Her friend did not fail her. She provided a nice box, all lined and made soft inside; and although she could not have it in her room, she went down every night to see that Blackie was made comfortable.

Poor Blackie! She had a determined will, and escaped from her box the night her kittens were born, and got up to her friend's door, where she cried, and then lay down as near the door as she could, and bore her pains in silence, like the patient creature she was.

As soon as morning came she was carried down and put in her nice box with the seven little kittens she had borne. Her friend took care that they disposed of them humanely, keeping only one. Blackie never rested till she brought up that kitten and laid it in a large chair; then she felt relieved. She would take it up the two flights of stairs, then put it down at her friend's door, while she mewed and scratched till it was opened to her. She was very happy with her dear little kitten, and truly it was a lovely little creature--a real tiger-striped gray.

Blackie was perfectly at home; she cast off the care of her kitten, and rested and got up her strength in this peaceful element. She had avoided the boy tyrant and hid her kitten away from him, and his mother dared not help him find it, fearing Blackie's friend.

The kitten was just the smartest little creature. She soon got big enough to go up to her friend's door, and mew just like her mother, and she cuffed and fought Blackie in a way that proved she would be able to defend herself. Her mother was not so fond of her after she began to show her independence. She tried to keep her in subjection, but found her to be unmanageable. When she went out to parties nights, her mother was very morose over it; and when her first kittens were born, she disowned her altogether. She never would stay in the room with her.

The little kittens were all four allowed to live, and were around the kitchen, under people's feet, abused by the children, and Kitty Gray, as the friend called her, was just wild to get them up into her room. But Blackie, their grandmother, drew the line here. She stood on the stairs, and Kittie Gray with her "No Name Series" (as Miss Milly called the kittens) were never allowed up there.

Poor Kittie Gray! She could not understand it. She had had such a happy childhood, and now the change was fearful. From a bright, happy cat she became a snappish, nervous creature, all the time in fear for her kittens. Sometimes Blackie did try to save the poor little creatures from the children, but it was of no use. Their mother hated her because she had defended herself from that boy, and they kicked and cuffed her till she was obliged to abandon the wretched little creatures to their fate, and the boy and girl tortured them just as they pleased. Their mother said Blackie was a thief, stealing things to eat all the time, and she hated her. She said, as soon as her kittens were born, she would get rid of her.

When the good friend of Blackie heard of it, she talked seriously to the woman. She told her that with her feelings she never ought to keep a cat. She said that Blackie had well paid for her home in keeping them free from rats. She said, "The cat would not steal if you would give her enough to satisfy her hunger." Then she tried superst.i.tion as a reason to be kind to her.

"She is a black cat," she said, "and they are supposed to have the power of making or injuring your fortunes. There are people who would never dare turn a black cat from their home, and would consider it a mark of good fortune to have one an inmate of their family. If you get rid of Blackie, you will never prosper. At least," she said, "have it done mercifully."

It did seem as if poor Blackie knew she was doomed. She never was like herself. Though she would go up to her friend's room and cry to be let in, she was very unhappy, and if any friends came in, she would run and hide, instead of remaining to be noticed as she had before. She was the most wretched cat, and all the petting her friend gave her was no comfort to her. She had a premonition of her fate. Kitty Gray dared not go near her, and it was between two fires that their kind friend lived at this time.

She was away for two days, but the servant had promised to look after the cats and earn the money given her for that purpose. On the lady's return at night, as she had company, she had no chance to ask after Blackie. In the morning no little voice greeted her; and later, when she opened her door, Kitty Gray crept in alone. She looked frightened, and began hunting around the room, mewing piteously. She was dazed, poor little creature! by the scene she had witnessed.

The lady said all at once a faintness came over her, and as she fell back on the lounge she seemed to realize what had taken place. She had not believed they would dare do this thing. She rang the bell several times; then the servant came up, looking very much frightened.

"Maggie," said the lady, "where is Blackie?"

The girl hesitated, but at last said, "She is given away."

"That is not true; I want the whole story," said our friend.

Maggie then said she had promised not to speak of Blackie.

"Very well; you can send Miss M. to me, if she is in the house."

Very soon the young lady from the next room came in. She said: "I was just coming in to tell you this sad story. I leave the house next week to go West. Had I not proposed going there, I should not have remained in this house another day. As it is, I have never been downstairs since you left, and I never shall go to that table again."

Then she told her story. She said the night after our friend went away she saw Blackie at her door, and petted her and carried her down to her box and helped the girl give her some food. In the morning she did not get down to the table till late, and then there seemed something very unusual in the atmosphere of the house. She went out as usual to see Blackie, but the mistress of the house shut the door, saying, "That old black cat is dead, and I want to hear nothing about her." The young lady said she was so faint she ran upstairs to her room and burst out crying.

