The Republican journal., 1903-02-26
LITTLE MISS LADY.
THE KITTEN WHO CHANGED HER
COLOR.

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Her broad toe landed the kitten upon
the steps and the door was shut.
Miss Lady was ased to rebutfs of this
sort, and nothing daunted, sat herself
down, hungry, cold and miserable, to
wait until the door was open again.
This time it was the milkman, and
Phoebe happened to be in the pantry,
so Miss Lady got in and promptly walk
ed up to Tobys empty saucer. Mamma
c. came into the kitchen to pay the
milkman, and saw her. Poor little
thing. where did she came from?'
ode Lord only knows. l reckon she
Jest tramp cat" answered Phoebe.
she's about starved. Why. look at
her ears, they must be frozen"
Phoebe and the milkman looked and
then began to laugh. t really was funny
to see Miss Lady, whose swollen ears
were held straight out, raise her paws
to rub her ears, then deciding not to,
nut them down and give her head a
vigorous shaking.
Il suppose they burn and itch; poor
thing. you must feed her, then We'll see
if we can't find out where she belongs
Phoebe shifted disapprovingly, but
poured some fresh milk into the saucer.
How that kitten drank. She Tapped SO
fast she choked herself twice, and when
it was all gone looked up into their
faces and mewed for more.
Just like Oliver Twist" said, Har-
Old. who. coming for his goodby kiss,
fingered to get acquainted with MISS
Lady.
Never saw anything like it in my
bon days" said Phoebe. pear like
she be holler clean down to her nina
claws"
Harold waited to see the third saucer
of milk disappear, then skipped OH 10
school
Toby now appeared upon the scene:
Stretching himself leisurely he crawled
from under the stove to see what all
this fuss was about. Toby, you must
understand, was an important member
of the family, being the identical kitten
with which Mamma C. went house
Keeping thirteen years ago. He was
black as Phoebe, blind in one eye, lit
tie off as to smellers, intolerably lazy
and dainty. Indeed, there were only
few things he would eat, but age and
infirmities did not detract from his
dignity; his dignity was the pride OF
the family. particularly Phoebe. 1t was
funny to hear her scold him. Come
out EN- dar, yo' lobe, dom yo' know
what a broom am yit?" After several
pokes, Toby, covered with dust, would
crawl out from under the stove, and
PhCpbe would go on with her sweeping.
If he went to his feeding corner, size
would say, "Yo needn't be gwine Oar, |
amt gwine ter feed yo, jest tax, yo'
self down cellar and ketch mouse. 20
law ole, hound, yo' wouldn't ketch 'em
eff dey was arunning ralght Der yo'
nose
Now, to do Toby justice, he had been
a splendid mouser, but his dayw past
and he was content to rest on his laurels,
except when rats were around; that
was game worth trying for. Forgetting
his great age he would pick up his ears,
switch his tail grandly, and Mr.. Rat
would have to look sharp Only last
fall Toby caught two: CLUSTERS Papa
c. called them You should have
heard him and Phpbe talk, They made
perfect geese OF themselves" Mamma
& declared they could talk of moth
ing else for week. but really, | think
Mamma c. was just as proud of
Toby as they, and when Toby, in spite
of past experience, persisted IN devour-
ing his game cleaning the skin dry
down to the tip of the tail, he was
carefully nursed back to his usual
health. and Phube, getting out the
saucepan and warming his milk, would
scold him something like this: ''Yo'
lobe! don yo' know no better: 1o'
better leave rats to cats as have more
teeth dan yo': you know dey allus mex
VI sick: dar. put dat down yo' ole brack
froat. Haint good huff, huh. p'raps
VOID like some fat sammon at forty
cents a poun' or some venson at seven
ty-tive cents a poun'. reckon yo'll heve
to change yore bo'ding place"
Tobys greeting was not very en-
couraging. He and Miss Lady shifted
noses, then Toby opened his mouth
with a venomous hiss, and Miss Lady
Jumped two feet into the air scared
quite out of her wits.
Shaking her head Phoebe said: "Dey's
gwine ter be trouble, ma am
Toby with great deliberatlon Toby
never hurried unless a dog was after
HIM backed a few steps; then sat down
in his most dignified manner, as if to
say, what is it, anyway" But his
tail switched, and he never took his
eyes off Miss Lady, now huddled into
the farthest corner Of the kitchen.
In this way war was declared, and
Miss Lady was given to understand
that no second cat was to be tolerated.
If she put her nose into Toby's saucer
(she sometimes forgot, she was sound
ly cuffed; if she tried to Jump into
Mamma C-s lap or upon the sunny
window stool beside Ph9be's sewing
chair, Toby's eyes would darken, his
tail would switch, and he would give
warning growl. Poor Miss Lady. she
would scuttle under the refrigerator,
where for a time she would blink and
shake her ears. But she had good
disposition and would promptly forgive
him, and try to coax him to play with
her. This was most eXasperating to
Toby 1t was with great loss of dignity
to wake up and find that detestable kit
ten taking liberties with his tail, or see
her attacEing his special rubber ball dog
cared, and dear to his heart as the play
thing of his youth. and used upon rare
occasions when he felt unusually Spry,
attacking it tooth and nail, or to find
Miss Lady comfortably reposing under
the stove. This last Toby was dread
fully particular about, this and his mis-
tress' lap: he considered them his own
special property; such impertinence had
to be punished. 1t was humiliating,
too, to have to divide his weekly ration
of catnip with tramp kitten.
Miss Lady responded quickly to kind
treatment and, barring Toby's on
slaughtS. became wonderfully content,