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diff --git a/19333.txt b/19333.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa17a37 --- /dev/null +++ b/19333.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2963 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Story of a China Cat, by Laura Lee Hope, +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of a China Cat + + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + + + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [eBook #19333] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 19333-h.htm or 19333-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/3/19333/19333-h/19333-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/3/19333/19333-h.zip) + + + + + +Make Believe Stories +(Trademark Registered) + +THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT + +by + +LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," "The Story of a Nodding +Donkey," "The Bobbsey Twins Series," "The Bunny Brown Series," "The Six +Little Bunkers Series," Etc. + +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + + + + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers +Made in the United States of America + + + * * * * * + + +BOOKS + +BY LAURA LEE HOPE + +Durably Bound. Illustrated. + +MAKE BELIEVE STORIES + + THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL + THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE + THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS + THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER + THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT + THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK + THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN + THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY + THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT + THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP + + +THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES + + * * * * * + +THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES + + * * * * * + +THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES + + * * * * * + + +Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York +Copyright, 1921, by +Grosset & Dunlap + + + + +The Story of a China Cat + +[Illustration: The China Cat Has a Ride in Nodding Donkey's Wagon. + +_Frontispiece_--(_Page 113_)] + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I TOY-SHOP FUN 1 + II A NICE LITTLE GIRL 14 + III "FIRE! FIRE!" 28 + IV A LITTLE BLACK BOY 38 + V ROUGH PLAY 50 + VI A TERRIBLE STORM 63 + VII THE RESCUE 76 + VIII JENNIE GETS THE CAT 87 + IX AN OLD FRIEND 101 + X THE GLARING EYES 111 + + + + +THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TOY-SHOP FUN + + +Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot! + +"Goodness me! who is blowing the horn?" asked the Talking Doll, as she +sat up on the shelf in the toy shop. "This isn't Friday; and we don't +want any fish!" + +"Speak for yourself, if you please," said a large, white China Cat, who +had just finished washing a few specks of dirt off her shiny coat with +her red tongue. "I could enjoy a bit of fish right now." + +"I should rather have pie," said the Talking Doll. "But who blew the +horn? That is what I'd like to know. No one has a horn in this toy shop +that I know anything about." + +"It wasn't a horn--that was a trumpet," said another voice. "I'll blow +it again!" + +Then there sounded a jolly noise through the quiet toy shop, which was +in darkness except for one electric light in the middle of the store. + +Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot! echoed the merry notes. + +"What a pretty sound," said the Jumping Jack, as he jerked his arms and +legs up and down, for he had just awakened from his long day of sleep. + +"Isn't it nice," agreed Tumbling Tom, a queer toy who never could stand +up, because he was made in such a funny way that he always fell down. "I +wonder if there is going to be a parade?" + +"Who is blowing that horn, anyway?" asked the Talking Doll. + +"I tell you it isn't a horn--it's a trumpet, and I am blowing it," said +a voice in the front part of the toy store. "I came in only to-day, but +I thought perhaps you other toys would like a little music, so I tuned +up my trumpet. But please don't call it a horn. I am not a fish man!" + +With that there came walking along the shelf, from the front part of the +store, a little man wearing a blue coat, dark red trousers, and a hat +with a long, sweeping plume. I say he was a little man, but I mean he +was a toy, dressed up like a man such as you see in fairy stories. In +his hand he carried a little golden trumpet. + +As he walked along the shelf, where the other toys stood, the Trumpeter, +for such he was, blew another blast on his golden instrument. + +And the blast was such a jolly one that every toy in the store felt like +dancing or singing. The Jumping Jack worked his arms and legs faster +than they had ever jerked about before. The Talking Doll swayed on her +feet as though waltzing, and even the China Cat beat time with her +tail. + +"That certainly was very nice," said the Talking Doll, when the +Trumpeter had finished the tune. "Did you say you just came here to be +one of us?" + +"Just to-day," was the answer. "I came in a large box, straight from the +workshop of Santa Claus, at the North Pole, and I--" + +"Oh! The North Pole!" suddenly mewed the China Cat. + +"What's the matter? Does it make you chilly to hear about the North +Pole, where I came from?" asked the Trumpeter. + +"No," answered the Cat. "I was just thinking of a friend of mine who +once lived there. You remember him," she added, turning to the Jumping +Jack. "I mean the Nodding Donkey." + +"Of course I remember him!" said the Jumping Jack. "I should say I did! +A most jolly chap, always bowing to you in the most friendly way. He +isn't here any more." + +"No, he was bought for a little lame boy who had to go on crutches," +said the Talking Doll. "I remember the Nodding Donkey very well. I say +he was bought for a little lame boy. But the truth of the matter is that +the lame boy got well, and now is just like other boys. Once the Nodding +Donkey's leg was broken and he was brought back here for Mr. Mugg to +fix." + +"Who is Mr. Mugg?" asked the Trumpeter, as he rubbed his horn to make it +more shiny. "Excuse me for asking, but I have not been here very long, +you know," he added. + +"Mr. Horatio Mugg is the man who keeps this toy store," explained the +China Cat. "He and his daughters, Angelina and Geraldine, keep us toys +in order, dust us off and sell us whenever any one comes in to buy +playthings." + +"Then it seems I am not to stay here always," went on the Trumpeter. +"Well, I like a jolly life, going about from place to place. I had fun +at the North Pole, and now I hope I shall have some fun here. That's why +I blew my trumpet--to start you toys into life." + +"We always come to life after dark, and make believe we are alive when +no one sees us," explained the China Cat. "That is one of the things we +are allowed to do. But as soon as daylight shines, or when any one comes +into the store to look at us, we must turn back into toys that can move +only when we are wound up. That is, all except me. I have no springs +inside me--I move of myself whenever make-believe time comes," she +added, and she switched her tail from side to side. + +"Well, I have springs inside me," said the Talking Doll, "and also a +little phonograph. When it is wound up I can say 'papa' and 'mama' and +'I am hungry.' But when we are by ourselves, as we are now, I can say +what I please." + +"I, too, have springs inside me," said the Trumpeter. "That is how I +blow my trumpet. But now, as we are by ourselves and it is night, why +not have some fun? Let's do something. Perhaps, as a newcomer, I should +let some one else start it. But I could not bear to lie on the shelf, +doing nothing, especially when it is so near the jolly Christmas season. +So I just blew my trumpet to awaken you all." + +"And I'm glad you did," said the Jumping Jack. "I say let's have some +fun! Shall I show you how well I can jump?" he asked. "If this is your +first night here," he said to the Trumpeter, "you do not know all the +tricks I can do." + +"I should be most happy to see you do some," replied the Trumpeter. + +"Oh, that Jumping Jack. He thinks he is the only one who can jump!" +whispered a Jack in the Box to Tumbling Tom. "If I could get out of this +box I'd show him some jumps that would make him open his eyes!" + +"And as for tumbles!" said Tom. "Why, I can beat him all to pieces! But +we must be polite, you know, especially before strangers--I mean the +Trumpeter. Don't let's have a quarrel." + +"All right," agreed the Jack in the Box, or Jack Box, as he was called +for short. + +"Now watch me jump!" cried Jumping Jack. "Clear the shelf, if you +please. The Trumpeter has never seen any of my circus tricks!" + +So the toys in the shop of Mr. Horatio Mugg got ready to have a jolly +night. Just as the China Cat had said, the toys had the power of making +believe. They could pretend to come to life, and talk among themselves, +and do things they never would think of doing in the daytime. This was +when no human eyes saw them. + +"Attention now, everybody!" called the Jumping Jack, just like the +ringmaster in a circus. "First I will climb to the top of the highest +shelf, and then I will jump down." + +"Won't you hurt yourself?" asked the Trumpeter. + +"Oh, no, I'll land on a big rubber ball and bounce," the Jumping Jack +answered. "If you want to, Trumpeter," he added, "you can blow a blast +on your horn to start me off. It will be more exciting if you do that." + +"All right," agreed the new toy. + +Up climbed the Jumping Jack until he stood on the very highest shelf of +the store--the shelf where all the extra drums were kept out of the way. + +"It makes me dizzy to look at him," said the Talking Doll, and she +covered her eyes with her hand. + +"Yes, suppose he should fall," said the China Cat. "But he must show +off, I suppose. I'd rather have less exciting fun--such as a game of +tag." + +"Hush!" begged the Trumpeter. "He is ready to jump, I think. Hello +there, Jack!" he called to the toy on the top shelf. "Are you ready?" + +"All ready!" was the answer. "Blow your trumpet, and I'll jump!" + +The Trumpeter raised his golden horn to his lips. + +Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot! came the blast. + +"Here I come!" shouted the Jumping Jack. + +"Oh, dear! Tell me when it is all over!" begged the Talking Doll, +putting both her hands over her eyes. + +Down, down, down, came the Jumping Jack, past shelf after shelf of toys, +until he landed with a bounce on a rubber ball on the very lowest shelf, +where the Cat and the Doll stood. + +Up in the air bounced the Jack again, for the ball was like the springs +of a bed. Then he came down upon the ball a second time and bounced up +once more, and this time he came down on the shelf. + +"Ouch! Mew! Mew!" cried the China Cat. + +"What's the matter? Did the Jumping Jack fall and break his leg like the +Nodding Donkey?" asked the Talking Doll. "Oh, I dare not look! Tell me +about it!" + +"Of course he didn't break his leg!" said the Cat. "But he stepped on my +tail; that's what he did! Right on my tail! I hope it isn't broken," she +went on, as she looked carefully at the tip. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon! I am so sorry!" exclaimed the Jumping Jack. "I +didn't mean to do that. The ball rolled, and I slipped." + +"Well, there is no great harm done, I am glad to say," said the China +Cat, again carefully looking at the tip of her tail. "But if you had +landed a little harder you would have broken it, and then I should be a +damaged toy, and Mr. Mugg would have had to sell me for half price." + +"But didn't I do a good jump?" asked the Jack of the Trumpeter. + +"One of the finest I ever saw," was the answer. "But suppose we play +something more quiet." + +"Let's have a dance!" proposed the Talking Doll. "The Trumpeter can play +for us. I love to dance!" + +[Illustration: The Jumping Jack Danced With the China Cat. + +_Page 12_] + +"So do I," said a Soldier Captain, who was one of a number of wooden +soldiers in a box. "May I have a waltz with you, Miss Doll?" + +"Yes," she answered. "Thank you, Captain." + +And while the Trumpeter played, the toys danced. The Jumping Jack danced +with the China Cat, but she said his style was jerky. Then Tumbling Tom +danced with the white cat, but Tom kept falling down all the while so +that dance was, really, not a success. + +"Let's play tag," said the Talking Doll after a while. "I am sure the +Trumpeter is tired of playing so many tunes for us." + +"All right! Tag will be fun!" agreed the China Cat. "I'll be it. +Scatter now, so I shall have to run to tag you." + +The toys spread themselves about the shelves of Mr. Mugg's shop, and the +China Cat, whose shiny coat was as white as snow, was just getting ready +to run after the Trumpeter when suddenly the toy pussy gave a loud mew. + +"Take her away! Take her away! Don't let her come near me!" cried the +China Cat. "Oh, Captain!" she exclaimed to the wooden soldier, "don't +let her get near me! Take her away!" and the China Cat acted so +strangely that the other toys did not know what to think. