A Kindergarten Story Book Part 14

Sure enough, when the basket was opened there lay a tiny kitten.

"Oh, isn't she black!" cried the little girl.

"Yes, indeed, she is," said Alice's papa. "I should call her Topsy.

There isn't a white hair in her whole glossy coat, from the tip of her little pink nose to the end of her little black tail."

"What big yellow eyes! And oh, look! look! what funny feet she has!

Why are they so large, papa?" asked Alice.

"That's because she is a seven-toed kitten, little daughter. I expect that she will catch a great many mice with those big feet of hers, when she grows to be a cat."

Alice turned one of the funny front paws over. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," she counted. "Yes, there are just seven toes here, but look, papa, there are not so many on her hind feet. I wonder if she is hungry. May I feed her, mamma?"

Mamma brought some milk, and soon Topsy seemed to feel quite at home.

She lapped the milk with her little red tongue, until there was not a drop of it left in the saucer. Then she began to purr and to rub her face against the hand of her new mistress. Finally she curled up in Alice's lap until she looked like a shiny black ball, and began blinking at the fire with sleepy eyes.

Alice was sleepy, too. She curled up in papa's lap, just as kitty had done in hers, and soon Topsy and she were both fast asleep.

TOPSY STORIES.

II. HOW TOPSY KEPT WARM.

"Is that Topsy crying?" said Alice's mamma, one morning. "Listen a moment."

Alice stopped playing with her doll and kept very quiet. Yes, she could hear a faint meow. She ran to the outside door and opened it, but kitty was not there. She listened again, and again she heard the same sound: "Meow! meow! meow!"

"Perhaps kitty is at the other door," said Alice's mamma.

Alice turned the k.n.o.b and pulled the door wide open; but only a rush of cold air and a few snowflakes came in.

"Where can she be, mamma? Oh, I know now! She is down cellar," said Alice. But no kitty was there. "Maybe she is in the wood shed. I'll run and see! No, mamma, she isn't there, either. I don't think she is happy, wherever she is. She doesn't sound so. Just hear her cry!"

Both listened again to the half-smothered meow.

"No, she doesn't sound very happy, pet," said mamma. "She is shut up somewhere and can't get out. We must find her."

So the mother and the little girl began to search for Topsy. Upstairs and downstairs they went, looking everywhere. They opened all the closet doors, they looked into all the trunks and boxes. They even peeped into the baby's hamper and lifted the lid of grandmother's big workbasket; but no kitty did they find. Still they could hear her crying "Meow! meow! meow!" all the time.

Back to the kitchen they went. "She must be in this room," said mamma; "the meowing sounds louder here than it does anywhere else."

Round and round the room went Alice, peeping everywhere. Her mother looked in all the places, too. No kitty in the cupboard, no kitty in the china closet, no kitty in the washtubs, no kitty in the wood box!

At last Alice stood still, quite close to the big stove, wondering where she could look next.

"Meow! meow! meow!"

"Oh, mamma. It sounds loudest right here!"

Alice's mother bent her head and listened. "So it does," she said.

Then she put her hand on the door of the big warming oven. She pulled it open, and--out walked Topsy, very warm indeed, but not hurt at all.

Alice caught kitty up in her arms and gave her a good hug. The poor cat's fur was quite hot.

"It's a good thing for p.u.s.s.y that we found her as soon as we did," said mamma.

Alice gave Topsy a saucer of milk, and soon her pet was curled up in the doll's cradle fast asleep and none the worse for her warming.

TOPSY STORIES.

III. HOW TOPSY MOTHERED HER NEIGHBOR'S KITTENS.

Topsy had no babies of her own. Tarlequin, her next door neighbor, had two soft, little, cuddley ones. Topsy was lonely. Her tail grew big and bushy, and her eyes grew dark and bright as she trotted off toward the wood shed where, in a barrel of nice smelling shavings, her neighbor had set up housekeeping.

Tarlequin was not at home that morning. Topsy did not stop to knock, but gave a big spring and landed right in the middle of the babies'

bed. Then she took one of the babies right in her mouth by the loose skin at the back of its neck, jumped out of the barrel, and ran home as fast as she could. She laid the stolen kitten softly down on her own bed, and began to wash it all over with her funny rough tongue.

Soon the kitten began to cry, for it was hungry and missed its own mother.

Alice heard the strange sound and ran to find out what it could be.

When Topsy saw her little mistress, she curled herself up all around the stolen baby and began to growl and hiss, something she had never done to Alice before.

"Oh, mamma, do come and see what Topsy has found!"

"Well, well!" said mamma. "It is one of Tarlequin's babies. Where did she get it?"

"Why are Topsy's eyes so shiny, and why does she growl at me, mamma? I am afraid to touch her," said Alice.

"She thinks that you are going to take the kitten away, little daughter; but it will never do to let her keep it. Tarlequin will miss it and, besides, we have no way of feeding it."

Alice's mother began to talk softly to Topsy. After a while she put her hand down and gently stroked the cat's face. Very soon Topsy allowed mamma to take both herself and the little kitten up in her arms. Then mamma carried them back to Tarlequin's barrel in the neighbor's wood shed.

Tarlequin was at home this time. She seemed very glad to see her lost baby back again and called, "Meow! meow! meow!"

Mamma stroked Tarlequin, saying, "Nice kitty! nice kitty!" Then she put Topsy right down in the nest beside Tarlequin and stroked her.

Soon the two cats were purring softly and licking each other and the two kittens by turns.

That was the last time that Topsy was ever lonely, for she lived in Tarlequin's barrel after that, and helped bring up Tarlequin's babies; and she took just as good care of them as their own mother did, too.

She cuddled close to them when they were asleep so that they would not feel cold. Every day she licked their coats until they were smooth and shiny. When the kittens were big enough, Topsy brought them all the plump mice they could eat, and she let them tumble and scramble all over her, nip at her ears and play with her tail as much as ever they liked.

"Isn't Tarlequin real good, mamma," said Alice one day, as she saw her pet frolicking with the two kittens, "to let poor Topsy help bring up her babies?"