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diff --git a/old/67433-0.txt b/old/67433-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1cce3c1..0000000 --- a/old/67433-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1703 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dixie Kitten, by Eva March Tappan - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Dixie Kitten - -Author: Eva March Tappan - -Release Date: February 18, 2022 [eBook #67433] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Sam W. and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIXIE KITTEN *** - - - - - - DIXIE KITTEN - - BY - - EVA MARCH TAPPAN - - - ILLUSTRATED - - - [Publisher’s device] - - - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1910 - BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE - THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM - - PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 1910 - - - - -By Eva March Tappan - - - THE PRINCE FROM NOWHERE. - STORIES OF AMERICA FOR VERY YOUNG READERS. - THE LITTLE LADY IN GREEN, AND OTHER TALES. - AMERICAN HISTORY STORIES FOR VERY YOUNG READERS. - ELLA: A LITTLE SCHOOL GIRL OF THE ’60s. - HEROES OF PROGRESS. - HERO STORIES OF FRANCE. - THE FARMER AND HIS FRIENDS. - THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE FLAG. - THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE WAR. - THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR. - WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD. - DIXIE KITTEN. - AN OLD, OLD STORY-BOOK. - THE CHAUCER STORY BOOK. - LETTERS FROM COLONIAL CHILDREN. - AMERICAN HERO STORIES. - THE STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE. - THE STORY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE. - THE GOLDEN GOOSE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES. - THE CHRIST STORY. - OLD BALLADS IN PROSE. - - All of the above are illustrated. - - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - Boston and New York - - - - -[Illustration: - - _To_ - _My Good Friends_ - _Master and Mistress_ -] - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE KITTEN] - - - - -[Illustration: CONTENTS] - - - I. THE HOME NEST 1 - - II. LEAVING HOME 7 - - III. DIXIE FINDS A FRIEND 13 - - IV. DIXIE AND THE COTTAGE 22 - - V. DIXIE’S TROUBLES 33 - - VI. THE LITTLE MOTHERCAT 40 - - VII. DIXIE IS DESERTED 47 - - VIII. A HAPPY LITTLE CAT 54 - - IX. THE NEW HOUSE 62 - - X. DIXIE IN HER HOME 68 - - XI. DIXIE IN HER HOME, CONTINUED 78 - - - - - THIS IS - A TRUE STORY - ABOUT A REAL CAT - AND IT ENDS - HAPPILY - - - - -[Illustration: THE HOME NEST] - - -DIXIE KITTEN was a slender little cat with the softest, silkiest black -fur imaginable; that is, you would think it was black when you first -glanced at it; but if you looked a little more closely, you would see -that here and there were gleams of tawny yellow. Three of her paws -were black and one was yellow. Her eyes were yellow, too, in the -daytime, with only a narrow line of black down the centre; but at -night they were black and shining, and surrounded by a ring of golden -yellow. But whether it was day or night and whether they were yellow -or black, there was little going on around them that they did not see. -Her whiskers, all except two, were jet black, but those two were -snowy white. When she lifted her pretty chin, you could see under it a -soft yellow “vest front,” and at the top of the vest front a bit of -the whitest, glossiest fur that was ever seen. It was so very pure and -dainty that when the sunlight fell upon it, you would almost fancy -that it was a bit of filmy white lace. - -The first thing that Dixie could remember was of being cuddled up to -some one who was soft and comfortable and gave her sweet warm milk to -drink. Somehow, she knew that this was her mother, and that her mother -would feed her when she was hungry and keep her warm and take care of -her and not let anything hurt her. - -Their home was a nest of soft hay, so deep in the pile that when Dixie -was at the farther end, she could not see out at all. After a while, -however, she crept out to the light now and then, and here were so -many interesting things that her eyes grew bigger and bigger the -longer she looked. There were piles of hay and straw, there were bags -of grain, there were rakes and spades and wheelbarrows, there was a -carriage, and there was a sleigh. Dixie climbed up one of the shafts -of the sleigh and stretched out her paw to touch a bell. She only -wanted to see what it was, but it made such a loud jingle that she -almost fell off the shaft. She ran away as fast as ever she could and -hid herself in the safe and comfortable hole in the hay. - -There were strange noises, too, that Dixie kitten heard, even when she -was far out of sight in her own little nest with her mother. There -were voices of men and the sound of their steps; there was the happy -“Bow-wow!” of a dog; there was the neighing of horses and their -crunching of grain, and the sounds of harnessing and unharnessing. -Twice every day the great doors of the barn were thrown open and the -Master drove in. She could hear him pat the horses and the dog and -speak kindly to them; then his steps passed out of the barn and up the -walk and into the house. - -Dixie’s mother had made her understand that she must stay near the -home nest; but there was a flight of steps close by, and Dixie did so -long to go down them! She felt sure that they led to where those -wonderful things that she heard must be. Her mother went down the -steps sometimes, and one day when she was gone away from home, Dixie -kitten thought that she would go, too. She went to the head of the -stairs and stretched out her little right forepaw very carefully; but -it would not reach the first step. She stretched out the left paw, but -that would not reach any farther. She drew back and sat looking down -the staircase for a while. Then she tried again, and this time she -reached so far that not only the two little black forepaws, and the -black hind paw and the yellow hind paw, but also her whole little -black and yellow body tumbled down one step, two steps--and no one -knows how much farther she would have gone, had she not come, plump, -right against her mother, who had seen what was going on and was -hurrying up the stairs as fast as she could run. Dixie was a much -surprised little kitten, for her mother lifted her by the back of the -neck and carried her straight to the little nest in the hay. Then -Dixie was still more surprised. She had always thought her mother’s -smooth soft paws were only beautiful playthings, but now one of them -gave her a pretty hard cuff right on her ears. Even if Master had been -listening, he could not have heard Mothercat say anything, but Dixie -kitten understood perfectly well that she would get into trouble if -she went near that staircase again. - -And yet, the very next day Mothercat lifted Dixie by the neck and -carried her downstairs, and neither of them ever saw the soft warm -nest in the hay again. - - - - -[Illustration: LEAVING HOME] - - -THIS is the way it came about that Dixie kitten and her mother left -the home nest. At night, when Master came home, he stepped down from -the carriage much more slowly than usual, for he was holding a big -basket carefully in his hand. He did not go into the house at once, -but climbed up the stairs and stood at the top a moment looking -around. He had set the basket on the floor, and now he called, “Kitty, -Kitty!” Mothercat listened a moment, then peered out of the nest, her -eyes as big as saucers. Dixie kitten crept out between her mother’s -forepaws, for she, too, had heard a gentle “Mew!” coming from the -basket, and even a kitten could guess what was within it. She was so -eager that she could hardly wait to see it opened; but Mothercat -crouched low and lashed her tail angrily back and forth. Then Master -took off the cover of the basket, and what should be in it but four -little kittens! - -Dixie kitten was delighted. She climbed over Mothercat and started to -run out to see them; but once more Mothercat boxed her ears with her -big soft paw, and Dixie had to go to the back of the nest in the hay. -“Kitty, Kitty!” called Master, “come and see the new kittens”; but -Mothercat did not stir from her place, and she swished her tail more -angrily than ever. Master gave the new kittens a dish of milk, and -then he went away. - -The kittens drank the milk, then they began to run about the room. -They climbed the heaps of hay and straw and they smelled of the bags -of grain. They ran over the carriage and the sleigh and the -wheelbarrow. They touched the teeth of the rake curiously with their -small pink noses. Once they went near the little nest where Mothercat -crouched, watching everything that they did. “Gr-r-r-r!” growled -Mothercat; and they ran away from her corner as fast as ever they -could. It began to be twilight. They were lonely and somewhat -frightened, and pretty soon they curled up together in a soft little -heap and went to sleep. - -Dixie kitten went to sleep, too, but Mothercat sat a long time -thinking. Master meant those new kittens to stay there, that was -plain. It was her house, the place that she had picked out so -carefully as a