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A NICE LITTLE GIRL + + +Everybody had been so happy and jolly in the toy shop, and there was so +much fun going on, that when the China Cat acted so oddly and mewed so +loudly, there was great excitement for a time. + +"Don't tell me there is a fire!" cried a little Ballet Dancer, whose +skirts of tissue paper and tulle would be sure to flare up the first +thing in case of a blaze. + +"No, there isn't a fire," said a toy Policeman. "If there was I should +turn in an alarm." + +"But what is the matter?" asked the Talking Doll. "Did that crazy +Jumping Jack again step on the China Cat's tail?" + +"Indeed I did not," answered the Jumping Jack. + +And all this while the China Cat kept mewing. + +"Take her away! Don't let her come near me! The black will rub off, I'm +sure, and I shall be ruined and damaged. Oh, take her away, Soldier +Captain!" and the China Cat, in her white coat, snuggled as close as she +could to the brave officer with his shiny sword. + +"What is the matter? Who is black? Please tell me what to do so I can +help you," begged the Captain. + +"Why, don't you see!" exclaimed the China Cat. "That black doll is +coming to play tag with us! She belongs on the other side of the store, +among the Hallowe'en novelties! If she rubs up against me she'll get me +all black, and I can't stand it to be dirty!" + +All the other toys glanced toward the toy at which the China Cat pointed +with one paw. Walking along the edge of the shelf was a fuzzy-haired +black Doll, her face as shiny as the stove pipe. She was called a Topsy +Doll. + +"Whut's de mattah heah?" asked Topsy, talking just as a colored doll +should talk. "Don't yo' all want fo' me to come an' play tag wif yo'?" + +"We'd love to have you," said the Jumping Jack, who, being all sorts of +colors, did not mind one more. "But our China Cat is afraid some of your +black might rub off on her." + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Topsy. "Dat suah am funny! Why, my black doesn't +come off! I spects maybe I's white inside, but de black on de outside +don't come off! Ha! Ha! Ha!" + +"Really, doesn't it? Won't you smut me all up?" asked the China Cat. + +"No, I won't! Hones' to goodness I won't!" promised the Topsy Doll. +"Some folks do say I's terrible mischievous but I can't help it. I +growed up dat way, I reckon!" + +With that Topsy bent over and pulled one of the ears of Tumbling Tom. + +"Hey there! Stop it!" cried that toy, and he leaned over to tickle +Topsy, but he leaned too far and down he fell. + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed the black Doll. "Golly, I's mischievous; but mah +black won't rub off! Look!" + +Topsy took up from the shelf a piece of the white paper Mr. Mugg used to +wrap up the toys when they were purchased. Topsy rubbed this piece of +paper on her black, shiny cheek as hard as she could rub it. Then she +held it out to the China Cat. The paper was as white as before. + +"See!" cried Topsy. "Mah black won't rub off! Now can't I play tag wif +yo' all?" + +"Oh, yes, let her; do!" begged the Talking Doll. "She's so cute!" + +"Of course she may play if she will not smut me," said the China Cat. +"Please don't believe I'm fussy," she went on; "but I shall never be +sold if I do not keep myself white and clean. I thought at first that +Topsy had been down in the coal bin." + +"No'm," answered that colored Doll. "I's awful mischievous, but I don't +play in no coal. No indeedy!" + +"I'm glad of that," said the China Cat. "Now I'll be it, and see if I +can tag any of you. Look out! I'm coming!" + +With that the white Cat began chasing about on the shelves, trying to +tag the other toys, who, you may be sure, kept well out of her reach. + +"No fair tagging with your tail--that is so long!" called the Talking +Doll, as she dodged around the corner of the Jack in the Box, who could +not get loose to join the fun. "You must tag us with your paws." + +"Yes, I'll do that," agreed the China Cat. "I'll only tag you with my +paws. And I think I'll tag you right now!" she called to the Topsy Doll. + +"Oh, ho! Yo' all here has got to be mighty lively to tag me!" the black +toy laughed, and, just as the China Cat was about to touch her, Topsy +dodged to one side and the China Cat nearly slipped off the shelf. + +"Oh, my dear! you must be careful," cried the Talking Doll. "Think what +would happen if you hit the floor!" + +"Oh, I don't dare think of it!" mewed the China Cat, with a shudder. "I +should be broken to bits!" + +So after that the Cat did not run quite so fast. Topsy was a very lively +little doll. She skipped here and there, and kept the other toys +laughing at her funny tricks and the queer way her kinky hair bobbed +about her head. + +So the game went on, and at last the China Cat managed to touch the +Jumping Jack with her paw. + +"Tag! You're it!" cried the China Cat. "Now it's your turn to do the +chasing, Mr. Jack!" + +The game went on faster than ever, and such jolly fun as there was you +never would have dreamed could happen in a toy shop, unless you could +have seen it yourself. But of course that is not allowed. If you had so +much as peeked in with one eye, all the toys would have become as quiet +as a chocolate mouse. + +At last they grew tired of such exciting fun. One after another had +taken a turn at being it for tag. + +"I know what let's do," suggested the Soldier Captain, after they had +rested. "Let's have some riddles." + +"Hi!" cried Topsy, "am riddles good to eat?" + +"No, indeed," answered the Talking Doll. "Riddles are something you have +to guess." + +"Den I mus' be a riddle!" said the colored Doll. + +"What makes you think so?" asked the China Cat. + +"'Cause some ob de toys in mah pa't of de store says as how I kept 'em +_guessin'_," was the answer. "Dey done say dey nebber know whut I'm +gwine to do nex'. I suah mus' be a riddle." + +"Oh, no, that isn't a riddle," the Soldier Captain explained. "A riddle +is like a puzzle. For instance, I ask you what has four legs, and yet +can't walk?" + +"Hu! Dey ain't _nothin'_ whut has fo' legs an' can't walk!" declared +Topsy. "Dat's silly! I's got only _two_ legs, but I can walk when nobody +looks at me. An' dat Noah's Ark Elephant, he's got _fo'_ legs, an' he +can walk. What is dat has fo' legs an' can't walk I axes yo', Mr. +Soldier Captain?" + +"A table has four legs and yet it can't walk," laughed the wooden +officer. "That's a riddle, Topsy. Now see if you can tell one." + +So the Topsy Doll and the other toys began to think of riddles, asking +them of one another. But, somehow or other, the China Cat was very still +and quiet. She did not enter into this fun as she had into the game of +tag. + +"What's the matter?" asked the Jumping Jack, when he had guessed a funny +riddle about a little green hen. "Are you watching for mice, China Cat? +There are some little ones, made of cloth and wood over in the novelty +department where Topsy came from." + +"No, I am not thinking of mice," answered the China Cat. "To tell you +the truth, Mr. Jumping Jack, I was thinking of the Nodding Donkey. He +came back here, you know, to have his leg fixed, and he spoke about how +happy he was with the little lame boy, who, I'm glad to know, is lame no +longer. I was just wondering if I would go to a nice home such as he +has." + +"I suppose all us toys will be sold, one after another," said the +Jumping Jack. "But it is so nice here that I dread to think of going +away." + +"Yes, it is nice in Mr. Mugg's store," the China Cat agreed. "But I +suppose we must do as we are told. Dear Nodding Donkey! How I should +like to see him again. I wonder--" + +"Hush! Quiet, everybody! Back to your shelves!" suddenly cried Tumbling +Tom. "Morning is about to come and Mr. Mugg and his daughters will soon +be here. They must never catch us moving about!" + +Such a scramble as there was! The China Cat, the Talking Doll, the +Trumpeter, the Policeman, the Fireman, the Jumping Jack, Tumbling Tom +and Jack Box all made haste to get on the shelves where they belonged. + +The Topsy Doll, with her kinky hair, darted toward the novelty +department. + +"I's glad yo' all let me play wif yo'," she said in her queer talk. "An' +I didn't get any black on yo'; did I, Miss China Cat?" + +"No, indeed. You were very nice," was the answer. "Come and play with us +again." + +Then it was time for the toys to be very still and quiet, for the door +of the store opened, and in came Mr. Mugg. + +"Ah, this is going to be a lovely day!" said the jolly toy-shop man. "I +shall do a good business to-day!" + +A little later in came his daughters, Geraldine and Angelina. They began +dusting and setting the store to rights for the day's business. + +"Oh, my dear! look at this," said Angelina to her sister. + +"What is the matter?" asked Geraldine, pausing with a feather duster +under her arm. + +"Why, the lovely white China Cat has a speck of dirt on her back," said +Angelina. "I must have forgotten to dust her yesterday." + +"Oh, my!" thought the China Cat, who heard what was said, though she +could not turn around to lick off the speck with her red tongue, "some +black must have come off Topsy after all." + +"Oh, no, it isn't dirt," said Angelina, as she took the Cat down to look +more closely at her. "It's just a little speck of black feather from my +duster. It must have just got on." + +"Oh, I'm so glad of that!" thought the white Cat. "I wouldn't want to +think that Topsy's black rubbed off." + +Soon the store was in readiness for customers, and among the first to +enter that morning was a little girl. She was with a lady, who was the +little girl's aunt. + +"Now, Jennie," said the aunt, as Mr. Mugg came forward to wait on them, +"what present would you like? You may pick out anything you please." + +"Oh, Aunt Clara! How lovely of you!" cried Jennie Moore, for that was +her name. "Let me see now. What would I like best?" + +While Jennie was looking along the shelves of toys her aunt said in a +low tone to Mr. Mugg: + +"Jennie has been such a good girl, helping her mother who was ill, that +I promised her any toy she wished." + +"That is very kind of you, I am sure," said Mr. Mugg, rubbing his hands +and looking over the tops of his glasses. "We have many toys here for +good little girls, and for good boys, too. Not long ago I sold a Nodding +Donkey to a lame boy, and, would you believe me; that boy isn't lame at +all now," and Mr. Mugg laughed, and Aunt Clara laughed also. + +But Jennie was looking along the shelves of toys. The China Cat looked +down, and when she saw what a nice little girl Jennie was, so neat and +clean, the China Cat thought to herself: + +"If I have to be taken away and belong to some child, I think I should +like to go to Jennie's house. I'm sure she would be kind to me and love +me, and I would love her." + +Jennie seemed to be thinking the same thing about the China Cat, for +suddenly she reached up and took down the white toy. + +"Here, Aunt Clara, this is what I would like," said Jennie. + +She walked toward her aunt and Mr. Mugg with the China Cat in her hand, +but, just before she reached them, Jennie tripped over a velocipede on +the floor, and seemed about to fall. + +"Oh, Jennie, don't drop that China Cat, whatever you do!" cried her +aunt. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"FIRE! FIRE!" + + +Had Jennie Moore stumbled and dropped the China Cat to the floor of the +toy shop that would have been the end of this book. For if the Cat had +fallen she surely would have been broken to bits. And, though Mr. Mugg +might have been able to glue the pieces together again, the China Cat +never would have been like herself, and there would be no story about +her. + +But, as it happened, there was a soft footstool just in front of the +velocipede over which Jennie stumbled, and the little girl fell down on +that, still holding the China Cat in her hands. Not once did Jennie let +go of the toy she had taken off the shelf. + +"Oh, my dear little girl! I hope you did not hurt yourself!" cried Mr. +Horatio Mugg, as he sprang forward to raise Jennie from the footstool, +across which she had fallen. + +"And I hope she hasn't broken the China Cat!" exclaimed Aunt Clara. + +"Well," replied Mr. Mugg, with a kind smile, "breaking the China Cat +would not have been so bad. I could easily send to the workshop of Santa +Claus and get another toy. But nice little girls, if they fall and hurt +themselves, are not so easily mended. I am glad you are not hurt, my +dear," he went on, as he helped Jennie to her feet. + +"And I am glad the China Cat is not broken," said Aunt Clara. "It is a +lovely piece of work." + +"Yes, it is one of my choicest toys," said Mr. Mugg. "It can not talk, +like some of my dolls, nor spring about like some of the Jumping Jacks. +But the Cat is so clean and white that it would be an ornament in any +home." + +"She'll look lovely on my bureau," said Jennie. "Does her head come off, +Mr. Mugg?" the nice little girl asked, as her aunt was looking carefully +at the China Cat. + +"Oh, my, no!" laughed the toy-shop man. "I once had a cat whose head +could be lifted off, and burned matches could be dropped down inside +her. But this Cat isn't that kind." + +"I should hope not!" thought the China Cat, while Aunt Clara was looking +her over. "Not that I don't consider my cousin, the Match Cat, as nice +as I am," she told herself, "but I'm just different; that's all! I hope +I may go to live with this little girl. I shall be able to keep myself +spotless and white in her home, I'm sure." + +But the China Cat was not yet to leave the toy store. And there were +some strange adventures soon to happen, as I shall tell you. + +"Well, Jennie," said Aunt Clara, as she again let the little girl take +the China Cat, "if you think you want this toy you may have it. But we +will not take it with us now. I have some other shopping to do, and if +we carry the Cat with us something may happen to her." + +"Oh, can't I take her now?" pleaded Jennie. + +"No, my dear," her aunt answered. "Mr. Mugg will put her aside for you, +and I will come in to-morrow and get her." + +"Yes, I'll save the China Cat for you," promised the toy man. + +"If I may be sure of having her I don't mind," said Jennie. "But we must +be sure and come after her to-morrow, Auntie." + +"We will come to-morrow surely," said Aunt Clara, and then, after Jennie +had taken one more look at the toy she hoped soon would be hers, she +followed her aunt out of the store. + +Mr. Mugg and his two daughters were very busy in their toy shop that +day. A load of packing boxes arrived, direct from the North Pole +workshop of Santa Claus, and these boxes were stored down in the +basement. + +"We will open those boxes some day next week," said Mr. Mugg to his +daughters. "Perhaps among the new toys there may be another China Cat. I +certainly hope so, for when Jennie's aunt comes for this one we shall +feel lonesome." + +Mr. Mugg took a box of matches and went down into the basement to light +the gas and see about storing away the cases of new toys. And when the +men had opened some, not taking many of the toys out, however, the +storekeeper was called up stairs by one of his daughters. + +"Leave the cases the way they are," he said to the expressmen. "Don't +open any more. I'll do that later in the week." + +Then Mr. Mugg turned the gas down low, for he thought he might come back +again, and up the stairs he hurried to see what his daughter wanted. As +he walked across the basement floor the box of matches dropped out of +his pocket, near some straw from one of the packing cases. + +"I'll get the matches when I come back," thought the toy man. But the +rest of the day he was so busy he forgot all about them. + +Back on the shelf, out of sight, the China Cat thought over what had +happened that day. + +"I surely am glad Jennie didn't let me fall and break," said the Cat to +herself. "And I am glad I am going to belong to such a nice, clean +little girl." Then, as one could see her, hidden away as she was, the +China Cat washed her paws with her red tongue. + +Once again night came. The toy store was closed, and all the lights +turned out except a small one in the middle of the store. For a time it +was quiet, and then, once more, the Trumpeter blew a jolly blast on his +horn. + +Toot! Toot! Toot! went the trumpet. + +"Are you ready for more fun?" asked the Talking Doll. + +"Yes," was the answer. "It is now night, no one can see us, and we can +do as we please. Let's play tag again," said a number of toys. + +"Where is the China Cat?" asked Tumbling Tom. "We don't want to leave +her out of the good times." + +"Oh, I'm here!" mewed the white pussy. "I'm just sort of hidden away so +I will not be sold. I am to go to a little girl named Jennie Moore." + +"Hum! Jennie Moore! Seems to me I heard her spoken of by the father of +the little lame boy when the Nodding Donkey was brought back here to +have his leg mended," said the Jumping Jack. "Wouldn't it be funny, Miss +China Cat, if you should go to live in a house near your friend, the +Nodding Donkey?" + +"It would be very nice, I think," said the China Cat. "But I have +something new to suggest," she went on, as she moved out near the edge +of the shelf. "Instead of playing tag, why can't all of us go down into +the basement?" + +"What for?" asked Tumbling Tom. + +"I heard it said that a new lot of toys was put down in the basement +to-day," went on the China Cat. "Let's go down and call on them. It's +always polite to call on new neighbors, you know," she added. + +"Yes, let's do that!" shouted the Trumpeter. "We'll make them feel at +home." + +So down the cellar stairs trooped the China Cat, the Talking Doll, the +Jumping Jack, Jack Box and many other toys. + +Clip! Clap! Clump! they went down the stairs. + +"Hello, new toys!" mewed the China Cat. "We have come to call on you!" + +"That is very kind of you," said a Red Fireman, who was one of the new +toys that had been taken from the boxes. "We were just wondering what +sort of place this was--so dark and gloomy." + +"Oh, this is the basement," said the China Cat. "The toy store is up +above. You'll be brought up there with us, soon, we hope. But we came to +visit you and cheer you up." + +"And we are very glad," said a Cloth Doll. "I was getting tired of lying +here on my back." + +"Let us play some games," proposed the China Cat. "We can ask riddles, +have a game of tag, or, those of you who are unpacked, can join in a +race." + +"I say let's have a race!" cried the Engineer of a toy train of cars on +the floor. "I haven't had a race with my engine and cars since Mr. Mugg +lifted us out of our box. Come on! I'll get up steam and have a race." + +Before any one could stop him, the Engineer started his train of iron +cars over the floor of the basement. + +Toot! Toot! he blew the whistle. + +Suddenly there was a crackling sound and then a flash of flame. + +"What's the matter!" cried the China Cat. + +"Oh, I have run over a box of matches!" exclaimed the toy Engineer. +"They have begun to blaze and the straw from the packing cases is +catching! Oh, look what I did, but I didn't mean to!" + +Surely enough, the toy cars had run over the box of matches Mr. Mugg had +dropped, and now the flames and smoke were filling the basement of the +toy shop. + +"Fire! Fire! Fire!" cried the toy Policeman, banging with his club. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LITTLE BLACK BOY + + +So many things began happening at once in the basement of the toy shop, +after the train of cars ran over the box of matches, that the China Cat, +the Jumping Jack and even the Policeman, who was supposed to keep order, +never knew half that took place. All the toys knew was that they began +to choke with the smoke from the burning straw, and some of them, who +were too close to the box of blazing matches, felt the heat very much. + +[Illustration: "We Must Hurry Out!" Mewed the China Cat. + +_Page 38_] + +"Oh, we must hurry out of here!" mewed the China Cat. + +"I should say so!" exclaimed the Policeman. "Come on! Move lively! No +loitering!" he cried, as he had done that time when he tickled the +Nodding Donkey in the ribs with the club. "Everybody get out of the way +of the fire!" went on the toy Policeman, swinging his club. "Where are +the engines and the firemen?" he called. + +"Here we are! I'm coming," cried an excited voice, and there clattered +along the basement floor of the toy shop a little fire engine, on which +was perched a toy Fireman. + +"Let me get at the blaze!" cried this Fireman, who was dressed all in +red. "Who started it, anyhow?" + +"I did," answered the Engineer of the train of iron cars. "I ran over a +box of matches, but I did not mean to." + +"Well, it is going to be a bad fire!" said the Fireman. "Everybody must +get out." + +"Except you and me," added the Policeman, "I have ordered them all back +to their shelves, but you and I must stay here. I will remain on guard +while you put out the fire!" he said. + +"Right!" cried the brave Fireman, as he got down off his engine. + +By this time the straw had set fire to some of the wooden boxes which +Mr. Mugg had opened that day to take out the toys. The burning straw and +wood made more smoke than ever, so that the China Cat choked, and the +Talking Doll was coughing so hard she could not speak. + +"Hurry with that water!" ordered the Policeman. "Squirt a lot of water +from the hose on the blaze, Mr. Fireman!" + +But the sad part of it was that there was no water in the toy engine. +They are not made that way, though sometimes boys, who get engines for +presents, put water in them to play with. But though the Fireman ran out +his tiny hose, and pointed it straight at the blaze, no water spurted +from the nozzle. + +"It is getting too hot here for me!" cried the Policeman. "I'm afraid we +can't do anything, Mr. Fireman. We had better run upstairs with the +rest of the toys!" + +"What about the toys still in the boxes--those that Mr. Mugg has not +unpacked?" asked the Fireman. "The toys still in the boxes can not get +out to run upstairs." + +"No, that's so," admitted the Policeman, stepping back out of the smoke, +and scratching his nose with his club. "What shall we do?" + +"I'll get my ax and chop open the boxes," the toy Fireman answered. "We +fire-fighters have to do that. If only I had water in my engine I could +soon put out this blaze." + +But there was no use wishing that now, and, just as the Fireman had +said, the poor toys, still nailed up in the boxes, were likely to have a +hard time. + +"Let us out! Please let us out!" begged the Dolls, the toy Dogs, the toy +Cats and the other playthings, all shut up as they were. They could +smell the smoke, if they could not see the blaze. + +"I'll save you! The Policeman and I will get you out!" cried the brave +Fireman, as he dashed back to his engine to get the small ax which hung +there. + +Meanwhile the China Cat, the Talking Doll and some of the Jumping Jacks +were hurrying up the basement steps much faster than they had gone down. +They wanted to get out of the fire and smoke. + +"If only the Nodding Donkey were here, I'm sure he could have ridden me +on his back out of danger," thought the China Cat. "He was very fond of +me, and I like him. But he is not here!" + +There was such a crowd of toys, all trying to get up the basement stairs +at once, and the smoke was so thick now, that the Policeman and Fireman +had also to run back, and there might have been a sad accident, only +that the regular fire department men came along just then. + +Some one in the street had seen smoke coming from the basement of the +toy shop. + +"Fire! Fire! Fire!" was the cry, and this time it was a real shout, and +not such as the toys had given. Then the man who had smelled and seen +the smoke ran and pulled an alarm box. + +There was a clang of bells and loud toots of a whistle. There was a rush +of many feet, and then a loud crash as the real firemen burst open the +door of the toy shop. + +"The fire is in the basement!" cried one fireman, wearing a rubber coat +and hat to keep himself dry for the water would soon be spraying from +the hose of the real, big engine. + +"Yes, it's in the basement," said a real policeman, who had arrived +almost as soon as had the firemen. "And Mr. Mugg has a lot of new toys +down there. We must carry them out for him!" + +Of course as soon as the door of the shop had been burst open, and the +real firemen and policemen had come in, not a toy dared move or speak, +for they would have been seen. + +So they had to stay just where they were. Some were half way up the +basement stairs; the China Cat had just reached the middle of the first +floor, when she had to come to a stop; the Talking Doll was on the top +step of the stairs, and there she had to stay. It was there that a +fireman saw her as he was about to rush down into the basement. The +firemen carried lanterns so they could see in the darkened store. + +"The toys are scattered all about," said the fireman, picking up the +Talking Doll. "There must have been an explosion!" Of course he did not +know that the toys themselves had gone down into the basement to play, +and that the fire was caused by the train running over the box of +matches. + +"We must carry out some of these toys before we begin to squirt the +water, or they will all be spoiled," said the fireman