Later, when the servant girl came up, she made her tell the story. She said the girl had been told that if she should let Blackie's friend know how she died, that she should lose her place, but the girl said, "I don't care. I hate her; and as soon as I can I will leave here."

She said Blackie had four kittens. As soon as the last one was born, and poor Blackie lay back exhausted, this fiend in human shape, this cruel woman, took her and thrust her into a tub of water, holding her down with all her strength till her struggles and shrieks ended. It was a wholesale slaughter. Next she put the two good-sized kittens of Kitty Gray in, and then the four helpless ones of Blackie. The boy and girl looked on, dancing and yelling till the cries of the kittens were all still.

The girl said she thought _h.e.l.l_ could not be worse than that scene.

They were thrown into the city cart, a dreadful sight, and one calculated to harden the hearts of the children, who looked on at the exhibition of these neglected remains.

The lady was speechless. She said she could not bear even to see Kitty Gray, and she wished the poor little creature had been destroyed with the others. She wrote a note, giving a week's notice that her rooms would be at liberty, sent for a carriage, and left the house. She sent a friend to pack her things, and never entered the house again. But she wrote a note to the woman, saying that she knew the laws of the land did not punish such crimes, but she said: "G.o.d will avenge that poor black creature; and the sight that you allowed your children to look upon, of wholesale cruelty, will prove a curse to them. You will never prosper."

And she never has. The loss of her two best boarders, then the sickness and death of her husband, the children both of them with some troublesome disease all the time, filled her cup of woe. In one year's time her house was empty, and she was obliged to give it up. Wherever she is, the curse she brought on herself, in the murder of Blackie, will follow her forever; and she will yet see her children made to suffer for the cruel natures she encouraged in them.

Many a murderer can trace back his first wrong act to just such crimes as this one. The first lessons in cruelty are the ones to be dreaded; the children cannot reason, and they follow the example of those older than themselves, and their hearts harden, and no later instructions will ever counteract their influence. And soon the teaching in our inst.i.tutions supplement their home lessons of cruelty, and they are ready for the pastime of vivisection. No wonder that they are adepts in this criminal abuse of creatures in their power. And G.o.d suffers it just as he allows men and women to follow their wicked natures and commit crimes for which they have to pay the penalty. I heard my mistress say this, and I did comprehend it; therefore I do not hesitate to write it even if it does sound too deep for a cat. There are cats--and _cats_, and I am of the second kind.

I have told you the story of Blackie that you may know what is pa.s.sing around you all the time. It is heartrending to see the poor cats stealing about, trembling and hiding at the sound of a footstep. Half starved and homeless, what can they do but steal, to satisfy the pangs of hunger? Think how many people steal dress and jewels to decorate their sinful bodies, while cats are satisfied with the forms and clothes their Maker gave them; and they keep themselves clean without the expense of a ticket to the public bath-houses.

There is much said about not giving to the poor, for fear of encouraging laziness. There, again, cats are superior to the human race. You never find a lazy cat. Give a cat a home, enough to eat, and then give her work to do, to clear your house of rats, and she will spend days patiently watching, allowing nothing to divert her attention till she has accomplished her task, and the rats are all killed or driven away.

And they feel well paid by kind words. Cats are invaluable to amuse babies, if you will trust them. I heard a lady say that her baby she left for hours, with the cat sitting on its little crib. She did not like the idea of nurse bottles, as she nursed her baby (that being the fashion at that time); and as baby must have something to go to sleep on, she made of pounded cracker and sugar a pap and put it into little pieces of muslin tied around with a string. It was about as big as a cherry, and the long ends of muslin would prevent the baby from swallowing it. He would go off to sleep contentedly with that comforter in his mouth. Nino had looked on with wide open eyes and even ventured to smell of the little comforters.

One day, hearing the baby cry after a good long hour's sleep, the mother went in, and saw one of the funniest sights. She said the baby was crying, but Nino was lying on her side, with the little comforter in her mouth. From the noise she made and the satisfied expression on her face there is no doubt she enjoyed it, just as one does a new discovery in cooking. When her mistress took it away from her, she made great resistance. After that, when the baby had his comforter, she always laid a fresh one by the side of Nino--a very satisfactory move for her.

She trusted Nino with the children, and p.u.s.s.y seemed to find as much pleasure in playing with them as she would have found with cats. There was never any nice thing given to the children of which Nino was not given her portion. They never enjoyed their own unless Nino had her full share.

Cats are invaluable in stores. There is no doubt they often prevent robberies and protect their master's property. In a grocery store they do good service. They keep away rats and save a great deal from destruction.

