Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-10-25
THETIS.


wood-shed loft, wondering Ii, after all,
she had chosen the best place for her
little ones, those six wee kittens curleG
up on rug near by. Surely there was
great noise and confusion below, she
thought.
The woodshed was usually dark and
still, and only her master came and went
with kind word for her, and q query
for The babies welfare.
"Will those noisy children ever go?"
said she, anxiously peering over the
edge of the loft. II want to go down
for my dinner, but dare not leave my
children alone"
just tn the old loft shook and
creaked with the motion of q swing
hung to a rafter, in which two OF In
children were riding at once, and merry
voices walked all the drowsy spiders In
all the dusty corners.
"Dear me, thought the little mother,
"this place isn't safe; l must move to-
morrow. What can master be about to
let those children come here?'
She crept back to the rug, just to as
sure herself that the babies were all
safe, and to give them little motherly
lick.
But all the wee, blind kittens woke u
little mother was much more anxious
than before.
"Hush, my dears," said she; "do try
to go to sleep again. Some one may
come up here If you cry so loud"
Just then the children below cried out,
kittens kittens! grandpa l hear
them. Come and hunt for Thetis' XII
tens"
Mother Thetis listened with growing
fear. Who might the grandpa be? Some
strange creature even more daneerOu.
than the children, perhaps
But there was no help for it; they were
surely climbing the ladder.
II was no use to try to "move" then
because she could carry only one kitten
at q time, and the others might meet
with misfortune in her absence. And i;
crossed her mind mistily, that once be-
fore in IN absence. her little family 4
dwindIeu iroA i've o 40.
Above the ladder came a curly heg
then another, and baby girl in gran.
pas arms.
"Then grandpa must be another namr
for master, and | am sure he won't hur
us" said Thetis to her babies, trying tr
sit up in front of them as if she weI
alone.
were discovered, and handed about, l.
the great distress Of the little mother.
At last the children clambered dow
and ran away, and the echoes and tie
dusty spiders all went to sleep again.
Thetis waited anXiously till nightfa.!
wa! ching the little window panes g.
aloft till she could see them no longcr.
and then, under cover of the dark, began
TO move"
She picked up one baby in her mouth,
so tenderly it did not wake even, md
carried it carefully all the way to the
woodpile.
She trotted fast along the pa'h,
brushed by the dewy grass as she Wen.
and laid the wet kitten on nest of chips
under some logs piled crosswise.
To and fro she trotted briskly six
times, till all the little damp kittens
were in their new home, and her cares
Wore happily ended.
For several days mother Thetls kept
house under the woodpile. quite undir-
turbed. But the children found her ou;
~ last aud. strange to say, grandp
.ook four babies away and forgot t.
bring them back, and Thetis was s,
much occupied by moving again, ia,
forgot them, too.
another lOng journey by night, and
the two little travellers were safe Oh,
more, hidden under big burdock leu,
in the turnip field.
when one day Peter, the farm hans
pulled up the big weed and told every.
body where the kittens were, and every
body came to see.
They were so plump, and sat up among
the turnip tops looking 80 wisely out o:
their new, blue eyes, the children cams
oftener than ever to see them, and
Mother Thetis was obliged to move once
more.
A journey to the haymow was made,
only to make another move necessary
when the hay was put in.
Thetis grew so troubled at last that
she couldn't remember how many babies
there were, and often went back for
third when the two We're safe in q new
place.
She used to forget sometimes whe re
she had moved to last, and had to sit
and think and think before she remem-
bered.
Even then she was often mistaken,
and visited some of the empty nests be-
fore she arrived finally at the right one.
After time she couldn't keep the ba-
bies at home and hidden, with all her
care, for they liked TO tumble about and
run far away, and frighten the poor anx-
ious mother thoroughly before they
scampered back again.
They would not stay at home, even. In
tho soft, green, curly parsley bed, where
their mother had at last taken them for
their health and safety.
But no harm ever came to them, AMI
when they had grown up, they used to
climb up into the old woodshed loft, and
wake the little mother cat out of her nap
to hear the story of their travels when
they were babies, and the old loft, their
first home.-Youths Companion.
Railroad Cats.
There are eight cats on the staff OF the
Midland, England, railway. The ex-
-r...r.-L... n,nnnntnd with thn.., ....---.