who had picked up +the Talking Doll. "Water will ruin them as much as the blaze. Come on, +boys!" he called. "Save the toys!" + +Here and there about the store, and down in the basement, rushed the +firemen and policemen. Toys that were scattered about were hastily piled +in open boxes. Then the boxes were dragged out on the sidewalk. Quite a +crowd gathered in the street, for more engines, firemen and policemen +were arriving all the while. + +"Oh, this is dreadful!" thought the China Cat, as a whiff of smoke blew +in her face. "I shall be all blackened and ruined!" + +Clang! Clang! rang the bells on the real fire engine. Toot! Toot! blew +the whistles. + +"Here is a toy cat! Put her in that box!" called one fireman to another, +who was dragging out a wooden box into which he had tossed the Talking +Doll, a Jumping Jack and a dozen Green Pigs. "Take them out; and then we +must begin to use the water! The fire is getting too hot!" + +The China Cat could feel the heat, and she noticed that the red color on +the cheeks of a Painted Doll was all running down, making her look very +streaked. + +"Oh, what a bump!" thought the China Cat, as she felt herself tossed +into the packing box. She landed in between the Talking Doll and a +Jumping Jack. + +"Out on the sidewalk with that box!" cried the fireman, and he and some +others began dragging out the one in which was the China Cat. + +There had been a great deal of noise and excitement in the store, but +there was five times as much noise out on the sidewalk. Just as the box +containing the China Cat was dragged toward the door, a shower of water +sprinkled down. + +"Oh, dear me!" thought the China Cat. "I can't bear to be wet, and now +it is raining! But I hope it will wash from me some of the black smoke." + +However, it was not rain that the China Cat felt, but water from the +hose of a real engine. The firemen were beginning to squirt water on the +blaze, to save as much as they could of Mr. Mugg's store and of his +toys, and some of the water from the hose sprayed on the China Cat. + +By this time it was getting to be morning, and crowds of men and boys, +with a few women, on their way to early work, stopped to look at the +fire. Smoke was pouring out of Mr. Mugg's basement, and some one had +hurried to the toy-shopkeeper's house to awaken him and his daughters +and tell them what was happening. + +"Oh, look at the toys!" cried a group of boys, as they came running up +the street to see where the fire was. "Oh, look at 'em!" + +"Keep back now! Let those toys alone!" warned a policeman who was on +guard. + +Most of the boys stepped back off the sidewalk, but when the policeman's +back was turned a little black boy, who stood somewhat apart from the +others, sneaked up to the packing box into which the China Cat and the +Talking Doll had been thrown. + +"Golly, what a lot ob toys!" murmured the little negro boy, whose name +was Jeff. "I reckon as how I kin git one fo' nuffin, if dat p'liceman +don't see me." + +Jeff, who was dirty and ragged, watched his chance. He had come from his +home in a tenement house, not far from the fire, and his eyes glistened +when he saw so many toys out on the street. + +"Um-ah! Jest look at 'em!" murmured Jeff. "Golly! I kin git one as easy +as not outen dat open box! Wait till dat p'liceman turns around." + +Jeff watched his chance. The policeman on guard moved off to one side. +In an instant Jeff, the dirty little black boy, sneaked up, and, +thrusting in his hand, which was black with dirt as well as being +covered with black skin, he took up the pure, white China Cat. + +"Dis am just whut I want!" whispered Jeff. + +"Oh, my, how dirty he is! Oh, I can't bear to have him touch me!" +thought the China Cat. "I dread dirt more than I do water! Oh, what +shall I do?" + +But she had no chance to do anything just then, for, with a quick +motion, Jeff, the colored boy, thrust the China Cat inside his dirty, +ragged blouse. + +"Oh, I'll be smothered!" thought the poor China Cat. "What a dreadful +fate to be taken away by a dirty boy! And only an hour ago I was so +happy! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ROUGH PLAY + + +You can just imagine how the China Cat felt. Always so clean and white, +always washing herself if she found the least speck of dirt on her, +always keeping as much as possible away from dust and grime--and now to +be spattered with water, blackened by the smoke of the fire, and finally +thrust inside the soiled blouse of a not very clean boy! Oh, it was +terrible! + +The China Cat said it was, over and over again; to herself, of course, +for she dared not speak aloud, nor so much as mew, while Jeff, the +colored boy, had her. And Jeff certainly had the China Cat. + +Jeff's eyes sparkled with delight as he pressed the toy up under his +blouse, out of sight, and then he darted away from the pile of toys, on +the sidewalk--toys that had hastily been carried out of the burning +store. + +"Hi, golly! I's done gone fool dat p'liceman," murmured Jeff, as he +stepped off the sidewalk and made his way out of the crowd in front of +the burning store. "He tole me to keep away from dem toys! But I sneaks +up when he isn't lookin', an' I gits de bestest toy ob all! Golly! I's +smarter dan a p'liceman, I is!" + +Jeff grinned, showing two rows of white teeth in his black face. Indeed, +Jeff's teeth were the only clean things about him, it seemed. At least +they were white, though I can not say that he ever used a tooth brush. +His teeth were as white as was the China Cat when she was her very +cleanest. But she was not at all clean now. And you know how unhappy +this made her feel. + +There was so much excitement now in front of Mr. Mugg's toy shop, with +the fire, the smoke, the water, the fire engines, the firemen and the +police, to say nothing of the crowd that had gathered, that no one paid +any attention to Jeff. Away he sneaked, with the China Cat under his +blouse. + +"I's smart, I is!" said Jeff to himself, grinning. "I could 'a' tooken a +lot ob toys; but I liked dis Cat bestest ob all. She's so white!" + +Jeff did not mind the black specks from the fire that had settled on the +cat, and he cared nothing about the grimy marks his own dirty hands had +made. + +It was broad daylight now, and the firemen were getting the best of the +fire. By pouring a lot of water from their hose down in the basement, +the blaze had been put out, though there was still much smoke. + +Jeff, the negro boy, shuffled off down the street on his way back to his +home. When he was nearly there he met some other colored boys. + +One of these lads, named Sam, saw that Jeff was hiding something under +his blouse. + +"Hello, Jeff!" called Sam. "Whut yo' got there? Something good to eat?" + +"Nope, 'tain't nuffin to eat!" declared Jeff. He and Sam talked negro +talk, of course, just like Topsy, the colored doll, whom the China Cat +at first thought would rub off some of her black. + +"Whut yo' got then?" asked Sam. "Show me!" + +"Yes, show what yo' got, Jeff!" cried the other colored boys. + +"Oh, I ain't got nuffin much!" Jeff answered, as he moved away from Sam +and the other boys. Sometimes they had taken things away from Jeff, and +Jeff was afraid that was what they were now going to do. Inside the +blouse of the colored boy the China Cat heard what was said, but she +could see nothing. + +"I wonder what is going to happen?" she thought. + +"Jeff has got something!" declared Sam to his chums. "Let's catch him +an' take it away!" + +"All right!" agreed the other colored boys. They made a rush for Jeff, +but he was too quick for them. Pressing his hands over his blouse, at +the spot where the China Cat was stuffed, so she would not bounce out, +Jeff ran down the street. + +"I's got something yo' can't have!" he cried. "An' yo' all can't catch +me, an' git it; dat's whut yo' can't!" + +Away he sped, and he was such a good runner that the other boys could +not come up to him. Around the corner of one street, down another and up +a third ran Jeff, and then he darted down the stairs into what was +almost a cellar, though it was called a basement. It was here, in some +poor, miserable rooms, that Jeff lived with his brothers and sisters. + +"Whut de mattah, Jeff?" asked his mother, a large, fat, colored +washerwoman. "Am de p'licemans after yo' a'gin?" + +Jeff had run so hard that he was out of breath, and could not speak for +a few moments. Hidden as she was, inside his blouse, the China Cat could +feel Jeff's heart pumping hard, and notice his rapid breathing. + +"Dear me!" thought the China Cat, "this is a dreadful state of affairs. +I wonder if I am ever to get out of this smothering place. I don't like +it, cooped up like this! I want to get out in the air, and have +Geraldine or Angelina wash me!" + +You see the China Cat did not know all that had happened to her. She +hoped she would soon be back in Mr. Mugg's store, washed nice and clean, +and set on a shelf. But the store of poor Mr. Mugg was in a sad state +now, even though the fire had been put out. + +As Jeff's breathing became easier, his brothers and sisters, who were +just getting up out of their beds, crowded around him. His mother, who +was getting breakfast, asked him again: + +"Jeff, am de p'licemans tryin' to git yo'?" + +"Nope!" answered the colored boy. "I runned 'cause I wanted to git away +from Sam Brown an' his crowd. Dey was gwine to take mah cat away from +me!" + +"Yo' _cat_?" cried Jeff's mother. "Where'd yo' git a _cat_?" + +Jeff wiggled and twisted as he reached his hand inside his blouse and +pulled out the China Cat. + +"Dere she am!" he cried, holding her up. "Dere's mah pussy! I done got +her at de fire, an' de p'liceman didn't see me!" + +For a moment there was silence in the dingy basement tenement where Jeff +lived. His brothers and sisters, all smaller than he, crowded up around +him as he held the China Cat high in the air. + +"Ain't she jess boo'ful!" murmured one little black girl. + +"Kin she wiggle her haid, like I done see a Donkey shake his haid in de +toy shop?" asked one of Jeff's brothers. + +"Lemme hab her!" pleaded the littlest black girl of all. + +"No, suh!" declared Jeff. "Dis am mah white pussy, dat I done took outen +de fire an' de p'liceman didn't see me, an' I's gwine to keep her, I +is!" + +He held the China Cat higher above his head. + +"Oh, mercy me!" thought the poor white pussy, "I hope he doesn't let me +fall. Oh, how miserable I am! So dirty, and in such an unpleasant place! +I thought I'd be back in the toy shop with the Talking Doll and my other +friends!" + +The China Cat did not at first know where she was when Jeff pulled her +out from beneath his blouse. It had been dark in there, but it was +lighter in the kitchen, and this confused the toy animal. But when she +had a chance to look around, held up high in the air as she was, she did +not at all like her new home. And she was very much afraid that Jeff +would let her fall. + +But the colored boy did not. He set the China Cat on the table, right +down in a little puddle of molasses that had been spilled when the table +was set for breakfast. + +"Oh, dear me, this is worse and worse!" thought the China Cat, as she +felt the sticky stuff on her tail. "I shall never get clean and white +again now!" + +As for Jeff and his brothers and sisters, they did not seem to mind a +bit of molasses on the table. Indeed, one of the little colored girls +put her finger in the sweet, sticky puddle, and then she put her finger +in her mouth. + +"Dat's good!" she murmured. "Me 'ikes 'lasses, me does!" + +But the others were more interested in the China Cat. They stared at her +with all their eyes, and Jeff's mother asked: + +"Where yo' done say yo' got her?" + +"At de fire," Jeff explained. "I heard de engines puffin' past early dis +mawnin', an' I gits up an' goes out. Dere was a toy store on fire, an' +dey frowed a lot ob toys out in de street. Dere was Jumpin' Jacks, an' +Dolls, an' Steamboats, an'--an'--" + +Two of the older colored boys started on a rush for the door, one of +them crying: + +"I'se gwine to git a steamboat!" + +"Yo' can't git none now, Sim!" shouted Jeff. "De p'licemans is all +aroun' de place. Dey won't let you take nuffin. But I done fooled 'em. +Anyhow, de fire's out now, an' dey'll be puttin' de toys back. But I +done got a white cat!" + +So he had, but the China Cat was not so very white now. Besides the dirt +from the fire and the grime from Jeff's hands, she was sticky with +molasses, and every bit of dust flying about the basement room seemed to +settle on the poor toy pussy. + +"Lemme hab her, Jeff!" pleaded one of his sisters. + +"Well, I done let yo' hold her for a minute," said Jeff, and he gave +the China Cat into the hands of the little black girl. But as this girl +had been eating bread and sugar, she got the poor China Cat stickier +than ever. + +"Lemme hold her now, Jeff!" pleaded another black tot. + +"Nope, I ain't held her long 'nuff!" declared the first. + +"Heah! Gib her to me!" ordered the second. + +"No! No! Jeff said I could hab her!" cried the first. + +One tried to take the China Cat away from the other, and in the scramble +a chair was upset and the toy nearly fell to the floor. + +"This is the most dreadful place I was ever in!" thought the China Cat, +who, of course, could do nothing to save herself. "If they let me fall I +shall be broken, all dirty and soiled as I am." + +But Jeff was not going to let that happen. + +"Heah! Gib me back mah cat, whut I done got at de fire!" he said, and he +grabbed it from his sister's hand. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" wailed the little black girl. + +"Heah! Hush yo' noise now!" called Jeff's mother. "Set up to de table +an' hab yo' brekfus'! Stop playin'!" + +"Dear me, they call that _playing_!" thought the China Cat. "I wonder +what they would do in a game of _tag_? Oh, what is ever to become of +me?" + +Jeff took the toy and set it on a shelf in the kitchen, and then he sat +down to his breakfast. Every once in a while he would look up at the +China Cat. + +"I's glad I done got yo'," Jeff would murmur. "Yo' suah am a fine toy!" + +After breakfast he took the China Cat down off the shelf and let his +sisters look at her. But no sooner did one of the little colored girls +have the cat in her hands than she darted out of the basement. + +"Now I's got her, an' I's gwine t' hab some fun!" cried Arabella. +Arabella was the name of this one of Jeff's sisters. "I's gwine to hab +fun wid dis cat!" + +Up the stairs and out into the street she ran, holding the China Cat in +such a tight grip that, had the toy been a real pussy, she would have +been choked. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A TERRIBLE STORM + + +Jeff was not going to let his China Cat be taken from him in this +fashion. With a yell he darted up the basement steps and ran after his +sister. + +"Come back heah! Bring back mah cat!" yelled the colored boy. + +"No! No!" screamed his sister. "I done got her, an' she's mine now! She +suah is mine!" + +Faster and faster the little colored girl raced down the street, but of +course she could not run as fast as Jeff, who soon caught up to her. +Reaching forth his hands, which were now dirtier than before, Jeff +caught hold of his sister's kinky hair. + +"Ouch! Oh, yo' stop dat, Jeff!" she wailed. + +"Gib me back mah white cat!" he demanded, and he took the toy roughly +from his sister. Arabella began to cry, and a man who was passing +stopped and looked at the colored children. + +"What are you doing?" he asked. + +"Oh, we's only playin'," answered Jeff. "She took mah cat, an' I wanted +it back." + +"Hum!" mused the man. "That's a queer kind of play, I think. And if you +drop that cat on the sidewalk you won't be able to play with her, for +she'll be broken to pieces." + +"What a dreadful thing! Oh, if that should happen!" thought the China +Cat, who heard all that was said. + +"I ain't gwine to drop her," declared Jeff, as he turned away with the +China Cat in his dirty hands. With tears on her black cheeks, Arabella +followed her brother back to the tenement. + +Jeff put his toy down on the table again. On one wall of the room was a +looking glass. It was cracked and not very clean, but as a ray of +sunshine entered the dingy basement the China Cat, by the gleam of it, +saw her reflection. + +"Why, I hardly know myself!" she whispered, not daring, of course, to +speak aloud or to move and make believe come to life. There were too +many colored children looking at her. "Oh, what a fright I am!" thought +the China Cat and sighed. + +Well might she think that. On her nose was a big speck of dirt, and +there were other specks on her back and sides. Her tail, too, that was +always so spotless, was now daubed with molasses and smoke grime from +the fire. The China Cat was white now only in spots. + +"The Nodding Donkey would hardly speak to me if he saw me now," she +thought. "I'm glad he isn't here." + +"Now don't yo' touch my cat!" warned Jeff, as he got up from the table, +where he had been playing with the toy. + +"Whut yo' gwine do?" asked Arabella, who had got over her crying spell. + +"I's gwine make a stable fo' my cat," answered the colored lad. + +"Cat's don't live in stables! Dey lives in under de back porch," said +Arabella. "In a box." + +"Cats do so live in stables, 'cause I done seen 'em!" declared Jeff. +"An' dey catches rats an' mice. I's gwine make a stable fo' my cat whut +I done got at de fire an' de p'liceman didn't see me!" and he laughed as +he thought of how he had fooled the officer. + +Jeff hunted around in the woodpile until he found what he wanted. This +was a large cigar box, and with a knife Jeff soon cut a hole in one +side, large enough to slip the China Cat through. + +"Dere's her stable!" he declared with satisfaction. + +As for the China Cat, when she was shut up in the cigar box, she wanted, +most dreadfully, to sneeze. For the box smelled very strongly of +tobacco, and it made her nose tickle. But she dared not so much as utter +a faint _aker-choo_ for fear she would be heard. So the China Cat held +back the sneeze, though it made her nose ache, and she was very glad +when Jeff took her out of the cigar box stable. + +During the remainder of that day the colored boy and his sisters and +brothers took turns playing with the China Cat. For, after a while, Jeff +allowed the others to handle his toy. And the China Cat was passed +around among the colored children so often that she kept getting more +and more dirty. And on account of having spots of molasses on her, every +bit of dirt and grime that touched her stuck right there. Jeff and his +brothers and sisters did not think of washing themselves, much less of +washing the China Cat. + +At last, after having been much handled and passed from one to another, +the China Cat was set on a shelf in the kitchen of the basement tenement +where the colored family lived. Many other colored folk lived in the +same house, and in adjoining houses. + +"At last I have time to breathe, but I am so dirty I do not know what to +do," said the China Cat to herself. "I do not believe that any of the +other toys that came from the workshop of Santa Claus ever had such an +unpleasant adventure as I am having." + +But if the China Cat had only known it, the Lamb on Wheels, about whom +one of these Make Believe books has been written, had an adventure +almost as sad. The Lamb went down into a coal bin, which was a great +deal blacker than the negro tenement. + +"I wonder what will happen to me next?" thought the China Cat, as she +found herself perched on the kitchen shelf. She could look down and see +Jeff, his brothers and his sisters, and his father and mother, eating +supper. They did not offer the China Cat anything to eat, of course. +Toys don't have to eat, which is very lucky sometimes. + +"Come now, chilluns! Off to bed wif yo' all!" called Jeff's mother, when +supper was finished. "Yo' was up early, an' yo' mus' git to bed early." + +"Can't I play with my China Cat?" asked Jeff. + +"No, indeedy!" declared the colored woman, shaking her head. "Yo' leave +dat cat alone, an' git to bed!" + +So to bed went Jeff and the other children. Their beds were down in the +basement, in a room just off the kitchen. It was not a very nice home, +but it was the best they could get. + +Soon it began to grow dark, but there was a street lamp that shone in +one of the basement windows, so the China Cat, who could see pretty well +in the dark anyhow, managed to look about her. + +On the same shelf where she sat, and not far away, was a little Cloth +Dog. + +"Dear me!" said the China Cat, speaking out loud now, for there was no +one in the kitchen, all the family having gone to bed. "Dear me, I +didn't know you were here!" + +"Oh, yes, I'm here!" barked the Cloth Dog. "That is, what's left of me." + +He and the China Cat did not quarrel, though in real life very few dogs +and cats are friends. But it is much different with toys. + +"Why, has anything happened to you?" asked the China Cat. + +"Gracious, yes!" exclaimed the Cloth Dog. "Can't you see that my tail is +pulled off?" + +The China Cat stretched her neck and looked at the Cloth Dog. Surely +enough, in the gleam from the street light she saw that he had no tail. + +"Oh, how dreadful!" mewed the Cat. "How did it happen? It must pain +you?" + +"Not so much as at first," said the Dog. "I'm used to it now. One of the +colored children pulled my tail off. I think it was the one they call +Arabella. She's always grabbing things away from the others." + +"Yes, she grabbed me," said the China Cat. "But I'm glad she didn't pull +off my tail. I'm dirty and sticky, and I hardly know myself, but, thank +goodness, I'm _all_ here." + +"That's more than I can say of myself," said the Cloth Dog sadly. "And +I'm afraid you will not be all there after a few days in this house. +It's a dreadful place, and the children are so rough!" + +"How did you come to be here?" asked the China Cat. "Were you brought +here from the workshop of Santa Claus?" + +"Bless your whiskers, no!" barked the Cloth Dog. "Of course I _once_ +came from North Pole Land, but that was years ago. I was a good-looking +toy then, and I had a fine tail. But after a while the children with +whom I lived grew tired of me. I was tossed about, thrown into corners, +and at last put out in the ashes. There one of these colored children +found me, and brought me here. And the very first day there was a +scrabble and a fight over me, and my tail was pulled off." + +"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that!" sighed the China Cat. "If you could +only be taken to the store of Mr. Mugg he would put a new tail on you. +He mended the broken leg of the Nodding Donkey." + +"I'm afraid it is too late," whined the Cloth Dog. "But I am sorry for +you. You are such a fine toy, and almost new." + +"Yes, I am quite new. In fact, I have never been sold as yet," said the +Cat. "I wouldn't be out of the store now, except for the fire. I was +going to be taken by a very nice little girl named Jennie Moore. But +now, alas, it is too late for that!" + +"Tell me about the fire," begged the Cloth Dog. "It will make me forget +that I have no tail." + +So there on the shelf in the tenement kitchen, the China Cat told the +Cloth Dog the story of the fire in the toy shop, and how she had come to +be taken away by Jeff. + +"I wondered where he had found you when I saw him bring you in this +morning," barked the Dog, when the Cat finished her story. "Indeed, you +have had many adventures; almost as many as I." + +The two unfortunate toys became very friendly there in the half darkness +of the night. The Cat was just telling about the Nodding Donkey, and how +he had made the lame boy smile, when she suddenly stopped mewing. + +"What's the matter?" asked the Cloth Dog. + +"I heard a noise," said the China Cat. + +"Oh, that's only rain," went on the Dog. "It is raining hard outside, +and you hear it more plainly here because we are so near the street. +Don't worry. Though this place is dirty, no rain comes in." + +So the Cat went on with her story, but as the rain came down harder and +faster it brought her another adventure. + +Not far from the tenement was a river. And because there had been much +rain before this last hard shower, the river had risen very high, until +it was almost ready to overflow the banks. + +Down pelted the rain, and soon there was a louder roar in the street +outside. + +"Is that just the rain?" asked the Cat of the Dog. + +"It does sound a little different," the Dog replied. "I wonder if +anything is happening? And see, what is that on the floor?" + +"It is water!" cried the Cat, catching the gleam of it in the light of +the street lamp. "Water is running in under the door!" she added. + +"Then the river must be overflowing," barked the Dog. "The water is +running in here. Oh, what shall we do?" + +As the two toys watched they saw the puddle of water on the floor grow +larger. The rain pelted down harder than before, and all at once there +was a shouting in the streets. + +"Get out! Get out, everybody!" came the cry. "There's a big flood! The +river is rising! Get up and get out, everybody!