home for her kitten, and he had put those strangers -into it! She had never thought of Master’s doing such a thing as that; -but there they were, and what should she do? There was one thing sure, -she would not live in the same house with them, and her kitten should -have nothing to do with them. She waited until it was dark and -everything was quiet downstairs except the occasional moving of the -horses and once or twice a sleepy bark from the dog, Prince, who was -dreaming that he had caught a rabbit. She listened awhile, but there -was nothing more to be heard. Then she picked up Dixie kitten by the -back of the neck and stole quietly down the stairs. Master had cut a -hole in the barn door, so that no cat need ever be shut out, and she -slid softly through this, and went under the barn. It was open on one -side, but the air was warm, and she knew where there was a heap of -straw. She pushed it about a little with her paws, then she turned -round and round to make a smooth nest, and at last she lay down, and -Dixie kitten lay down beside her. Dixie thought all this was very -strange, but of course whatever Mothercat did was right, so she -snuggled down, and in three minutes she was sound asleep. Before -long, Mothercat was asleep, too. The coarse straw was not so -comfortable as the hay, but, whether it was hard or soft, she would -not stay in the same place with those strange kittens, indeed she -would not. - -When morning came, Mothercat went into the barn to get the breakfast -that was always brought out for her, and there were those kittens -eating out of her dish! She stood still and looked at them. Dixie -kitten had followed, and now one of the strangers went toward her in a -friendly fashion. “Gr-r-r-!” growled Mothercat, and the kitten ran -back to the dish. Mothercat did not touch the milk, and maybe she -would have had no breakfast at all, if Mistress had not come out to -see the new kittens. “Why, Mothercat,” she said, “aren’t you going to -be good to those little stranger kittens?” Mothercat did not answer, -but she did not go any nearer to the dish. “She’ll soon get used to -them,” said Master; but Mistress slipped into the house and brought -out another dishful of milk. Master laughed, but Mistress said, “Never -mind. I don’t know that _I_ want to eat out of the same dish with -everybody, either.” Then Mothercat ate her breakfast, but all the -while she kept one eye on the new kittens to make sure they did not go -near her child. - -So it went on day after day and week after week. Dixie kitten was soon -old enough to drink from a dish. Mothercat allowed her to use the same -dish as the others, but never once would she let her stay and have a -good play with them; Dixie could not see why. The new kittens still -lived in the barn, and Dixie and Mothercat still lived under it. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE FINDS A FRIEND] - - -DIXIE grew until she was much larger than when she first lived in the -nest in the hay, and she learned a number of things from Mothercat. -She learned that to keep her fur clean and dainty she must wash it -several times a day, and that nothing else made it so soft and smooth -and silky as to wash it after she had just been drinking some good -creamy milk. She learned that mice were to be caught; that beetles and -other queer creatures of the sort that ran about in the grass were to -be played with, but not eaten; that horses never ate kittens, though -without meaning to do any harm, they sometimes stepped upon them. -Dogs, she learned, were quite different from horses in their treatment -of cats. One should always run away from dogs, not on the ground, but -up some tree-trunk, for dogs cannot climb trees; and Dixie thought it -was great fun to scamper up a tree, curl up on a branch, and sit there -comfortably while a dog barked at the foot and tried in vain to reach -her. Prince chased other cats, but if any dog troubled the kittens in -_his_ barn, then in about three seconds the strange dog was running -down the street with Prince at his heels. Prince was a little puzzled -about Mothercat and Dixie. They came into the barn to eat and Mistress -fed them, but they lived under the barn instead of in it. This was -strange, Prince thought, and he hardly knew whether he ought to take -care of them or drive them away. He decided that he ought not to do -them any harm, but that he might give them just a little chase now and -then. They understood this as well as he, and after he had driven them -up a tree, they would come down, go into the barn, and eat their -dinner beside him as peaceably as possible. - -Of course Dixie kitten had learned to climb any tree in the -neighborhood. She had learned also what some kittens never do learn, -and that is, how to come down again. The stranger kittens were always -scrambling up smooth, slender saplings, and then tumbling back to the -ground or crying for some one to come and help them. One of them -climbed a telephone pole, and there she sat on a crosspiece, not -daring to come down. She cried so piteously that at length Master sent -to the fire engine company on the next street and paid a man a dollar -to bring a ladder and take her down. And the next day he had to send -for the man once more, for that foolish kitten had climbed the pole -again! - -Dixie kitten had learned, then, how to behave toward mice and beetles -and horses and dogs; but People were quite another matter. In the -first place, they did not live either in barns or under them, like -kittens, but in houses. She had often watched Master and Mistress go -up the steps and into their house; and once, when she was quite small, -she, too, had slipped in when the door chanced to be open. She had -walked on a thick carpet that was much more agreeable than the bare -ground or even the barn floor. She had seen sofas and easy chairs, and -she had jumped up on a cushion that was far softer than even the home -nest in the hay. There was plenty of room and no other kittens were to -be seen. The People, however, had not allowed her to stay there, but -had driven her out at once, she wondered why. In other ways, too, than -their manner of living, People were quite different from dogs and -horses and cats. Their fur was of different colors on different days, -and one never knew how they were going to behave. Sometimes they gave -kittens good things to eat, and sometimes they did not. Sometimes they -spoke to them or patted them, and sometimes they hurried by without -seeming to see them. They had long arms, and sometimes they reached -out and lifted a kitten far up into the air. Then if she was -frightened and tried to keep herself from falling by sticking her -claws into them, they were not pleased, and often they dropped her -upon the ground. To be sure, none of these things had ever happened to -Dixie, for Mothercat had taught her to keep away from People; but she -had seen them all occur more than once, and she had made up her mind -never to have anything to do with People. - -Two-footed folk often change their minds, and sometimes four-footed -folk do the same; and it was not long before the little black kitten -began to look at this matter somewhat differently. Just beyond the -barn were some apple trees and syringas and rosebushes and grapevines -and a green lawn with bright blue forget-me-nots in the grass, the -very place for kittens to run about and play. A fence shut off the -stranger kittens, but Dixie and her mother could slip out from under -the barn and have many a fine run over the grass or up the trees when -no one was looking. At the end of the lawn was a cottage. There were -People in it, but that did not trouble Dixie and Mothercat especially, -for they never interfered. Sometimes Lady sat on the piazza with a -pile of books, sometimes she picked a handful of flowers or broke off -the dead twigs from some bush. When she saw Dixie and Mothercat, she -always spoke to them, and they stopped and looked at her; but if she -came toward them, they ran away. - -Dixie had now grown so large that Mothercat no longer watched her so -closely. Probably she thought that the kitten had learned how to take -care of herself and keep out of danger; but she might have changed her -mind if she had guessed what Dixie was thinking of in her wideawake -little brain. She would certainly have thought that Dixie was not -doing credit to the careful teaching that she had had. Dixie was -thinking hard about Lady, for there was something about her that the -kitten liked. She was People, of course, but Dixie had come to the -conclusion that People were not all alike. The kitten had seen a good -deal of her of late--at a distance, for now that the weather was -warmer, Lady was out of doors much of the time. Dixie was out almost -all day, and much of it was spent among Lady’s trees and flowers. Lady -frequently spoke to her, but Dixie made no reply. Still, her bright -little eyes were watching. - -After a while one might often have seen a half-grown kitten with -old-gold eyes creeping quietly around the lawn, keeping close to the -fence, but holding her eyes fixed upon Lady. One morning when Lady was -tying up the morning-glory vines, the small kitten screwed up all her -courage and started toward her. Dixie ran as fast as ever she could, -for she wanted to come, and yet she was afraid. She was all a-tremble, -and her heart was beating fast; but she kept on bravely. Lady was not -looking down at the path, but up at the vines, and the first that she -knew, a black kitten was rubbing against her ankles and purring with -all her little might. Lady stooped and patted the kitten’s head and -talked to her awhile very gently; then she started to go into the -house. This was not such an easy thing to do, for the kitten was so -happy that she kept running back and forth before her feet and -purring like a tiny spinning-wheel. This was the way that a wild -little kitten found a friend who was to do more for her than she ever -dreamed. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE AND THE COTTAGE] - - -LADY was always kind to Dixie when they were under the trees together, -but she had a way of going into the house and closing the door which -the kitten thought was rather unfriendly. Some weeks passed; then, as -Lady turned to close the door one morning, she saw a round black face -with two shining yellow eyes pushing in shyly. “I don’t know about -this, kitty,” said Lady; but Somebody Else said, “Oh, let her come in -just a minute”; and Lady held the door ajar. The kitten crept in, but -very timidly, for she had not forgotten that when she had run into a -house before, she had been sent out at once. She did not venture very -far, but she did put her little feet on a soft rug, and in a room -beyond she saw cushions and a sofa that she thought would be a most -delightful place for a kitten to lie down and have a nap. She took -only one look, then she ran back to the door and slipped out, for she -did not know what might happen if she stayed longer. - -Every day the kitten became a little less timid, though she was still -easily startled by anything that was new to her. All cats like to be -rubbed gently under the chin; but when Lady first rubbed her there, -right over her dainty bit of white fur that looked so like lace, the -kitten drew her head away and looked back over her shoulder at Lady’s -hand as if it was something she had never seen before and she did not -know what strange things it might do. It was not long, however, before -she learned that nothing Lady did would ever hurt her. She had now -grown brave enough to follow Lady about under the trees and among the -grapevines and roses and syringas; and when Lady stooped to pick a -spray of forget-me-nots, she was very likely to feel a smooth black -furry head pushed under her hand, for the wild little kitten who had -made up her mind never to go near People was fast learning that to -have a good friend among them was the best thing in all a cat’s little -world. - -Before long Lady said to the kitten, “Little cat, you really must have -a name. Some dear friends of mine once had a pretty cat whose name was -Dixie, and I am going to call you Dixie. Do you like it?” The kitten -made no answer, for a fly was creeping slowly up the gate-post, and -she was getting ready to jump for it; but it was only a short time -before she knew her name as well as anybody. The other kittens would -come if any one called “Kitty, Kitty,” but this one paid no attention -to any calling unless she heard some one say “Dixie.” - -So it was that Dixie found a friend and a name. Mothercat had watched -this new friendship, and she did not seem to disapprove of it; but she -never allowed Lady to come near herself. People had never been unkind -to her, but still she was afraid of them. Lady always believed that if -she had lived longer, she would have become friendly; but about this -time Mothercat got a bone in her throat and could not get it out. -Master and Mistress both tried their best to help her; but she was so -wild and frightened that she would not let them do much for her, and -before long Mothercat was dead. - -All this time Mothercat and Dixie had been going to the barn for their -food, and as the weather grew colder, they were finally obliged to go -there to sleep. The stranger cats had taken the best places, of -course, but they made warm nests for themselves and were not -uncomfortable. After Mothercat died, Dixie hated to go to the barn. -The stranger cats looked upon it as their home, and treated Dixie as -if she were the stranger and had no right to come there. Sometimes -they growled at her, and although she was a stout-hearted little -fighter and was not one bit afraid of them, it was not at all pleasant -to have to eat and sleep with cats who did not want her. She began to -do some more thinking in her wise little head. She did not like the -barn, and she did like Lady’s cottage. There were no other kittens in -the cottage, and there was plenty of room; but would Lady let her -come? She had followed Lady about the lawn, they had sat on the piazza -together, and once or twice she had jumped into Lady’s lap. Lady had -always seemed glad to see her, but had never invited her into the -house. Nevertheless, Dixie meant to see what could be done. - -The result of all this thinking was that one day, when there was a -remarkably good smell coming from Lady’s kitchen, a little black nose -was stretched up to the partly open door and a little red mouth was -opened wide. Dixie seldom mewed, but when other cats would have mewed, -she only opened her mouth appealingly. “Well, isn’t that cunning!” -cried Somebody Else. “Dixie has come to dinner.” “Don’t feed her,” -said Lady; “she belongs to Master and Mistress. She must understand -that she can come to visit, but that the barn is her home.” Lady was -called away just then. If she had not been, I am afraid that before -long she would have done just what Somebody Else did, that is, cut off -a nice bit of lamb and put it into the tiny red mouth. - -So it went on day after day. At first Lady said firmly, “Somebody -Else, you must not feed that cat.” After a while she said, “I am -afraid it will make trouble if you keep feeding the kitten.” Then she -said, “Somebody Else, we really ought not to feed Dixie”; and before -long she came to the kitchen after every meal to make sure that there -was a saucer of something good set down on the floor. At length -matters actually came to the point where she said one day, “Somebody -Else, we’ll have those oysters fried instead of scalloped; Dixie likes -them much better fried.” - -Dixie was now a happy little cat. She perched herself on the piazza -railing and ran up the apple trees and played with the beetles and -grasshoppers as much as ever she chose. When she wanted to come into -the house, she jumped up on the sill of the piazza window, and there -was always some one ready to let her in. When she ate her dinner, no -other cat was there to growl at her, for was she not the one and only -kitten of the house? - -Of course the stranger cats had noticed what was going on, and -sometimes they tried to come in and get a taste of the good things -that smelled so tempting; but this Dixie would never permit. She did -not growl or spit, but if any other kitten dared to take bite or sup -from her dish, then a resolute black paw shot out quick as an arrow -and struck the intruder with a hard little cuff that sent her -scampering out of the door. Once or twice some one of the stranger -cats slipped in first and emptied the saucer. Then Dixie was so angry -that she dashed out of doors like a little black whirlwind, ran up the -path toward the gate, and sat down with her back to the house. She -swished her tail angrily and occasionally looked back over her -shoulder reproachfully at Lady and Somebody Else, who had permitted -such cruel things to happen. - -Room after room, Dixie went over the house. She examined every foot of -the cellar, for she hoped to find a mouse or two there. Early one -morning she ventured upstairs for the first time. It was all new and -strange and quiet, and Lady was nowhere to be seen. Dixie gave a faint -timid mew, which meant, “I am lonesome and frightened. Lady, where are -you?” Lady called, “Come, Dixie,” and Dixie sprang upon the great bed, -the happiest little cat in the city. When Mistress came in, she often -saw her kitten lying on the sofa or in Lady’s lap, or running about -from one room to another, and she said, “You know she is only a barn -cat, and she has never been taught how to behave. She may break things -or get into the food.” But Dixie had pretty clear notions in her small -head of how kittens should act, and she was a charming little -visitor. Of course she made a few mistakes. One day Somebody Else -found her on a shelf in the pantry having a fine time with a dish of -corn. Dixie glanced at her with a look that seemed to say, “Of course -this is all right, isn’t it?” and went on eating. Somebody Else set -her down on the floor, saying, “No, Dixie, you must not touch that”; -and Dixie understood that, no matter how tempting food might look, she -must not touch it unless it was given to her. She learned her lesson -so well that never again did she meddle with anything eatable, not -even when she was shut into the storeroom by mistake one day and left -there for half an hour. Here were corn and fish and milk, all on low -shelves in plain view, and it was dinner-time; but not one mouthful -did she take. When People sat down to the table, Dixie curled herself -up on a cushion as if this business of eating was a matter with which -she had nothing to do. Just once she broke through her rule of good -behavior. There were guests at the table. They were busy talking, and -it must have seemed a long, long time for a hungry kitten to wait for -her supper. One of the guests had just said, “How well your cat -behaves at meal-times,” and Lady was replying, “Yes, she never pays -the least attention to us when we are eating,” when, behold, an -impatient little cat made one bound to the sideboard and prepared for -another to the table. This, however, was the only time that she ever -did such a thing; and there are not many People who have not made at -least one mistake. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE’S TROUBLES] - - -DIXIE was very happy, but even the happiest little cat has her -troubles, and Dixie had one great grief and disappointment. Every -evening, just as she was having the most delightful nap that could be -imagined, Lady began to straighten out the books and papers, push the -chairs back, and fasten the windows. Dixie watched all this with her -bright, round eyes, for she knew that the next thing would be, “Come, -Dixie, time to go to bed”; and then she would be put out of the door -and have to go back to the barn to sleep. It seemed very hard that -while the soft cushion was to be there alone all night long, she could -not be permitted to use it; but Lady always said, “No, Dixie, you must -run home now”; and one night when it was snowing fast, Lady put on -some rubber boots and carried her over to the hole in the barn door -rather than let her lie on that warm cushion all night. - -This, then, was Dixie’s one trouble, for a cat’s home is where her bed -is, and Dixie did so want to make her home with Lady and not in that -barn. The trouble became worse and worse, for Dixie was going to have -some kittens of her own, and where should she make a cosy nest for -them? She could not bear to have them in the barn, for she did not -feel that she was a barn cat any longer, she was a house cat, even if -she did have to go to the barn to sleep. In every pretty coaxing way -that she knew she begged Lady to let her stay in the house. She picked -out one corner after another that she thought would be just the place -for baby kittens. One was on the padded cover of a shirt-waist box in -Lady’s room. Another was in the deep drawer of an old-fashioned -bureau that chanced to be left open a few minutes. Her favorite place, -however, was in a big, round basket. She learned to push the cover off -with her paw, and she would cuddle herself down in a little ring and -look up at Lady pleadingly. “No, Dixie,” was always the answer to her -begging, “you must not stay there.” She lay on the sofa much of the -time. If Lady was near her, all was well; but when Lady went anywhere -else, Dixie followed. When Lady sat down, Dixie seated herself -directly in front of her, and made plaintive little moans and gazed -straight up into her eyes so beseechingly that more than once Lady -slipped out of sight and went away from the house rather than to have -to say no again and again. - -“She must think it is pretty hard,” said Somebody Else, “to be petted -as long as everything goes smoothly, and then turned out of doors as -soon as she is in trouble.” - -“But,” replied Lady, “you must remember that she is not our cat. She -is a dear little visitor, but she belongs to Master and Mistress, and -we must not let her make this her home.” - -Dixie seemed to understand that they were talking about her, and she -pleaded more earnestly than ever. When Lady sat down upon the sofa, -Dixie would snuggle up beside her as close as possible, she would -touch Lady’s fingers with the tip of her tiny red tongue, she would -purr and look up into Lady’s face more and more coaxingly every day. -Still Lady said, “No, Dixie, the barn is your home, and you must make -a nest there for your kittens.” She even carried Dixie over to the -barn two or three times, but the poor little cat always hurried back -again. - -At length there came a day when Dixie was plainly suffering. “She must -go to the barn,” declared Lady. “Perhaps if I pull down the shade of -the piazza window, she will think we are away and will go back.” She -pulled the shade down, but Dixie did not go; she only crouched down in -the corner of the piazza nearest the window, and sat there looking -sick and unhappy. - -Lady was almost as unhappy. She wandered from one room to another, -restless and miserable. Every few minutes she came back to the -sitting-room, pulled the curtain aside softly, and peeped out; and -every time she saw the poor little suffering cat curled up in the -corner. At last she said, “I’ll carry her over once more, and perhaps -when she is once there she will be willing to stay.” - -Lady started to carry her over; but close to the door lay a big yellow -cat. He crouched low, almost as if he was about to spring, and little -Dixie trembled and clung fast to Lady. Then Lady carried her straight -home and into the house. “I simply won’t let any animal be so -miserable and frightened,” she declared. “Master is at his office and -Mistress has a house full of company, so there’s no one to ask; but -that poor little kitten shan’t suffer so, no matter whether she is -mine or theirs. I’m going to make you a bed, Dixie,” she continued, -“and a comfortable place for the kittens.” - -Dixie certainly understood some of this at least, for when Lady -hurried down cellar to look for a box and brought excelsior and a -piece of blanket from the attic to line it with, Dixie followed, no -longer moaning, but watching closely every motion. “We’ll put it into -this quiet room off the kitchen,” Lady explained to Dixie; and she -lifted the little cat and laid her into the soft, warm nest. Cats are -not often willing to let People choose nests for them, but Dixie was -happy and grateful, and she lay down at once. Lady made it all still -and dark around her and went away for a while. When she came back, -there lay Dixie in the nest, and beside her were four of the dearest -little kittens. One was yellow, and one was black, and the other two -were black and white. They were named then and there. The yellow one -was Buttercup, the black one Topsy, and the other two were the -Heavenly Twins. Lady brought Dixie some warm milk, and then left her -to rest with her four little furry kitty babies. - - - - -[Illustration: THE LITTLE MOTHERCAT] - - -DIXIE made the dearest little mothercat that was ever seen, and she -was as happy as the days were long. At first she thought too much was -going on in the small room off the kitchen, and twice she carried her -babies off to Lady’s study and picked out a snug, shady corner for -them behind the door. Lady carried them back to the little room, and -Dixie understood that they must stay there, and she did not take them -to the study again. She took the best possible care of her kittens, -and taught them all that Mothercat had taught her. She washed them -ever so many times a day; though as they grew older, they were so full -of fun that if she did not keep fast hold of them with her forepaws, -they would insist upon playing with her tail or jumping up to try to -catch hold of her whiskers. - -As soon as it became warm enough, a big box full of straw was put out -of doors for the kittens. Dixie kept close watch of them, and never -let them go out of her sight unless Lady or Somebody Else was near. -Then she seemed to think that she had a good nurse-maid, and at such -times she often ventured to slip away for a bit of freedom and a short -run by herself. These many kittens needed more milk than the milkman -could spare, so it had to be brought from the grocer’s. Sometimes it -was rather late, and then they would all line up on the doorstep, -stretch their little red mouths wide open, and call for their -breakfast in a language that no one could fail to understand. All day -long they played in the sunshine; or if it rained, they paddled their -furry paws in the tiny streams of water like so many small children, -for they were no more afraid of water than if they had been ducks. -They had breakfast and dinner out of doors, but when it was -supper-time, they were all invited into the house to drink their milk -and have a good romp. They climbed over the chairs and the sofa, and -frisked around the legs of the tables. They ran after balls and jumped -after strings. They tore up newspapers, and knocked down the shovel -and tongs, and sometimes almost burned their tiny noses trying to find -out whether the fire in the fireplace was good to play with or not. -Topsy was more slender and lithe than the others, and it was great fun -for her to squeeze herself under a certain willow footstool. Then her -smooth little black paws would dart out and the yellow paws and black -and white paws would dart in, and the four kittens would carry on a -merry little mock battle together. Sometimes one was tired of play -before the others and slipped away to a corner of the sofa to take a -nap. Then the others were as full of mischief as a nutshell of meat. -One would take her seat on the arm of the sofa and stretch down her -paw to give the sleeper a poke. Another would tickle her feet with a -wicked little black nose; and sometimes the whole three would pounce -upon her and roll over and over her until she gave up all hope of a -nap and jumped up to have a paw-to-paw scramble with them. When the -fun was over, they were ready to go out of doors to sleep in their box -of straw. If it was dark, they slept all night; but if the moon was -bright and Lady chanced to look out of her window, she was almost sure -to see four little kittens frisking about and having the best time -that any one ever dreamed of. Dixie rarely played with them. Indeed, -even as a kitten she had hardly ever played, and when Lady had shaken -a string or rolled a ball temptingly before her, she had only blinked -at it gravely and looked rather surprised that she should be expected -to do such undignified acts as jumping at strings or running after -balls. - -There were other kittens just across the fence, but they belonged to -the stranger cats, and Dixie would not allow them on the lawn. One day -a tiny gray kitten ventured to slip through the palings to play with -Buttercup and Topsy and the Heavenly Twins, and they had a fine time -together for a few minutes while Dixie was lying in the sunshine -around the corner of the house. Pretty soon she awoke, however, and in -two minutes the merry play had come to an end. Dixie went straight up -to the stranger kitten and apparently told it to go home as fast as it -could go. The stranger kitten stood its ground bravely. It sat up as -tall as it could and looked Dixie squarely in the eyes. Dixie lifted -up her paw and gave it such a hearty cuff that the little gray kitten -really screamed with fright and pain. Then something happened that -puzzled Dixie’s brain severely, for Lady came hurrying across the lawn -and caught up the terrified little gray kitten. She soothed it till it -fell asleep, and she sat quietly with it in her lap till it woke up -and was ready to drink some warm milk. Then she put it down gently on -the other side of the fence. This was something that Dixie could not -understand. Why Lady, her Lady, should be so good to a stranger kitten -was certainly a mystery. She had watched it all in amazement and -anger, and now she sat down on the grass to think it out. Of course -she swished her tail, for she was more than a little jealous and -angry. Here was a fine plaything, the kittens thought, and in spite of -her little warning growls, they had a great game with it, till -finally their mother turned upon them and cuffed the one that chanced -to be nearest. So they were all rather unhappy together, and just -because of a friendly visit from one little gray kitten. - -If Dixie had only known what real sorrow was coming to her, she would -have looked upon this trifling annoyance of the visit from the -stranger kitten as a very small matter. She had thought it was -exceedingly hard when she had been sent to the barn every night -instead of being allowed to sleep on the soft cushion in the warm, -cosy sitting-room; and she had thought that no little cat was ever in -worse straits than she when she was afraid that Lady would not let her -make a nest for her kittens in the house; but a far worse trouble was -on its way now, and poor Dixie’s little heart would have almost broken -if she had known what it was. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE IS DESERTED] - - -OF course Dixie had not been with People so long without learning the -meaning of many of the words that they used. She knew “come” and “go,” -and “dinner” and “down,” and a number of others; but she did not know -“buy” and “house” and “move.” She felt vaguely uneasy, however, for -things began to happen that made her restless and nervous. Lady never -sat on the piazza now; she was always going about the house and -hurrying up and down stairs. Dixie had always fled to the study for -quiet whenever too much was going on elsewhere; but now even the study -was no refuge, for books were being taken down from the shelves and -laid into wooden boxes. Quantities of papers were carefully packed -away and great basketfuls were carried down cellar and burned in the -furnace. The parlor carpet was taken up, and the room was filled with -boxes of books and furniture closely wrapped up in white cloth. -Pictures were taken down and set upon the floor against the wall. Much -sweeping and cleaning were going on. The worst of it all, however, was -when a strange man came and began to pack the china into barrels, and -then left the barrels standing in the sitting-room,--her sitting-room, -where the sofa with the cushions was, and where the kittens always had -their evening frolic. - -In all this confusion the kittens were not at all troubled. They -thought it was great fun to have the sitting-room full of barrels, and -they had the best time of all their lives in jumping from one barrel -to another and pulling out bits of the excelsior packing. The little -mother, however, was anxious and worried. All cats dislike change and -commotion, and this grew worse and worse. She hoped it would soon be -over, but it was worse than house-cleaning, and she had thought that -was as much as any cat could endure. - -At last there came a dreadful day when horses stopped at the gate and -strange men went through the house and carried out boxes and barrels -and furniture to load into great moving-wagons. Lady was nowhere to be -seen, and Dixie fled. When it was dinner-time, she came to the piazza -window, but Lady was not there. Somebody Else was not there, and Dixie -was an unhappy little cat. After a while, Somebody Else set out a big -saucer of fish for her and a big dish of milk for the kittens; but -still Lady could not be found. The men had driven off with a load of -goods, and Dixie ventured to creep up to Lady’s room. Something of -hers might be on the bed, she thought; she would lie down upon it, and -maybe Lady would come soon. She went softly up the stairs; but when -she came to Lady’s room, it was all bare. The carpet was gone, the -furniture was gone; there was nothing lying on the bed, for the bed -itself was gone. Then Dixie gave one sad little moan. She was -frightened and bewildered. What could have happened, and what was -going to happen? She walked slowly downstairs and went out of doors. -The kittens were playing in the grass. One of them jumped up and tried -to catch her as she went by to persuade her to play with them; but she -did not stop till she was in the darkest corner under the barn,--a -wretched, despairing little cat. Just at twilight, Somebody Else set -out a big dish of milk and another of meat and potatoes. Then she -locked the door and went away, and all was dark and still and lonely. -The kittens soon went to sleep, but many a time during the evening -the little mothercat crept out to look up to the house. There was no -light anywhere, not even in Lady’s room, where she had always seen it -latest. After a while she went to sleep. Maybe things would be better -in the morning; Lady would surely come back to her. - -But when morning came, no Lady came with it, and the house was still -shut tight. By and by the door was unlocked and opened; but it was a -strange man who turned the key, and other strange men followed him. -Dixie peeped in through the window. They were painting and papering -and doing other things that she had not seen done before, and she -jumped down from the window-sill and ran under the barn again. After a -little, she heard some one call, “Dixie, Dixie!” and she hurried out. -It was not Lady’s voice, but she hoped Lady might be there. It was -Mistress. She had asked before what Dixie liked best, and now she had -brought out a nice breakfast of it for her. She would have been glad -to smooth the little cat’s head and try to comfort her, but Dixie -would have nothing to do with any one. Lady had gone away and left -her, and she was broken-hearted. She was angry, too, to think that her -beloved Lady should have treated her so cruelly. Nevertheless, all -that day she watched, and all the next, and the next after that, angry -to think that Lady had left her, and still hoping and hoping that she -would come back. - -At twilight of the third day, something happened, for Lady came back. -She came especially to see Dixie kitten. At the first sound of her -voice, Dixie jumped joyfully; then she remembered how unkind Lady had -been, and when Lady began to smooth the little black head, Dixie -slipped out from under her hand and raised up her paw and struck her -dear Lady with all her might; then she ran away and hid. - -Lady was not angry, for she was one of the People who know how little -cats and dogs and birds and horses feel. She understood how grieved -and hurt the little kitten was; but there was nothing that she could -do to help her just then. It would all have been right and comfortable -if she could have explained matters to Dixie, but there was no way of -making her understand. - - - - -[Illustration: A HAPPY LITTLE CAT] - - -IT was a great pity that Dixie could not have heard and understood the -little talk between Lady and Mistress before Lady went to the new -house. “Master says you shall have her if you like,” said Mistress. -“But I know that he values