not. She called over and over, in
her shrill, anxious pipe, "Willy Willy [!
Willy Kitty Kitty Kitty"
Finally she went into the house and waited
awhile, crouching, shivering with cold and
nervousness, over the kitchen stove. Then
she went outside and called again, "Willy
Willy Willy !" over aud over, waiting be-
tween the calls, trembling, her dull old ears
alert, her dim old eyes strained. She ran
out TO the road, and looked and called, and
down to the dreary garden patch behind the
house, among the withered corn stalks and
the mouldering squash vines all white With
frost Once her heart leaped she thought
she saw Willy coming but it was only a
/ black cat which belonged TO one Of the neigh
bosS. Then she went into the house and
waited little while then out again, calling
shrilly, "willy willy Willy -
There were northern lights steaking the
the sky; the stars shone steadily through the
rosy glow; it was very still and lonesome
aud cold. The little thin shivering old wom-
an standing out DOORS all alone in the rude,
chilly night air, under these splendid stars
and streaming lights, called over aud over
and over the poor little creature which was
everything earthly shs had to keep her COM
pany in the great universe in which she her
self was so small.
"willy! Willy Willy I" called Ann. "Oh,
where is that cat Oh dear Willy Willy !"
She spent the night that way. Mrs. Stones
daughter Ruth, who Was up with sick child,
| heard her.
Miss Milet must have lost her cat, she
told her mother in the morning II heard
her calling him all night long"
Pretty soon, indeed Ann came over, her
small old face wild and wan. ''Hev you seen
anything of Willy ?" she asked. Hes been
out all night, an I'm afraid somethin's hap
pened to him. never knowed him TO stay
out 30 before"
When they told her they had not, she went
on to the next neighbor's 10 inquire. But
no one had seen anything OF the cat. All
that day and night, at intervals, people heard
her plAintive, inquiring call, willy Willy !
Willy Willy !"
The next Sunday Ann was not out to
church. 1t was beautiful day too.
I'm goin' to run over an see il Ann Mil
let's sick" Mrs. Stone told her daughter.
when she returned from church She want
out to meetin' to day, and I'm afraid some
thins the matter. / never knew her to miss
goin'."
SO she went over. Miss Millet was sitting
in her little wooden rocking chair in her
kitchen, when she opened the door.
why, Ann Millet, are you sick 2"
mo, | amt sick"
You want out to meetin', an didn't
| know"
II amt never goin' to meetin' agin."
Why, what do you mean ?"
Mrs. Stone dropped into q chair, and stared
at her neiRhbOr.
Il moan jest what say. l amt never 60
in to meetin agin. Folks go to meetin' to
thank the Lord for blessins, s'pose. I've
lost mine, an l amt goin'"
"WhAt heU you lost, Ann?"
Amt lost Willy z"
"You don't mean TO say you're maxim such
a fuss as this over q cat 2"
Mrs. Stone could make a good deal Of dis
appreciation and contempt manifest in her
pale, high-featured face, and she did now.
"Yes, do"
"well, amt nothin' aRn cats, but must
say I'm beat Why, Ann Millet, its down.
right sinful fur you to feel so. or course
you set good deal by Willy but it amt as
of he was human creature. Cats is cats.
For my part never thought it was right to
| set by animals as of they was babies"
II can't hear what you say"
II never thought it was right to set by an.
imals as ef they was babies"
II don't keer. It's oomfortin' to have live
creatures about you, an 'ain't never he'd
anything like other women. amt he'd no
I folks OF my own senoe 1 kin remember. I've
worked hard all my life, an he'd nothin' al
all TO love, an I've thought I'd orter be
thankful all the same. But l did want as
much as g cat"
"Well, as l said before, I've nothin' agin
cats But don't understand any human be-
in with an immortal soul a settin' 80 much
by one."
~ can't hear what you say" Ann could
usually hear Mrs Stones high voice without
| difficulty, but to-day she seemed deafer.
II don't understand any human bein' with
an immortal soul a .settin' so much by a cat "
You've got folks, Mis- Stone"
~ know hev; but folks is trials some
times. Not that my children are, though.
I've got a good deal to be thankful for, I'll
own, in that way. But, Ann Milet, didn't
think you was one to sink down so under Gng
trial. thought the Lord would be a com.
fort to you"
~ know all that, Mis- Stone. But when il
comes TO it I'm here, an amt thar an I've
got hands, an want somethin' kin touch n
Then the poor soul broke down, and sobbed
out loud like baby Il 'ain't-never felt as
Of I'd orter begreteh other-women their
homes an their folks. thought-p'haps-
l could git along better without 'em than -
some an the Lord knowed it, an see
in thar WANT enough to go round, He gave
'em to them that needed em most. ain'i
-never-fslt-as Of I'd orter to complain.
But-thar- s-cats-enough. might 9
hed-that-much."
"You kin git another cat, Ann. Mis- Max.
wells got some real smart kittens, an know
she wants to git rid Of EN-"
II don't want any of Mis- MaXwelPs kit
tens don't never want any other cat
"Phaps yourn will come back. Now dom
take on So"
"What?"
"P'haps yourn will come back"
mo, he won't. I'll never see him agiD
I've felt Jest that way about it from the FIRST.
Somebody's stole him, or he's been pisoned
~ 4 -.