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RESCUE + + +For a few moments after this wild shouting in the street there was no +sound in the negro basement where the China Cat and the Cloth Dog +without any tail were perched on the shelf. The rain pelted down harder +than before, a regular flood in itself, and to the noise of the drops +was added the roar from the flooded river. + +Presently there came a pounding on the basement door of the tenement +where Jeff, the colored boy, lived. + +Bang! Bang! Bang! came the loud knock. + +"Who's dat?" asked Jeff's mother from the bedroom where she was +sleeping. "Who's dat knockin' at de do'?" + +Bang! Bang! Bang! came the sound again. + +"Can that be thunder?" whispered the China Cat to the Cloth Dog. + +"No, this isn't a thunderstorm," answered the Dog. "It is much worse +than any thunderstorm I ever heard. There is going to be a bad time +here, with a flood and everything." + +"Who's dat?" asked the voice of Jeff's mother again, as the pounding at +the door sounded a second time. + +"The police!" was the answer. + +Jeff, who had been awakened, heard this answer. He covered his head with +the clothes, and cowered down in the bed. + +"Oh, mah good land!" thought Jeff when he heard this. "De p'lice has +done come to git me 'cause I took de China Cat! Oh, good land! I ain't +so smart as I thought! Oh, dey's gwine 'rest me suah!" + +But the police had not come to get Jeff. Once more the officer pounded +with his club on the basement door. + +"Come there!" he cried. "Get up and dress and skip out if you don't want +to be drowned! The river is rising. It will flood all these basement +tenements! You'll have to clear out--all of you! Wake up and get out! +We'll help you! Open the door!" + +"Oh, massy me! A flood!" cried Jeff's mother. "Does yo' heah dat, +Rastus?" she called to her husband. "Dere's a flood an' we's done got to +run out! Git up an' open de do' an' I'll roust up de chilluns!" + +"I'll open the do,' Ma," said Jeff, slipping out of his bed, and as he +swung the door open there stood a policeman. + +"Come, boy; lively!" cried the officer. "You were long enough answering +my knock. You've all got to leave here! How many of you are there?" + +"Ten," answered Jeff, and he looked over the mantel shelf to see if the +officer noticed the China Cat. + +But the policeman had something else to do just then. He and others had +been sent to the tenement district, near the rising river, to rouse and +save the poor people from the flood. + +"Ten, eh?" cried the policeman. "That's quite a family. Well, don't stop +to put on more than a few clothes. There isn't any time to save things. +The river will be pouring in here soon." + +"Some of it's heah already," remarked Jeff, as he saw the water on the +floor. + +"Lively now!" called the policeman again. "Here, let me take some of +those," he said, as Jeff's father came out of a bedroom carrying in his +arms two sleepy little colored girls. + +The policeman wore a big rubber raincoat, which was dripping wet, and in +the gleam of a light, which Jeff's father made, the wet rubber coat +glistened brightly. + +The policeman took the two little sisters of Jeff, and tucked them under +his rubber coat. They were too sleepy to cry, having just been lifted +from bed. + +"This will keep you dry," said the officer. "I'll put you in the wagon +and send you to the station house." + +"Is yo'--is yo' gwine to 'rest 'em?" asked Jeff. + +"Arrest 'em? No. What for?" asked the officer, with a smile, as he +splashed, with his rubber boots, into the puddle of water on the +tenement floor. "They haven't done anything, and you haven't done +anything to be arrested for, have you?" + +Jeff looked at the White China Cat, but did not answer. + +"I'll just carry these youngsters out to the wagon, and then come back +for more," the policeman went on. "You'll all be kept safe in the +station house, or some place, until the river goes down." + +Jeff breathed easier. He was afraid it had been found out that he took +the China Cat. He darted quickly back into his bedroom and began putting +on his shoes. That was all he had taken off when he curled up to go to +sleep. He had only a few clothes, and he slept in them. So did most of +the other children of the tenements in cold weather. + +Out into the rain splashed the policeman carrying the two little colored +girls. They were softly crying now, but he comforted them as best he +could, and kept them dry under his coat. The rain was coming down harder +than ever and the roar of the rising river was louder. When Jeff's +father and mother and the other children were ready to be taken out, the +water on the floor of the tenement was up to the policeman's knees. + +"You'll have to hurry!" he called to the frightened family. "We have to +rescue a lot of other people. Skip out and get into the wagon and you'll +be safe." + +As Jeff and the others made their way up the steps to the sidewalk they +saw and heard more of the terrible storm. There was water in the +streets. With the rising of the river and the rain, the streets were +almost like little creeks themselves. Outside the tenement stood the +police patrol wagon. As many of the poor people as possible had been +crowded into it, Jeff and his folks among them. + +"Are any more left in your rooms?" asked the officer who had pounded +with his club on the door to awaken the sleepers. + +"No, we's all out," answered Jeff's mother. + +"Think I'll take a look and make sure," said the policeman. Back through +the flood he waded in his rubber boots, and down he went into the +basement where the lamp was still burning. + +"Any one here?" asked the officer. + +He listened, but there was no sound save the pelting of the rain, the +roar of the river, and the trickle of water as it rose higher and +higher in the basement. Up on their shelf the China Cat and the Cloth +Dog sat and looked down. They had not dared to speak or move while any +one was in the room. But they had just begun to feel that it was time +for them to do something to save themselves when the policeman came in +again. Then they had to remain quiet, though they were much afraid of +being drowned in the flood. + +"Hello!" suddenly exclaimed the police officer as he saw the China Cat. +"Seems to me I know you! I remember about you! I wonder how you got +here? You were among the toys taken from Mr. Mugg's shop during the +fire. Well! Well! To think of finding you here, Miss China Cat! I +shouldn't be surprised but what that oldest colored boy might know +something about you. But I'll take you along, and hand you back to Mr. +Mugg, where you belong." + +With that the policeman reached up, lifted down the China Cat, and +thrust her into an inside pocket, where his rubber coat would keep her +nice and dry. + +"Though if he only knew it," thought the China Cat, "I'd just as soon be +rained on a little, to clean me off. Oh, but I am so dirty!" + +However, the policeman did not stop to think that perhaps the Cat might +like to be cleaned. In fact, he did not think she had any feelings at +all, for it was a long while since he had been little enough to play +with toys and enjoy make believe games. + +Into his pocket went the China Cat. Then the policeman looked at the +Cloth Dog on the shelf. + +"You never came from the toy shop, that's certain," said the officer. +"No use taking you!" + +So he left the poor Cloth Dog, without any tail, alone on the kitchen +shelf, but he took the China Cat away with him in his pocket, the +policeman did. + +Out into the rain-soaked street the officer made his way once more. + +"Nobody left in here, Jim," he called to the other officer on the police +wagon. "Get those people to the station, and then come back. There's a +lot more who will have to be rescued this night. It's going to be a bad +flood." + +And so it was, though the China Cat saw little of it, for she was safe +and snug in the officer's pocket. It was black and dark in there, but it +was warm, though a bit smothery. And it was clean, which the China Cat +liked best of all. + +"Though I am very dirty myself," she said. "I hope I get somewhere so I +can wash." + +All night long the rescue of people from the flood was kept up. Jeff and +his family were taken to a place of refuge where they were given +something to eat and beds on which to lie down. All night long the +policemen worked, and when morning came all those who had been in danger +were saved. + +The officer who had the China Cat in his pocket walked into his station +house just as day was breaking. + +"Here is something you'll like to hear about," said the policeman to the +sergeant behind the desk, as he set the toy on the top of it. + +"A cat! My land! where'd you get her?" asked the sergeant. "She'll be +just what we want to catch mice around here! Here, puss, puss!" he +called. + +"Oh, my! he thinks I'm alive," said the China Cat to herself. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JENNIE GETS THE CAT + + +The policeman who had rescued the China Cat from the flood in the +basement of the negro tenement stood and looked at the sergeant behind +the desk in the station house. Then the policeman looked at the China +Cat which he had set on top of the desk. + +"What's the matter with you? Why are you acting so funny?" asked the +sergeant of the policeman. + +"Funny? I'm not acting funny. You are," the policeman laughed. + +"How am I funny?" the sergeant wanted to know. + +"Why, you're calling that cat, and asking her to catch mice, and--" + +"Of course I'm asking her to catch mice," said the sergeant. "There's a +lot of mice around here and--" + +"Ha! Ha!" laughed the policeman. "_That_ cat will never catch any mice. +She's a toy, a China Cat, and she was stolen from that toy shop where +there was a fire yesterday. It was Horatio Mugg's place. A lot of the +toys were set out on the sidewalk, and some negroes who live near by +walked off with quite a lot. Mr. Mugg, after the fire, made out a list +of his toys that were missing, and among them was this China Cat. I had +one of the lists. + +"Then, when I was sent to rescue the people from the flood, I saw this +Cat on the mantel. I brought her here, as I do with all stolen things I +find, and you can send her back to Mr. Mugg." + +The sergeant put on his glasses, for he was rather an elderly man, and +looked carefully at the China Cat. + +"Bless me!" exclaimed the sergeant, "she _is_ a China Cat after all. I +took her for a real black and white pussy." + +"Oh, dear me!" thought the China Cat. "He thought I was partly _black_! +I must be _very_ dirty indeed. My toy friends would never know me! Oh, +shall I ever be clean again?" + +"Yes, it is only a toy China Cat," said the policeman who had rescued +the pussy, as well as the negro family. "I guess she was pure white +once. But she got blackened in the fire, and it didn't wash off in the +flood, though goodness knows it rained enough!" + +"I should say so," agreed the sergeant. "Well, leave the China Cat here, +and I will send her back to Mr. Mugg. You didn't see any of his other +stolen toys, did you?" + +"No," the policeman answered, "I did not. There was a little Cloth Dog +on the same shelf, but he had no tail and one eye was almost gone, so I +knew he didn't belong in the toy store, and I let him stay there." + +"Poor little Cloth Dog!" thought the China Cat. "I wonder what will +become of him?" + +However, she never heard, nor did she ever again see her little friend +without any tail. But I might tell you that the little Cloth Dog was +still on the mantel when the flood went down and Jeff and the family +moved back into their basement. The Cloth Dog was not drowned, and he +lived for many years after that, even without his tail, though I cannot +say he was very happy. + +"Well, you take care of the China Cat. I am going to get my breakfast," +said the policeman who had brought the white pussy into the station +house. + +"I'll take care of her, and send her back to Mr. Mugg as soon as I have +a chance," the sergeant promised. + +Then he set the China Cat off the top of the big desk, and on a smaller +one, so she would not get broken. All the remainder of the morning the +China Cat was in the police station, though she was not arrested, you +understand. Oh, my, no! She had done nothing wrong, even though she was +very dirty. But of course being dirty was not her fault. + +The China Cat saw many strange sights as she sat in the police station, +and some of the sights were sad ones. She heard much about the flood, +too, for it was a very high one, the river having overflowed its banks +in many places. + +At last all the poor people were rescued, and the police sergeant, who +had been very busy, was given a few moments' rest. He leaned back in his +chair and looked at the China Cat. + +"I think I shall telephone Mr. Mugg and tell him to come here and get +his China Cat," the sergeant said. "This may not be his toy. It may +have been stolen from some other store. But I'll soon find out." + +So the police sergeant telephoned to Mr. Mugg. The toy-store keeper and +his daughters, Angelina and Geraldine, were very busy, getting things to +rights after the fire. It had not been as bad as was at first supposed, +being down in the basement. Some smoke and water got up on the main +floor, however, but this was soon cleaned up and the store put to rights +again. + +"What's that?" cried Mr. Mugg over the telephone, though of course the +China Cat could not hear what he said. "You have my white China Cat? Oh, +I am so glad! I'll be