her,” replied Lady, “and if she will only -go back to the barn and be happy, I won’t take her. Suppose I leave -her a few days and see if she won’t be friendly with the other cats -and live with them comfortably. If she really won’t, then I will come -for her.” If Dixie had known of this talk, she would not have been so -hurt and angry; but she supposed Lady had abandoned her, and she was -miserable. She did not forget, but grew more and more angry as the -days passed. Lady came to see her again. Dixie was so glad that she -could not help purring for a minute; then she remembered Lady’s -unkindness, and she walked away up the path. She sat down with her -back to Lady and looked over her shoulder at her reproachfully. - -Lady meant to come for Dixie on the following day, but she was called -out of town, and it was three weeks before she could set off with a -rattan extension-case to get the kitten. When she came to the gate of -the lawn, it was almost dark, and Dixie was roaming about close to the -house, a lonely little shadow. The People who now lived in the house -had been very good to the kittens. The Heavenly Twins had gone to live -with a kind-hearted watchman, who wanted them to keep him from being -lonely at night; but the other two were living with the People in -their old home. “We wanted to be good to Dixie,” said one of the -People in the house, “and we tried to pet her. Sometimes after dark, -when the children had gone to bed, she would come in and wander about -from one room to another. If we paid much attention to her or tried to -take her up, she would run out again; but if we let her alone, she -would sometimes stay half the evening.” - -Buttercup and Topsy were running about and playing as if nothing had -happened, for kittens have short memories, and they had quite -forgotten Lady. Indeed, they had almost forgotten Dixie, for when -kittens grow large, they forget their mothers, and their mothers -forget them, too. People who are mothers always love their children, -no matter how tall they have grown; but cats cease to care anything -about their kittens as soon as the kittens are old enough and big -enough to take care of themselves. - -Poor little Dixie was roaming about in the gloom, alone and -miserable, and too wretched even to run away. Lady put her hand upon -her, and she was grieved to feel how thin the little cat had grown. -Her silky fur was rough and harsh, and she did not seem half so large -as she had been before. “You poor little Dixie kitten,” said Lady, -tenderly, “I shall have to frighten you for a little while, but I -think you will be happy afterwards.” She held the kitten firmly and -put her into the rattan case. Mistress shut down the cover in a -twinkling, and in half a minute the straps were fastened and Dixie was -a prisoner. Of course she cried, for she was terribly alarmed; but -Lady talked to her and soothed her, and before they were in the car -she was quiet. - -It was not long before the car stopped at the Road where the new house -was. Lady got out and carried the extension-case to the door and into -the house. A Caller was there, for Somebody Else had told her that -Lady had gone to get Dixie, and she had waited to see how the kitten -would behave. “Though I don’t believe Lady will be able to catch her,” -she had said. “Cats care nothing for people. They are selfish little -creatures, and all they want is to be comfortable. Probably this one -has forgotten all about her by this time.” - -When Lady came in, the Caller said, “You’d better open the case in the -kitchen. The cat will probably be as crazy as a loon, and she may dash -about and tear things and do a great deal of damage.” So the Caller -and Lady and Somebody Else and the case with the kitten all went to -the kitchen; and Lady began very slowly and gently to loosen the -straps. It was all so quiet in the case that she wondered whether it -could have been so close that the poor little cat was half smothered, -and she pulled the last strap off in a great hurry. “You’d better be -careful,” said the Caller, “and not have your face too near. You -never can trust a cat, and no one can tell what she will do. She may -spring right at you.” Lady did not believe Dixie would do any such -thing, and she took the cover off in a twinkling. Dixie stepped -quietly out of the case and looked around her. She saw Lady and -Somebody Else, and she saw the Mother standing in the doorway. They -talked to her, and patted her, and told her they were glad to see her. -Dixie forgot the lonely days at the old house when she thought Lady -had abandoned her. It was all past; Lady had remembered her and had -brought her home, and now she was going to live with Lady and be -really her own little cat. Never was a cat so happy before, and she -purred so, she could be heard far into the dining-room. As Lady bent -over her, she stretched up and tried to rub her face against Lady’s. -She ran about the room and touched with her keen little nose the -stove hearth, the chairs, the rugs, the table cover, one familiar -thing after another; and every minute or two she ran back to Lady to -tell her how glad she was to be with her. - -“Dixie dear, how miserable you must have been,” said Lady, with tears -in her eyes. - -“I never knew that just a cat could be either so happy or so unhappy,” -said the Caller, with tears in her eyes, too. As for Somebody Else, -she had long been wiping her own eyes when she thought no one was -looking; so it was really quite a tearful time. By and by Dixie -discovered in a corner a little dish heaped full of the canned salmon -that she especially liked, for on the way home Lady had stopped a -minute to go into a store to buy it to celebrate the homecoming. Close -beside the salmon was a half-open package that smelled wonderfully -good. Even Dixie’s small black nose would not go into it, but it was -too tempting to leave, for it was catnip. At length she pushed in her -little paw, curled it up, and brought out a mouthful, which she held -up and ate just as a boy would eat a piece of candy. - -It was pretty late in the evening by this time. The Caller went home, -and Lady called Dixie to go to bed. There was a good soft bed all made -ready for her in the cellar. It was in a barrel of shavings, for cats -like to sleep high up from the floor. Near the barrel was a saucer of -milk, for fear she might be thirsty in the night. It was all very -comfortable, but I do not believe that Dixie went to sleep at once. -Cats like to know all about a place that is new to them, and I have no -doubt that she examined every corner of the cellar before she curled -herself up to rest. I am almost sure, too, that she purred herself to -sleep, and that she had happy dreams all night long. - - - - -[Illustration: THE NEW HOUSE] - - -WHEN the Caller went away, she said, “I never knew that a cat could -behave like that. She acts as if she really loved you as much as a -person could do. Still, they say cats care for places rather than -people; and if I were you, I would shut her up for two or three days -till she gets used to the house, and then she will not try to run -away.” - -“But if she wants to run away,” replied Lady, “I do not want to keep -her here.” - -And Somebody Else said softly to herself, “Run away? You couldn’t drag -her away.” - -When morning came, a very happy and curious little cat stepped up from -the cellar and began to look about the house. There were only a few -things in it that she had not seen before, but they were all in new -places; and so she found a great deal to examine. Instead of carpets, -however, she found many rugs. She was not sure that she liked this, -for sometimes she slipped a little on the hardwood floors. The stairs -did not go straight up, but made a turn. This was a delightful change, -for she could run up part way, then turn and look back through the -balusters. After a while she came to the study. Here she found a new -bookcase. It was far better than the tall ones, she thought, for it -was much lower, and she felt sure that the top of it would be an -excellent place for a kitten to take a nap. Two or three mirrors were -now either hung low, or were over tables so she could jump up and look -into them, and Somebody Else declared that the kitten would surely -become vain if these were not changed, for she liked so much to sit -in front of them and gaze at her own little self. The windows she -liked especially, for they were so low that even a little cat could -stretch up and rest her forepaws on the sills and see all that was -going on out of doors. Better still, at one of the windows Lady had -put a plush-covered foot-rest, and here Dixie could sit comfortably in -the sunshine and watch the People going by. - -After a while Dixie began to wonder what was out of doors, and she let -Somebody Else know that she wished the door opened. Somebody Else had -not forgotten that the Caller had said the cat would run away; but -evidently such an idea never entered Dixie’s pretty little head. She -walked slowly around the house. There was a piazza at the back; and -that suited her; but she was still more pleased with the front piazza. -It was reached by five or six steps, and there was a high railing -where a cat could sit; and no dog would dare