Our Young Folks at Home and Abroad.

by Various.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THREE ORPHANS, ONE MOURNER.]

THE KITTENS' STEPMOTHER.

There are two little girls living nearly a hundred rods apart, Mamie and Fannie. Each had a nice pet cat.

Mamie's cat had three little kittens. When they were about three weeks old their poor mother was killed by a useless dog. For two days Mamie fed her kittens with a spoon, and did all she could to comfort them; but they would cry for their mother.

Fannie's cat had only one kitten, and it died at once. Then Mamie took her three motherless kittens down to Fannie's cat to see if she would adopt them. She took them at once, and made a great fuss over them.

Then she was allowed to raise them.

When Mamie thought her kittens were old enough she took all three of them home again. But their stepmother would neither eat nor drink. She cried and looked for the kittens. At last Fannie carried her cat up to Mamie's house to see the kittens. Then mother and kittens were all happy again, and played together as if they had never been separated.

When the girls saw how much the cat and kittens were attached to each other they concluded to take Fannie's cat home again with only two of the kittens; in a short time bring back one of them, and later the last one. In this way they thought they could separate them without any trouble.

Fannie's cat was not pleased with this plan. She began to look for and call the third kitten. The next morning, when Mamie went to feed her one kitten, she could not find it anywhere about the barn or woodshed.

She went down to Fannie's house, and there she found her kitten.

Sometime in the night Fannie's cat went to Mamie's house, found the kitten, and carried it home. Since that time the girls have not tried to part the cat and kittens, and they are a happy family.

MAMIE A. AND FANNIE H.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {KITTEN IN A BASKET.}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A COUNTRY SCENE.}]

HOW SOME SEEDS ARE PLANTED.

Many n.o.ble oak-trees are planted by the little squirrel. Running up the branches, this little animal strips off the acorns, and buries them in the ground for food in the cold weather; and when he goes to hunt them up he does not find all of them. Those he leaves behind often grow up into great and beautiful trees.

The nuthatch, too, among the birds, is a great planter. After twisting off a cl.u.s.ter of beech-nuts this queer little bird carries them to some favorite tree, and pegs them into the crevices of the bark in a curious way. How, we cannot tell. After a while they fall to the ground, and there grow into large trees.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {TREES ON THE BANK OF A STREAM.}]

Some larger animals are good seed-planters, and have sometimes covered barren countries with trees. It is very singular that animals and birds can do so much farm-work, isn't it?

MRS. G. HALL.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A CAT CATCHES A MOUSE.}]

OLD SCORES REPAID, OR TRAGEDY REVERSED.

I met a tearful little la.s.s; She sobbed so hard I could not pa.s.s, I wondered so thereat; "Oh, dry your tears, my pretty child, Pray tell me why you grieve so wild."

"A--mouse--ate--up--my--cat!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A MOUSE LOOKS AT A CANDY CAT.}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A MOUSE EATING A CANDY CAT.}]

"A mouse ate up your cat!" I cried, To think she'd fib quite horrified; "Why, how can you say that?"

Her tears afresh began to run, She sobbed the words out, one by one: "It--was--a--candy--cat!"

S. ISADORE MINER.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {THREE MICE AROUND A TRAP.}]

TIPPY, THE FIREMEN'S DOG.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {TIPPY LYING DOWN.}]

Tippy was a little, black dog, and he lived at the engine-house, where the great engines, which put out the fires, were kept.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {TIPPY BARKING.}]

He was a poor, miserable, little dog, without a home until the firemen took pity on him and gave him one.

d.i.c.k was one of the horses that helped to pull the engine. He was very large and black, with a white spot on his forehead. He and Tippy were fine friends.

When it was cold the little dog would curl close down by d.i.c.k's back, and sleep all night, as warm as could be.

One day, when it was d.i.c.k's dinner-time, and he was very hungry, Tippy kept running into his stall and barking and biting at his heels.

d.i.c.k did not like it, and he wanted his dinner so much that it made him cross. So he put down his head, took Tippy by the back of the neck, and lifted him over the side of the low stall, as much as to say:--

"If you won't go out I will put you out!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: {TIPPY CARRYING A BUCKET.}]

Tippy soon grew to know what the engines were for, and when the fire-bells rang, and the great horses came from their stalls ready to be harnessed to the engine, he would bark and jump up and down, and beg to go too.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TIPPY, THE FIREMEN'S DOG.]