right down to get her." + +"All right," answered the sergeant. "She is here waiting for you. Though +I would not call her very white," he added as he hung up the telephone. + +"What do you think of that, Geraldine--Angelina!" called Mr. Mugg to his +two daughters. "Our China Cat, that was stolen when the toys were +carried out on account of the fire, has been found!" + +"Oh, I am so glad!" said Geraldine. + +"Where is she?" asked Angelina. + +"In the police station," her father replied. "I am going down to get +her." + +"I'll go with you," offered Geraldine. "I want to see the China Cat +again. I hope she isn't chipped. Who had her?" + +But this Mr. Mugg did not know, for the sergeant did not tell him the +whole story over the telephone. A little later Mr. Mugg and Geraldine +were in the police station. + +"I have come for my China Cat," said Mr. Mugg, rubbing his hands and +looking over the tops of his glasses. + +"Here she is," said the sergeant, and he handed over the pussy who had +been rescued from the flood. + +For a moment the toy-store keeper looked at the plaything. Then he sadly +shook his head. + +"No, I am sorry to say that is not my China Cat," he said. + +Well, you can just imagine how the China Cat felt. Her heart, such as +she had, was beating with joy when she saw Mr. Mugg and Geraldine come +into the station house. But now to hear Mr. Mugg say she was not his +Cat! Oh, it was terrible, I do assure you! + +"Not your Cat?" exclaimed the sergeant. "Why, I understood a lot of toys +were stolen from your shop after the fire, and a China Cat was among +them." + +"Yes, that is so," answered Mr. Mugg. "But my China Cat was a white one, +and this is black and white. No, she does not belong to me." + +He turned away, and the China Cat would have shed tears if China Cats +ever cry. But Miss Geraldine stepped forward. + +"Please let me look at that toy," she said. + +The sergeant handed her the China Cat. Geraldine looked closely at her. +Then she gave a joyful cry. + +"Why, of course she is our Cat, Father!" said Geraldine. "She is just +grimy and dirty. That's the reason you think she is black and white. If +I could only wash her you'd see that she is our own China Cat." + +"Do you think so?" asked Mr. Mugg, hopefully. + +"I'm sure of it!" declared his daughter. "Oh, if I only had a little +soap and water." + +"We can let you have some, lady," said the sergeant. "You may take the +cat to the washroom and clean her." + +This Miss Geraldine did. Under the stream of water, when some soap had +been rubbed on the China Cat, a great change took place. Off came the +grime of the smoke! Off came the spots of sticky molasses! Off came the +soiled marks made by Jeff's dirty hands! The White Cat, not coming to +life while Miss Geraldine had her, of course got no soap in her eyes, +as would have happened if she had been real. + +Soon all the black, the grime, and the dirty spots were washed away. +Geraldine dried the China Cat on a towel the sergeant gave her, and then +held the plaything up in front of her father. + +"Now isn't that our Cat?" asked Miss Geraldine. + +Mr. Mugg looked carefully over the tops of his glasses. He ran his hands +through his hair and then through his whiskers, and then rubbed his +hands together. + +"Why--er--yes--er--my dear--that _is_ our China Cat!" he said. "We'll +take her right back to the store! Oh, I'm very glad to get her back. +Thank you, very much," he said to the police sergeant. + +"You are welcome," replied the officer. Then Geraldine and her father +hurried back to the toy shop, carrying the China Cat. + +As for the white pussy, you can imagine how glad and happy she was to be +clean again. Nothing else mattered for the time, and she would have +mewed out a song if she had been allowed to do so. But of course she +could not. + +"Put her in the window," said Mr. Mugg, when he and his daughter reached +the toy shop. "That little girl who was going to buy her may see the Cat +and come in for her." + +So the China toy was again put in the show window of the shop, which had +been cleaned and put to rights after the fire. In the same window was +some doll's furniture, and on the bureau was a looking glass. The China +Cat caught a glimpse of herself. She was as clean and white as a new +snowball. + +"Oh, how glad I am!" she said to herself. + +She looked all around. There in the window with her were most of the +toys she had known for a long time. They did not seem to have been +burned or scorched by the fire. In fact, though some of his playthings +were damaged, Mr. Mugg did not, of course, put any of these in his show +window. + +Near the China Cat was a Jumping Jack, a Jack in the Box, the Talking +Doll, a Policeman and a Fireman--not the same Policeman and Fireman who +had been in the basement, but some just like them. Throughout the store +was a smell of smoke; but this could not be helped. + +The China Cat would have liked very much to speak to some of the other +toys, but she was not allowed to do so. + +"But when night comes," she said to herself, "I shall have a chance. +Then we can all talk about the fire. I wonder if any of my friends had +such adventures as I had?" + +But the China Cat did not get the chance she hoped for. That very +afternoon, the same day that she had been put in the show window, a +little girl and a lady came to a stop outside the toy shop, to look in +through the glass. + +"Oh, Aunt Clara! See!" cried the little girl. "There is the China Cat +you were going to buy for me! Mr. Mugg thought she was smashed in the +fire, but she wasn't and here she is. Oh, please take me in and get me +the China Cat!" + +"Very well, my dear," said Aunt Clara. "I promised you the toy and you +may have her." + +The China Cat heard what was said, and, looking out of the window, she +saw the same nice little girl who had once held her in her hands. + +"Oh, I hope nothing happens this time," whispered the Cat. "I should +like to live with that nice little girl." + +"We have come for the China Cat, Mr. Mugg," said Aunt Clara, as the toy +man came forward to wait on his customers. "We called right after the +fire, but everything was so upset we did not come in." + +"Oh, wasn't that fire dreadful!" sighed Mr. Mugg, raising his hands. "I +thought my whole place would burn! But the firemen carried out a lot of +the toys, and though this white China Cat was stolen, I have her back. +So you want her, do you, little girl?" he asked. + +"Oh, I want her very much!" said Jennie Moore, and the China Cat was +placed in her hands. + +"Now for some new adventures," thought the toy, as she felt the nice +little girl softly rubbing her white head. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN OLD FRIEND + + +Jennie Moore's aunt paid Mr. Mugg for the white China Cat, and the +little girl carried the toy out of the store, not even waiting to have +wrapping paper put around her. + +"She is afraid the China Cat may be caught in another fire, or that +something will happen," laughed the aunt, as she followed her niece. + +"Oh, I hope there will never be another fire!" exclaimed Mr. Mugg, as he +bowed his customers out of the door. "I can't imagine what started this +one. But I am glad the China Cat is safe, though she did get very +dirty." + +"She is clean now," said Jennie, turning her China Cat over and over, +and not finding a speck of dirt on her. + +"What are you going to call your China Cat, Jennie?" asked Aunt Clara, +when they had almost reached the home of the nice little girl. + +"I will call her Snowball," was the answer. "She is white, just like a +snowball." + +"And from what Mr. Mugg said, I imagine she was as black as coal after +the fire," laughed Aunt Clara. "Well, I am glad Snowball is clean and +white now, and that you at last have her. Take good care of her and +don't drop your cat, for I think she will break easily." + +"I'll be careful," promised Jennie. + +"Oh, how different this is from the time when that terrible black boy, +Jeff, had me," thought the China Cat, as she was taken into Jennie's +home. There the rooms were bright, cheerful and sunny, with soft carpets +on the floor and beautiful ornaments all about. + +"Now we'll have some fun, Snowball," said Jennie to the China Cat, as +she set her toy down on a table, while she took off her hat and coat, +for it was winter and the weather was cold, even though it did rain at +times, instead of snow. + +"You will not have to be afraid of a flood here, Snowball," went on +Jennie, "for we are far from the river." + +"Thank goodness for that," thought the China Cat, who heard all that was +said, though she could not move when Jennie, or any one else, was +looking at her. + +Jennie played with the China Cat all the rest of that day. Once the nice +little girl dressed the China Cat up in doll's clothes and pretended she +was a doll. + +"Though I cannot say I liked that," said the China Cat, telling her +adventures afterward to her friend, the Talking Doll. "The clothes sort +of tickled me. But Jennie was so kind and good I did not want to make a +fuss." + +When evening came Jennie put her China Cat away in a closet in her room, +where there were many other toys. At first it was so dark that the China +Cat could see nothing, but, after a while, she saw where some light came +in through the keyhole, and then Snowball could look about her. The +light that came through the hole was not daylight, for it was now night, +and Jennie was going to bed. It was the light from a little lamp that +burned all night just outside Jennie's room, and the China Cat was glad +of that, for by the gleam she was able to see her way around the closet. + +"Thank goodness now I can move and stretch myself a bit," said the China +Cat, speaking out loud, in toy language. "I haven't had a chance to do +as I pleased since just before the fire." + +"What's that about a fire?" suddenly asked a voice just behind the China +Cat. She looked around the shelf on which she sat but could see no one, +though a Wooden Doll, with funny, staring eyes, was looking straight at +her. + +"Did you speak?" asked the China Cat of the Wooden Doll. + +"No," was the answer. "Though I was just going to. I'm glad you have +come here to live with us. You'll like it here. Jennie is such a nice +little girl." + +"We're all nice!" cried the same voice that had asked about the fire. + +"Who is that?" asked the China Cat, for, as before, she saw no one. + +"Oh, it's probably Jack," answered the Wooden Doll. "He's always playing +jokes." + +"Jack who?" asked the China Cat. + +"Jack Box," answered the Wooden Doll. "He's one of those funny, pop-up +Jacks in a Box, and he's always trying to fool some one. I suppose, +because you are the newest toy to come here, that he is playing a trick +on you." + +"No trick, Wooden Doll! Just trying to be friendly and jolly--that's +all!" went on the voice, with a laugh, and from a box near the China +Cat sprang one of the queer Jacks that have such a sudden way of +appearing. + +"Oh! How you surprised me!" mewed the Cat. + +"That's just my way! Can't help it! Have to jump when my spring +uncoils!" said the Jack, with a broad grin on his face. "Let's have some +fun!" he went on. "It's our chance to make believe come to life, now +that Jennie has gone to bed. Sweet child. I like her, don't you?" he +asked Snowball. + +"Yes. But how you rattle on," said the China Cat. "You don't give one a +chance to think." + +"Yes, Jack is always like that," said the Wooden Doll. + +"Well, let's have some fun," went on Jack. "What do you say to a game of +tag?" + +Leaning over, which he could readily do, as the coiled spring inside him +was so easy to bend, Jack touched the China Cat. But Jack must have +leaned too far, or too suddenly, for he brushed the Wooden Doll to one +side. + +"Oh, look out!" she cried. "You have knocked me off the shelf! Oh, there +I go!" and the Wooden Doll fell straight down! + +"Now you have done it!" mewed the China Cat. + +"I hope her neck isn't broken," said a tiny Celluloid Doll. "Oh, what an +accident!" + +"I--I didn't mean to do it," said Jack sadly. "I'll go down and pick her +up." + +"Hush! Keep quiet, all of you!" suddenly mewed the China Cat. "Some one +is coming!" + +On the other side of the closet door, in the room where Jennie slept, +the toys could hear the voice of the little girl calling: + +"Aunt Clara! Aunt Clara! Come here! There's something in my toy closet. +I heard a noise! Maybe that colored boy is trying to get Snowball, my +China Cat." + +"Nonsense, Jennie. You imagined it, dear. Go to sleep now," replied her +aunt, coming in from her room and turning up the light. + +"No, I didn't imagine it," declared Jennie. "I heard a noise in my +closet. Please look, Aunt Clara." + +So Aunt Clara opened the door, and there she saw the Wooden Doll on the +floor. The Doll had fallen on some felt slippers and so was not in the +least hurt. + +"There it is," said Jennie's aunt. "Your Wooden Doll fell off the shelf. +You couldn't have put her far enough back." + +"Oh!" murmured Jennie sleepily. "I'm glad she wasn't broken, and I'm +glad my China Cat is all right." + +Then Jennie went to sleep again, but she never knew, nor did her aunt, +that Jack had knocked down the Wooden Doll. + +"Behave yourself now, Jack," said the Celluloid Doll, when the toys +were once more left alone. "If you play, let it be some easy game, like +telling stories or riddles." + +"All right," agreed Jack. "Suppose the China Cat tells us the story of +the fire and the flood." + +So the China Cat did, just as they are set down in this book. And after +that the toys played guessing games, and told riddles until it was time +for them to stop, as morning was at hand. + +Jennie awakened early, and got her China Cat from the closet. + +"You are one of my nicest toys," said the little girl. "To-day I am +going to put you in the front window where you can see everything, and +where the other children can see you." + +So after breakfast the China Cat was set in the front window of the +house, while Jennie sat near in a chair reading a book of fairy stories. +After a while Jennie was called away to help her aunt, and the China +Cat was left alone. For the first time that day she could look about as +she pleased, moving her head and stretching her paws, as no one was in +the room. + +[Illustration: The China Cat Gazed Out of the Window. + +_Page 110_] + +The China Cat gazed out of the window toward the house next door, and +what was her great surprise to see in the front window there an old +friend. + +"Well, I do declare!" mewed the China Cat to herself. "How did he get +here? Oh, if I could only speak to him! See, he is bowing to me! Oh, +isn't this just wonderful!