E. Nesbit

“ Tabby White made to imitate human manners was one Saturday night.
"She saw the human child have its bath before the nursery fire, with hot water, pink soap, dry towels, and much fussing, and she said to herself, 'Why should I waste hours every day in washing my children with my little white paws and my little pink tongue, when this human child can be made clean in ten minutes with this big bath. If I had more time I could learn to be cleverer, and I should end by being the most wonderful [10] Cat in all the world.' So she sat, and watched, and waited. ”

“ She was always most unselfish."
"What is tea?"
"A kind of brown milk—very nasty indeed, and very bad for you. Well, I lived with my brothers and sisters very happily for some months, for I was too young to know how vulgar it was to live in a barn and play with straw."
"What is vulgar, mother?"
"Dear, dear; how you do ask questions," said the brindled cat, beginning to look [66] worried. "Vulgar is being like everybody else."
"But does everybody else live in a barn?"
"No; nobody does who is respectable. Vulgar really means—not like respectable cats." ”

“ No, but you will not always be here; and if you practise the little tricks I show you now with the ball of worsted and the tips of our tails, then, when the great hour comes, and a career is open to you, and you see before you the glorious prize—the MOUSE—you will be quick enough and clever enough to satisfy the highest needs of your nature. ”

“ Why shouldn't you walk on mice—not too hard, but just so that I could eat them afterwards?" [39]
"Well," said the elephant, showing his long tusks in a smile, "you are not very handsome, and you are not very brisk; but you certainly have brains, my dear."
He dropped his great foot as he spoke. When he lifted it, there lay a mouse. I had an excellent supper; and before the week's end I heard the keeper say, "This cat has certainly done the trick. She has kept the mice down. We must keep her." ”

“ The next morning my master took me on his knee, and, stroking me gently, said—
"Ah, Tabbykins! no more Persians for us. I have sent her to my deaf aunt. She will be delighted with her—a most handsome present—and as they are both [25] deaf, the fair Persian's shrieks will hurt nobody.
"But I will have no more prize cats," he said, pouring out some cream for me in his own saucer. "You know how to behave; I will never have any cat but you." ”

“ You see, it's not every trade that deserves to have a cat about the place. My first master was a shoemaker, and I lived with him happily enough, until one morning in winter, when I found the wicked man sewing strips of—let me whisper—cat's fur on a pair of lady's slippers!
[48] "I mewed as I saw it, and he, thinking I wanted milk, put down his work to get me some, for he was fond enough of me. I drank the milk, and then I ran away. I could not live with such a man. ”

“ Which was the ninth?"
"Why, this, you silly child," said the brindled pussy, sitting up, and beginning to wash the kitten's face very hard indeed. "And as it's my last life, I must be very careful of it. That's why I'm so particular about what I eat and drink, and why I make a point of sleeping so many hours a-day. But it's your first life, Snowball, and I can't have you wasting it all in sleep. Go and catch a mouse at once." ”

“ Tabby White her breakfast, she noticed that cook poured the milk out of a jug into a saucer. That afternoon Tabby felt thirsty, but instead of putting her head into the jug and drinking in the usual way,—you know—she tilted up the jug to pour the milk out [6] as she had seen the cook do. But cats' paws, though they are so strong to catch rats and mice and birds, are too weak to hold big brown jugs. ”

“ Any one can growl. Presently the children got tired of listening to him, and went away. Then Miss Daisy coaxed the unpleasant, tin-tailed creature out of the kennel, and untied the string, and took off the pan. Then, if you'll believe a dog of my character (and of course you must) , she carried that low dog home in her arms, and washed him, and set him down to eat out of the same plate as Trap and myself! Trap was friends with him directly—some [84] people have no spirit—but I hope I know my duty to myself too well for that. ”

“ As I was saying, Miss Daisy took Trap with her, and also her father and mother; and Tinker and I were left to take care of the [86] servants. We had a very agreeable time, though I confess that I missed Miss Daisy more than I would have believed possible. But there was more to eat in the kitchen than usual, and the servants often left things on the table when they went out to take in the milk or to chat with the gardeners; and if people leave things on tables, they have only themselves to thank for whatever happens.
There was a young man who wore a fur cap, and who used to call with fish ”

“ They even go so far as to allow me to moisten my mice with milk.
There is no moral to this story, except that you should do as you are told, and learn everything you can while you are young. It is true that I get on very well without having done so, but then you may not have my good luck. It is not every cat who can get an elephant to catch her mice for her. ”