A nice grocer told my mistress that he would not take any sum of money for his cat. He had a very large gray cat, and he might always be seen walking about as if master of the store. His bright ribbon bow on his neck made him doubly attractive to all the children around. He walked over the boxes and cases, with velvet paws, and never was known to break or destroy anything. He would lie quite happy in the window where the sun came on him and would sleep for hours. But let any one presume on his not hearing, and he would find a very wide-awake cat.

d.i.c.k never allowed cats to visit at the store. He would drive them out with tooth and nail. But he evidently visited his own friends, for some days he would be away for hours, though he never was absent nights, his master seeing that d.i.c.k was in his box, on his rug, before he closed the store.

The grocer's daughter was very fond of cats, and d.i.c.k was a prime favorite. One evening, on returning home, she found a little kitten on the doorstep. It was not more than two days old. It appealed to her heart at once, and she decided to keep it. She gave it some milk in a saucer, but it did not know how to lap it, and she gave it a few drops on her finger. From the way it drew her finger into its mouth she got an idea. She had seen dolls' nurse bottles, and she bought one, filled it with milk just warm, and the little kitten took to it at once. It was so happy, sleeping peacefully with that bottle in its mouth, that every one who saw it was delighted. One friend suggested that the girl should exhibit the kitten in the window of her father's store.

It was a dear little black and white kitten, and lying in a basket lined with blue, a blue ribbon on its neck, and the nurse bottle in its mouth, it was a lovely sight. A place was made in the large window, a big box put in, and the basket put on it, and then the crowd were treated to this little show. Not only children, but men and women, crowded the sidewalk; and the exclamations of delight and admiration proved how deep a hold cats have on real true hearts. The grocer facetiously reminded them that as they had all enjoyed this free show, they might now come in and patronize him, saying milk was expensive, and nurse bottles consumed a great deal of the best; that now he had an extra mouth to feed, he must get more custom. His joke was appreciated, and in a very few days he found that the increase of trade, due to the charming picture in his window, was really worth the experiment. And after the people had once bought of him, his kind heart and the very nice quality of his goods made them friends and customers from that time.

But d.i.c.k! Wasn't he as mad as a March hare. He looked upon the nurse bottle as an infernal machine, and the little orphan as a fraud. He would not go near the basket, but took a seat where he could measure every drop of milk that was consumed; and although he had always scorned milk as too weak for him, he would hang around the milk-can, and once, when it was not given to him, he threw over the can, spilling all the milk, and then walked away, as if to say, "Now I hope you will give me my share." And they never after that overlooked him, for he developed quite a love for what he had before despised.

His master said he had every reason to be grateful to cats as well as fond of them, for they cleared his store of rats; and one large yellow cat he had when he first kept a store, had saved him from being robbed.

The thief had got in through a window, and had made some excellent selections from the boxes and cases, when the cat, seated on a high shelf, knocked over a tin cracker box, and that fell against another, and down went the whole shelf of tins, with a noise like thunder. The man fled, leaving his tools behind him, probably thinking the store was filled with armed men. Pretty good work for one cat!

It seems to me the best combination a safe could have would be a dog and a cat. At the least provocation they would fight, and this would intimidate intruders.

XXIV

RETRIBUTION

A great deal has been said about chloroforming animals. I should prefer this mode of leaving the world to any other. Miss Eleanor was so unhappy over hanging, that the desire to have criminals disposed of in that way was one of her often expressed wishes. If it must be that one murder should follow another,--"a life for a life,"--why should it be a cruel one? Justice would be satisfied.

Miss Milly said, "Oh, that would not be satisfactory to those who delight in punishing their fellow-creatures."

While the law will allow such exhibitions, reserved seats, and tickets to witness the taking of life, and all the etiquette of a first-cla.s.s bull fight in Spain, just so long will they persevere in the most barbarous way of taking life. It is murder just the same, however it is done.

Sometimes we really see retribution follow crime. There is no doubt it is always punished, though it is not given to us to know how it is done.

In the story I am about to relate we can plainly see just how swiftly retribution followed the sin.

A friend told my mistress the tale, and it made my hair stand on end. I suffered so deeply in thinking about it that I know I can tell it in a forcible manner. Tales of this kind, however we may dislike to hear them, must be put in black and white before we can reach the hearts of those in whose power rests the future of that crime called vivisection.

Millions of innocent victims are offered up every year in the name of science. It is simply pandering to the low animal craving for cruelty.

No man or woman can witness the torturing of helpless creatures and come out of the ordeal innocent. Why is the cannibal worse than the doctor who uses his knife on helpless creatures, teaching a cla.s.s of young people to do likewise? Is life safe when the fiendish craving to operate comes upon him? Would his wife or his child be sacred? Would he not practise on them?