to come near her. There -were shrubs on either side of the walk, with fine cool places to -sleep, or to lie awake and watch everything that was going on. There -was plenty of grass, there were two gnarled apple-trees behind the -house, and beyond them there was a fine old stone wall that had stood -ever since the days when no one had dreamed of turning the great -Baldwin orchard into house-lots. Some of the rough stones were covered -with green moss, and they cast soft gray shadows. Here and there a bit -of white quartz flashed in the sunshine. Bright orange nasturtiums ran -over the wall, and some tall hollyhocks stood close beside it in -neighborly fashion. It was a beautiful old wall. Dixie thought so, -too; but the reason she liked it was because she was sure that in some -one of those shadowy places she would certainly find a field mouse. - -It took Dixie the whole forenoon to look at everything around the -house and smell of it. Moreover, in the course of the morning she had -a caller. It was not exactly a friendly call, for this Next-Door Cat -had been in the habit of coming to see the People who used to live in -the house, and she was not pleased to see another cat making herself -at home there. She came through the little barberry hedge and said -“Meow!” in a surprised and aggrieved fashion. I suppose it meant, “Who -are you and what are you here for?” but Dixie did not deign to answer. -She jumped upon the piazza railing and looked straight at the -Next-Door Cat. The Next-Door Cat ran up the nearest apple-tree and -looked straight at her. After a while, the Next-Door Cat said -“Meow-ow-ow!” and came down from the apple-tree. She gave one more -look over her shoulder at Dixie, but Dixie was opening and shutting -her mouth as fast as ever she could, as if she meant to devour -everything in sight. The Next-Door Cat marched straight to the gap in -the low barberry hedge and went home. This was Dixie’s first caller. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE IN HER HOME] - - -SO it was that the wild little barn cat became a house cat. She had -come to live with busy people, and I fancy she thought that she was as -busy as they. In the morning, as soon as she heard the steps of -Somebody Else, she ran to the top of the stairs to be ready to come -out the moment that the door was opened. The next thing to do was to -go up to Lady’s room. The door was almost always closed, but Dixie sat -down beside it and waited patiently until she heard some little sounds -within. Then she rubbed on the door with the little pads on the bottom -of her paw,--very softly, to be sure, but Lady always heard her and -opened it. Once in a while Dixie went out of doors when she first came -up from the cellar, and occasionally it happened that she could not -get in again at once. That did not trouble her, for she had another -way of reaching Lady’s room that she liked fully as well as going by -the hall and the stairs. Not far from the front piazza there grew an -apple-tree. Dixie could run up this tree, walk carefully out on a -slender branch, and jump to the piazza roof. A little way beyond the -farther end of the roof was one of the windows of Lady’s room. The -blind nearest this roof was usually closed, and there was not room -enough on the sill to hold even a kitten; but Dixie would go to the -very edge of the roof and scratch. “Is that you, Dixie?” Lady would -ask. “Meow,” Dixie would reply, and any one would know that this meant -“Yes.” Then Lady would go into the little room that opened on the roof -and let her in. So it was that every morning the kitten made sure that -Lady was safe and sound, and came to purr to her while she was -dressing. - -After Lady and Dixie had both eaten breakfast, Lady took a few -minutes for the morning paper. Of course it was a great help to her to -have a small black cat lie on her lap; and I am sure I do not know how -she could have set her room in order unless the same little cat had -sat on the window-sill watching her. When Lady went to the study, -Dixie always went with her to stay by her while she wrote. This study -was an excellent place for a nap. Sometimes Dixie lay on top of the -low bookcase, where Lady had put a cushion for her benefit; sometimes -she stretched herself out on the carpet in the sunshine; and sometimes -she had a comfortable little snooze on a corner of the big library -table. If she did not care to sleep, there were various things that a -kitten could do in the study to amuse herself. She could sit at the -window and watch the birds in the apple-trees, or sometimes a dog -hurrying home across lots. She could run over the typewriter keys if -she chose, and even across the big table. Indeed, she soon learned -that the surest way to make Lady pay attention to her was to walk -slowly over the paper on which she was writing, or even to sit down -upon it and begin to take a bath. Once she sat down upon a loose pile -of books and papers, and a moment later books, papers, and Dixie slid -to the floor together, with a great thump. She turned and gazed at -them with surprise and wrath, but not the least bit of fear. She was -afraid of sudden noises elsewhere, however. While a carpenter was at -work in the kitchen, she utterly refused to eat her meals in the room -unless Lady stood beside her. She seemed to feel convinced that -Somebody Else was to blame for all that hammering, and for several -days after it ceased she refused to have anything to do with her while -in the kitchen, though she was friendly enough in other places. In -Lady’s study she felt safe, and apparently she had come to the -conclusion that in that room nothing could ever hurt kittens. - -Whenever Dixie was in trouble she always ran to the study for comfort. -One day she dashed into the room and sat down in front of Lady and -gazed at her so earnestly and with such an air of wanting to tell -something that Lady called to Somebody Else and asked if anything had -happened to Dixie. “Sure, there has,” replied Somebody Else. “Now that -the screens are in, the window-sill is not wide enough to hold her, -and when she jumped from the railing to the window, she fell down. She -wouldn’t stop for a bit of dinner, but ran upstairs as fast as ever -she could go.” Once when Lady had been away for a month, she missed -the kitten after the first greeting. Some time later she went to the -study, and there sat Dixie in the dark, patiently waiting for her to -appear. - -In some ways Dixie was remarkably obedient. If she was in the street -and Lady knocked on the window, she would come running home as -promptly as the best of children. If she was upstairs and Lady called -her to come down, you could hear on the instant the jump of a little -cat--often from a down quilt on a bed or from some other forbidden -place, I am sorry to say--to the floor; and in half a minute she was -hurrying downstairs to see what was wanted. One morning Lady called, -but Dixie did not come. Some ten minutes later she burst into the -kitchen like a little football rush with a long “Meow-yow-yow-yow!” -which sounded so angry and indignant that Somebody Else called Lady -and declared that something had surely gone wrong with Dixie. When -Lady went upstairs, she saw what had happened. The heavy door had -blown to, and it was plain that the kitten had been working at it -with her soft little paws until she had pushed it back far enough to -let her squeeze through. - -Part of Dixie’s work was to drive away the stray cats and dogs that -ventured on her lawn or under her apple-trees. Sometimes she herself -played dog, and did her best to guard the house. One dark night there -was a strange clanking sound in the back yard. Lady started for the -door; but before she could reach it, the little cat had crouched all -ready to make a spring as soon as the door should be opened. The noise -proved to have been made by a hungry dog at a garbage can; and he ran -away as fast as ever he could; but I think Dixie would have enjoyed -chasing him. - -Evidently Dixie felt that her first duty was to keep watch of Lady; -and this was no easy matter when Lady was busy about the house. She -hurried “upstairs and downstairs and in my lady’s chamber”; but -wherever she went, a little black cat followed her like a shadow. -This shadow behaved somewhat unlike other shadows, however, for it had -a way of catching at the hem of her dress in the hope of a frolic, or -suddenly dashing around corners at her to surprise her, in a fashion -which no properly behaved shadow would ever dream of following. - -Another of Dixie’s duties was to entertain the Mother. The Mother had -always been afraid of cats, and she had never liked them, but she -could not help liking Dixie. The kitten often went to her room and lay -on a small high table in the sunshine while the Mother sat in her big -easy-chair and talked to her. Dixie purred back, and they were very -comfortable together, and the best of friends. - -When callers came, Dixie was not altogether pleased. Sometimes she -would turn her back on them, march straight upstairs, and not come -down again until she heard the front door close; but generally she -thought it better to keep pretty close watch of them. She was inclined -to think that Lady paid them too much