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

6h6 had CHOSEN the best place Tor her
little ones, those six wee kittens curle6
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 tho
edge Of the loft 81 want to go down
for my dinner, but 1 dare net leave my
children alone"
just then the old loft shook and
cresked with the motion of a swing
hung to rafter, In which two OF the
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; [ 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 up
at once and began to cry, so that the
little mother was much more anxious
than before.
"Hush, nay 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 1 heaI
them. Come and hunt for Thetis' kit
tens"
Mother Thetis listened with growing
fear. Who might the grandpa be? Some
strange creature even more dangerous
than the children, perhaps.
But there was no help for it; they were
surely climbing the ladder.
1t was no use to try to ''move" then,
because she could carry Only one kitten
at time, and the others might meet
with misfortune in her absence. And il
crossed her mind, mistily, that once be-
fore in an absence her little family had
dwindled from five TO two.
Above 40 u ~. o. c o. - l..-
then anoCAer, anu a baby girl in granQ
pas arms.
"rhen grandpa must be another nam
for mas er, and AIN sure ne won't hurt
US, said Thetis to her babies, trying Ia
sit up in front of them as if she were
alone.
But, nevertheless, all the wee kittens
were discovered, and handed about, to
the great distress of the little mother
At last the children clambered down
and ran away, and the echoes and the
dusty spiders all went to sleep again.
Thetis waited anxiously till nightfal!,
watching the little window panes up
aloft till she could see them no longer,
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, and
carried 1t carefully all the way to tho
woodpile.
She trotted fast along the path,
brushed by the dewy grass as she went,
and laid the wet kitten on a 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
were happily ended.
For several days mother Thetis kept
house under the woodpile, quite undis-
turbed, But the children found her out
at last, and, strange to say grandp.
took four babies away and forgot to
bring them back, and Thetis was SC
much occupied by moving again, she
forgot them, too.
Another long journey by night, and
the two little travellers we're safe once
more, hidden under a big burdock leaf
in the turnip field.
Here they lived for nearly week,
when one day Peter, the farm hand,
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 so wisely out OF
their new, blue eyes, the children came
fn
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 9
third when the two We're safe in a new
place.
She used to forget sometimes where
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 bo-
bies at homo 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 homo, even. In
the 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, and
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.-Youth's Companion