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GLARING EYES + + +Snowball, the China Cat, was so excited that she felt she must really +jump out of the window and go across the yard to her old friend, when +Jennie, the little girl, came back into the room. Of course the China +Cat had to be very still and quiet then. + +"Oh, Joe has his Nodding Donkey in the window!" exclaimed Jennie. +"That's a sign he wants me to come over and play with him. I'll go and +ask Aunt Clara if I may go!" + +Out of the room sped Jennie again, and the China Cat, who had heard what +the little girl said, mewed to herself: + +"At last I shall have a chance to see the Nodding Donkey again." For it +was this old friend at whom the China Cat had looked through the window, +watching him nod his head. + +"Yes, Jennie. What is it?" asked Aunt Clara, as the little girl called +to her. + +"Please may I go over and see Joe?" begged Jennie. "He has set his +Nodding Donkey in his front window, and that means he wants me to come +over. He always does that when he wants me. I'll take my new China Cat +over to see him." + +"Very well, dear," agreed Aunt Clara, and a little later Jennie was +crossing the yard, carrying Snowball under her arm. The China Cat was +very glad that she was going to be taken to see the Nodding Donkey, with +whom she used to live in Mr. Mugg's store. + +"I'm glad you came over, Jennie," said Joe, as he opened the door for +the little girl. "What have you?" + +"My new China Cat, named Snowball. I brought her over so she could play +with your Nodding Donkey." + +"I guess maybe they know one another," said Joe. "They came from the +same store, you know." + +"Oh, so they did!" exclaimed Jennie. + +"I have a toy wagon," said Joe. "I'll hitch my Nodding Donkey up to it, +and we'll give your China Cat a ride." + +"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Jennie. "Only don't upset her, for if she +falls out she may break off her tail." + +"I'll be careful," promised Joe, and then he and Jennie had a lot more +fun with the Nodding Donkey and the China Cat. They were just thinking +up another game to play when Joe cried: + +"Here come Dorothy with her Sawdust Doll and Mirabell with her Lamb on +Wheels." + +"I should like to meet those toys," mewed the Cat to herself. And, a +little later she did, as two other little girls came in to play with +Joe. Then along came Dick, who was Dorothy's brother, and he brought his +White Rocking Horse, though it was rather a large and heavy toy to +carry. And Arnold, who was Mirabell's brother, brought along his Bold +Tin Captain Soldier and his men. + +Now began a very gladsome time for Snowball. She lived in a fine house, +with a dear little girl for a mistress, and she had no more troubles. + +Thus Winter passed and Spring came, with warm, sunny days when the +children could play with their toys on the porches. One day Joe took his +Nodding Donkey and went over to call on Jennie and her China Cat. But +just as Joe was going up the porch steps he heard a hand organ down the +street. + +"Maybe there's a monkey with that hand organ!" said Joe to himself. So, +without stopping to ring the bell, or letting Jennie know he had come to +call, Joe set his Nodding Donkey down on the porch and ran out of the +yard. + +And now I must tell you what happened. The hand organ was quite a +distance from Jennie's house, and it took Joe some little time to reach +it. While he was gone, having, as I said, left his Nodding Donkey on +Jennie's porch, along came sneaking Jeff, the colored boy. + +Jeff's family had moved back into their basement tenement after the +flood, and Jeff was the same dirty, careless colored boy as before. He, +too, had heard the music of the hand organ down the street and he wanted +to see if there was a monkey. + +But as he was passing Jennie's house he looked toward the porch, and +there he saw Joe's Nodding Donkey. + +"Oh, golly!" whispered Jeff to himself, "dis yeah is mah chance! I kin +git dat Donkey, suah!" + +Sneaking along, Jeff softly opened the gate and went into Jennie's yard. +On tiptoes he approached the porch where the Nodding Donkey was slowly +shaking his head up and down. + +"Dis yeah suah is a fine toy!" muttered Jeff. "It's a heap sight better +dan de China Cat I got at de fire! I'll take dis Donkey!" + +Jeff reached the porch and stretched out his black, dirty hands to take +the Nodding Donkey. But, as he did so, the negro boy happened to look up +at a side window, and there, on a table behind the glass, sat the China +Cat! + +The China Cat had big, staring eyes, and now because of the way the sun +shone on them, they seemed to glare straight at Jeff. They even seemed +to open wider, and move and blink, did those glaring eyes of the China +Cat. + +Jeff stood still and pulled back his hands that had been about to take +the Nodding Donkey. + +"Oh, golly!" he murmured. "Oh, dey's lookin' straight at me, dey is! +Dat's de China Cat I tooked from de fire, an' she must have come to +life! Oh, I dassn't take dat Donkey while she's glarin' at me wif dem +big eyes! Oh, I's skeered, I is!" + +With that Jeff turned and started on a run out of the yard. The Nodding +Donkey, who had been very much afraid he was about to be stolen, was so +thankful he did not know what to do. And the China Cat, who had feared +that her friend was about to be taken from her, kept on staring as hard +as she could. + +Jeff ran faster. He gave one look back over his shoulder to see if any +one might be chasing him, and he caught sight of the Cat's eyes again. + +"Oh, golly!" cried Jeff. + +At that moment his foot caught in a loose board of the walk, and down +fell that bad boy Jeff with a bang, bruising knees and his nose and his +chin. + +"Ouch!" cried Jeff, as he got up and limped away. + +"It serves him right," said the China Cat to herself, "for trying to +take my friend, the Nodding Donkey." + +"I guess you won't come back here in a hurry," said the Donkey to +himself, as he saw Jeff going off down the street as fast as he could +go. And the colored boy never did. + +Joe came back, after having seen the hand organ and the monkey, and Joe +carried his Nodding Donkey into Jennie's house. There the children +played with their toys. + +"How can I ever thank you?" said the Nodding Donkey to the China Cat. +"With your big, glaring eyes you saved me from that colored boy." + +"I am glad I did," mewed the Cat. "I didn't want you to be taken away +from me. You are the best friend I have." + +"I am glad you think so," brayed the Nodding Donkey. "I had another very +good friend in the workshop of Santa Claus, at the North Pole, but I +have not seen him for a long time." + +"Who was that?" asked the China Cat. + +"He was a Plush Bear," answered the Nodding Donkey. "A most wonderful +Plush Bear! When he was wound up he moved his head and his paws and he +growled as natural as anything." + +"Oh, tell me about him!" mewed the China Cat. "Tell me about the Plush +Bear." + +The Nodding Donkey was just going to do this when Jennie and Joe came +into the room and the toys had to remain quiet, not even talking. + +But I happen to know the story of the Plush Bear, and it is to be the +very next one I tell you of these Make Believe Stories. + +Of course Snowball had many more good times while she lived with Jennie, +which she did for many years. She often had fun with the Nodding Donkey +and other toys. + +One day Joe came over to Jennie's house, carrying his Nodding Donkey, a +toy which was seldom out of his arms. + +"Oh, Jennie!" cried Joe, "let's have a picnic in the woods for our toys. +I'll take my Donkey, you can take your China Cat and I'll get Dorothy, +Dick and the others to bring their toys." + +"Oh, what fun to have a Toy Picnic!" exclaimed Jennie. + +And the Nodding Donkey and the China Cat looked at one another most +happily. They liked good times. The Toy Picnic was a great success, and +how the boys and girls did laugh when the China Cat fell into the brook! + +"But it doesn't hurt her," said Jennie, "and I was going to give her a +bath, anyhow, 'cause I got some sticky candy on her tail." + +The Cat, herself, was glad to be washed and clean, and here we must +leave her, having fun as she is with the other toys. + + +THE END + + + + +HAPPY HOME SERIES + +By HOWARD R. GARIS + + * * * * * + + Individual Colored Wrappers and Colored Illustrations by + LANG CAMPBELL + + * * * * * + +Mr. Garis has written many stories for boys and girls, among them his +Uncle Wiggly volumes, but these books are something distinctly new, +surprising and entertaining. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE GALLOPING GAS STOVE + + A tale of how Gassy mysteriously disappeared, and + how he came riding home on the back of an + elephant. It is also related how he broke his leg, + and fed a hungry family in a cottage near a lake. + + +ADVENTURES of the RUNAWAY ROCKING CHAIR + + Racky creaked and groaned when fat Grandma sat on + him too hard. He felt himself ill-treated, so he + vanished. He did not intend to take Grandma's + glasses with him, but he did. And he rocked a + bunny to sleep. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE TRAVELING TABLE + + Tippy, the table, always wanted to travel and see + the world, but he did not know how to start. + Until, all of a sudden, a diamond ring was hidden + in his leg and a balloon carried him off through + the air. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE SLIDING FOOT STOOL + + Just because he did not want to be used as a + milking stool by the Maiden All Forlorn, Skiddy + slid away Christmas eve. With him went Jack the + Jumper, and they had a wonderful time in the toy + shop. + + +ADVENTURES OF THE SAILING SOFA + + Skippy always wanted to be a sailor. When the high + water came in the spring, the sofa went sailing. + He had a Rooster for a crew, while Tatter, the rag + doll with one shoe button eye, was Captain. + + * * * * * + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + +THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES + +By DAVID CORY + +Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little Journeys to +Happyland" + + * * * * * + + Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + Each Volume Complete in Itself. + + * * * * * + +To know Puss Junior once is to love him forever. That's the way all the +little people feel about this young, adventurous cat, son of a very +famous father. + + THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + + FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. IN FAIRYLAND + + TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND TOM THUMB + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE + + PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON + + * * * * * + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + + Happy Home ad, "top" changed to "toy". (in the toy shop) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT*** + + +******* This file should be named 19333.txt or 19333.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/3/19333 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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