attention; therefore she would -often jump into Lady’s lap and insist upon remaining there until they -were ready to start for home. - -Another one of Dixie’s responsibilities was the telephone, and she -always ran to it at the first ring. Her care of it was a great -convenience to Lady, for the telephone bell and the doorbell sounded -so nearly alike that before Dixie came, she had often made mistakes, -and had hurried to the telephone when the doorbell rang. Dixie never -made a mistake, however, and when Lady saw her running to the -telephone, she did not have to guess which bell had rung. The -telephone was as much of a mystery to Dixie as it is to some other -folk. She would jump up on the table to listen, and would put her head -on one side with a puzzled look. One day she stretched out her soft -little paw and touched Lady’s lips to see if she could not find out -where those strange sounds came from. Once Lady asked the friend with -whom she was talking to call “Dixie!” Then the kitten was puzzled -indeed. She looked at the receiver from all sides and even tried to -get her head into it. At last she left it and jumped down from the -table; for most certainly she had come upon something that no kitten -could understand. - - - - -[Illustration: DIXIE IN HER HOME _continued_] - - -DIXIE had her small troubles, and she did not always bear them like a -good child in a story-book. At one time Lady thought she was having -too much salmon, and she set down some bread and milk for her. This -did not suit Dixie at all. She sniffed at it and walked away. Through -the morning she went to it once in a while, plainly hoping that it had -changed into salmon; and each time when she saw that it was still -bread and milk, she gave a little growl and turned away as angrily as -a cross child that does not like his breakfast. She thought Lady would -yield, and it was not until almost supper-time that she concluded to -eat that bread and milk. Another one of her trials was the swing door -between the pantry and the dining-room. She did not like doors that -went both ways and did not stay shut after they had been shut. Even -when Lady or Somebody Else held the door open for her, she was afraid, -and when she had screwed up her courage and run through it at full -speed, she would turn and look at it over her shoulder as if there was -no knowing what that thing might do yet, and she would not trust it -behind her back for a moment. - -Still another of her troubles was that neither in the attic, nor in -the cellar, nor among the soft gray shadows of that beautiful old -stone wall could she ever succeed in finding a mouse. I have no idea -how many long nights she may have spent wandering about the cellar and -watching beside every promising hole; but I do know that wherever in -the house she might be, she never failed to hear the opening of the -attic door. Then she would scamper upstairs as fast as her feet could -carry her. She would examine every corner and every hole, and finally -walk slowly downstairs with as nearly a look of anger and disgust as -her happy face could be made to wear. - -Dixie finally concluded that there were no mice in her house, but she -still hoped she might find one in that of her next-door neighbor. The -first time that his cellar door was left open, she slipped in, and -there she stayed. He tried to coax her out, then to frighten her out, -and then he told Lady. Lady went to the door and said, “Dixie, come -right home,” and Dixie stepped down daintily from a pile of wood and -went home. This was her last search for mice. The kind neighbor was -sorry for her disappointment, and one day he brought her two that had -been caught at his store. Dixie looked at them gravely. Then she -stretched out her paw and touched one of them. It did not move, and -she turned around and walked away scornfully and ungratefully. She -did not care for dead mice; what she wanted was the fun of catching -live ones. - -But of all the troubles that came to the petted cat, the very worst of -all was her getting angry with Lady. There was a certain cushion that -Dixie thought was specially her own, and one sad and sorry day Lady -needed to open the box on which it lay, and put her off. Then Dixie -was angry. Lady pointed her finger at her and said “Shame!” and told -her she was a naughty cat. A cat cannot bear to be scolded. Dixie -stood looking straight into Lady’s face. She growled and she spit, and -was in as furious a little temper as one could imagine. Suddenly she -seemed to remember that it was Lady, her own best friend, toward whom -she was behaving so badly. She stopped growling, turned away for a -moment, and then came running up to Lady, purring and rubbing against -her feet, and trying in every pretty little way that she knew to make -her understand what a penitent cat she was. - -Most cats become more sedate as they grow older, but Dixie became more -playful. When she was a barn cat, she never played, and she would gaze -with the utmost gravity and a dignified air of indifference and -surprise if any one tried to tempt her to run for a ball. Now, -however, she was always ready for a game. She played with -everything,--with a table leg, a corner of a rug, or the hem of Lady’s -dress. She played with the dry leaves on the ground. When it snowed, -she played with the snowflakes. Sometimes she caught them in her paw -and held them up to examine them more closely. Then when she found -that they had disappeared, her look of amazement was comical enough. -She would run out of doors in the rain and play with the drops or -with the tiny streams of water running off the sidewalk. She did not -mind getting wet in the least, and sometimes she would sit a long -while on a piazza post in a pouring rain. The moment she came into the -house, however, she set to work to dry herself. With only her little -tongue to use as a towel, this was rather a slow business, and two or -three times Lady wiped her fur with a cloth. Dixie was somewhat -surprised, but she did not object. Evidently she soon discovered how -much trouble this saved her, and whenever she was wet, she would go to -the drawer where her own particular towel was kept and wait till -Somebody Else wiped her dry. One day she was so thoroughly drenched -that she felt in need of comfort as much as towel, and she ran to the -study to show herself to Lady. She stood in the doorway a moment, then -walked up to Lady with a long and much aggrieved “Meow-ow-ow-ow!” -which meant, as any one might know, “Lady, isn’t this a shame? Did you -ever see a little cat so wet before?” - -Dixie’s notions of what was proper and what was not proper were -decidedly original. Things to eat she never touched unless they were -given to her, but things to play with were free plunder. One unlucky -day Lady gave her an empty spool, and after this all spools were her -province. Unfortunately, she preferred those that had thread on them. -She liked thimbles, too, and she would jump up on the table where -Lady’s work-basket stood, select a thimble or a spool to play with, -and jump down with it in her mouth. If she had a spool full of thread, -she was happy; but when Lady came into the room, she did not always -sympathize with the kitten in her pleasure, for that thread was almost -sure to be wound about everything in the room except the spool. - -Indeed, Dixie kitten of the house was a very different little cat -from Dixie kitten of the barn. She was as happy as the days were long. -I might as well say, “As happy as the nights were long,” for she did -not dread bedtime now, as in the times when she was sent out of the -warm sitting-room to the barn. She never stayed out all night, and she -was always willing to go to bed. Lady could have told a secret about -this if she had chosen. It was that Dixie knew a nice little lunch was -always waiting for her at the foot of the stairs. It is no wonder that -she did not care to spend nights away from home. The Caller stood by -one evening while Lady was preparing the lunch. “How you do spoil that -cat!” she said laughingly. Lady replied thoughtfully, “Spoil her? I -only make her happy, and I don’t believe it spoils either cats or -people to be happy. What do you think about it, Dixie kitten?” and -Dixie answered “Purr-r-r-r” contentedly. - -Now when people wish to write the life of a person, they generally -wait until he is dead--maybe because they are afraid he may contradict -what they have said of him. Dixie is not dead by any means. She is -sitting on the corner of the table this very minute, gazing straight -at my paper; but this life of her is so true that it would not trouble -me in the least if she should read every word of it. - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - -On the assumption of printer error, the following amendment has -been made: - - Page 38--made amended to make--“... I’m going to make you a bed, - Dixie,” ... - -The list of books by the same author has been moved to follow the -title page. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIXIE KITTEN *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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 an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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