Eva March Tappan

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [Pg 57] 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Dogs, she learned, were quite different from horses in their treatment of cats. One should always run away from dogs, [Pg 14] 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. ”

“ 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 [Pg 18] 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. ”

“ 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 [Pg 38] 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [Pg 59] 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.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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.
[Pg 86] 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. ”

“ Indeed, Dixie kitten of the house was a [Pg 85] 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ She did not venture very far, but she did put her little feet on a soft rug, and in a room beyond [Pg 23] 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ They ran over the carriage and the sleigh and the wheelbarrow. They touched the teeth [Pg 9] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”