“ She knew how to catch nice breakfasts for herself and [5] her children, a trick I will teach you, my dears, when the spring comes; she used to lie quite quietly among the ivy on the wall, and then take the baby birds out of the nest when the grown-up birds had gone to the grub-shop. Mrs. Tabby White was very clever, as I said—so clever that presently she was not satisfied with being at the very top of the cat profession.
"'Cat-people have more sense than human people, of course,' she said to herself ”

“ We are now the most united trio, and Roy and Rustler have licked all the other dogs in the neighbourhood.
[108]
A Noble Dog
ROVER would go into the water fast enough for a bathe or a swim, but he would not bring anything out. The children used to throw in sticks, and Rover and I used to bound in together; but I would bring the stick back, while he swam round and round, enjoying himself.
I am not vain, but I could not help feeling how much superior I was to such [109] a dog as Rover. He is a prize Newfoundland, and I am only a humble retriever of obscure family. ”

“ Then Tinker said to me—"Don't you make a noise, for your life; I am going to see what it is;" and he trotted softly into the butler's pantry. It was rather dark, but you know we dogs can see as well as cats in the dark, although they do make such a fuss about it, and declare that they are the only creatures who can.
"The man's arm dragged through the window-pane, and Tinker hanging on to his fingers."
There was a man outside the window, and I tapped Tinker with my tail to show him that he ought to bark, but he never [91] moved. ”

“ Fur gets in your throat, and spoils your teeth, besides. We had just finished it when my mistress came out. Trap would not eat a bit, even to help Tinker out of his scrape, but I have a kind heart.
Well, after that I thought I might as well consent to be friends with Tinker, in spite of his low breeding. You see, I had helped him out of a dreadful scrape, and one always feels kindly to people one has helped. He has caught several more rabbits since then, and I have always [94] stood by him on those occasions, and I always mean to. I am not one to turn my back on a friend, I believe. ”

“ All our family do. So I stayed at home. Well, Miss Daisy had gone out with only Trap and her hoop. I wish I had been there, for Trap is far too easy-going, and a hoop never gives any advice worth listening to. Trap told me all about it as well as he could. Trap can't tell a story very well, poor fellow!
It seems that, as Miss Daisy went across the village green, she saw a crowd of children running after a dog with—I hardly like to mention such a thing—a tin saucepan tied to his tail! The dog bolted into the empty [83] dog-kennel by the blacksmith's shop, and stayed there, growling. ”

“ A violin is a musical instrument that miauls when you touch it just as we cats do, and it was amusing to live with a man who could make things with voices like my own. He was very poor, and often had not enough to eat, but he always got me my cat's-meat ”

“ My father, whose ancestor came over with the Conqueror, has taken prizes at many a county show; and my mother, the handsomest of her sex, took one [124] prize, and would have taken more, but for the unfortunate accident of having her tail cut off in a door.
I early determined to be worthy of my high breeding and undoubted descent. A setter should have long, silky ears. I made my brother pull mine gently for an hour at a time. In order to lengthen them, I combed their fringes with my paws. ”

“ That was a very pleasant life—full of mice!"
"Who was full of mice?" asked the white kitten, waking up for a moment. [68]
"I was," said the mother sharply; "and I should have stayed in the mill for ever, but the miller had another cat sent him by his sister.
"However, he gave me away to a man who worked a barge up and down the river. I suppose he thought he should like to see me again sometimes as the barge passed by.
"Life in a barge is very exciting. There are such lots of rats, some of them as big as you kittens. ”

“ I said, ruffling up my fur and my tail, for I was very angry.
"Because you are useless," she said, "and not particularly handsome; and when a cat is useless and not particularly handsome, they sometimes——"
"What?" ”

“ And the milk was all spilled.
"Now how on earth could that jug have been broken?' said cook, when she came in.
"'It must have been the cat,' said the kitchenmaid; and she was quite right, but nobody believed her.
"Then Mrs. Tabby White noticed that human people slept in big soft-cushioned white beds, instead of sleeping on the kitchen hearth-rug, or in the barn, like cat people. So she said to her children one evening—
"'My dears, we are going to move into a new house.'
"And the kittens were delighted, and they all went upstairs very quietly, and crept [7] into the very best human bed. ”

“ When the human child was in bed and asleep, Nurse went down to her supper, leaving the bath to be cleared away later, for it was a hot supper of baked onions and toasted cheese, and if you don't go to that supper directly it is ready, you may as well not go at all, for it won't be worth eating—at least so I have heard the kitchenmaid say. ”

“ He took skim milk in his tea, and gave me the same. Of course, after that, I could not stay another hour under his roof.
"I tried two or three other houses, and I could have been happy with a very nice butcher who kept a corner shop, but he kept a dog also, a dog that no cat in her senses would live in the same street with; so I came away—rather hurriedly, I remember—and the dog saw me off. Now I live with a worker in silver, and I have cream every day ”