SILVERTIP
A very small, wet, and hungry Kitten pattered up and down a board walkone cold and rainy night. His fur was so soaked that it dripped waterwhen he moved, and his poor little pink-cushioned paws splashed morewater up from the puddly boards every time he stepped. His tail lookedlike a wet wisp of fur, and his little round face was very sad."Meouw!" said he. "Meouw! Meouw!"
He heard somebody coming up the street. "I will follow thatGentleman," he thought, "and I will cry so that he will be sorry forme and give me a home."
When this person came nearer he saw that it was not a Gentleman atall, but a Lady who could hardly keep from being blown away. He couldnot have seen her except that Cat's eyes can see in the dark. "Meouw!"said the Kitten. "Meouw! Meouw!"
"Poor little Pussy!" said a voice above him. "Poor little Pussy! Butyou must not come with me."
"Meouw!" answered he, and trotted right along after her. He was aKitten who was not easily discouraged. He rubbed up against her footand made her stop for fear of stepping on him. Then he felt himselfgently lifted up and put aside. He scrambled back and rubbed againsther other foot. And so it was for more than two blocks. The Lady, ashe always called her afterward, kept pushing him gently to one sideand he kept scrambling back. Sometimes she even had to stand quitestill for fear of stepping on him.
"Meouw!" said the Kitten, and he made up his mind that anybody whospoke so kindly to strange Kittens would be a good mistress. "I willstick to her," he said to himself. "I don't care how many times shepushes me away, I _will_ scramble back."
When they turned in at a gate he saw a big house ahead of him withmany windows brightly lighted and another light on the porch. "I likethat home," he said to himself. "I will slip through the door when sheopens it."
But after she had turned the key in the door she pushed him back andclosed the screen between them. Then he heard her say: "Poor littlePussy! I want to take you in, but we have agreed not to adopt anotherCat." Then she closed the door.
He wanted to explain that he was not really a Cat, only a littleKitten, but he had no chance to say anything, so he waited outside andthought and cried. He did not know that the Lady and her husbandfeared that Cats would eat the many birds who nested in the trees onthe lawn. He thought it very hard luck for a tiny Kitten to be leftout in the cold rain while the Lady was reading by a blazing gratefire. He did not know that as she sat by the fire she thought abouthim instead of her book, for she loved little Kittens, and found ithard to leave any out in the street alone.
While he was thinking and crying, a tall Gentleman with a black beardand twinkling brown eyes came striding up to the brightly lightedporch. "Well, Pussy-cat!" said the Gentleman, and took a bunch ofshining, jingling things out of his pocket and stuck one of them intoa little hole in the door and turned it. Then the door swung open, andthe Gentleman, who was trying to close his umbrella and shake off therain, called first to the Lady and then to the kitten. "O Clara!" hecried. "Come to see this poor little Kitten. Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!I know you want to see him. Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty! I should havethought you would have heard him crying. Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"
The Lady came running out and was laughing. "Yes, John," she said, "Ihave had the pleasure of meeting him before. He was under my feet mostof the way home from church to-night, and I could hardly bear to leavehim outside. But you know what we promised each other, that we wouldnot adopt another Cat, on account of the birds."
The Gentleman sat down upon the stairs and wiped the Kitten off withhis handkerchief. "Y-yes, I know," he said weakly, "but Clara, look atthis poor little fellow. He couldn't catch a Chipping Sparrow."
"Not now," answered the Lady, "yet he will grow, if he is like mostKittens, and you know what we said. If we don't stick to it we willsoon have as many Cats as we did a few years ago."
The Kitten saw that if he wanted to stay in this home he must insistupon it and be very firm indeed with these people. So he kept oncrying and stuck his sharp claws into the Gentleman's sleeve. TheGentleman said "Ouch!" and lifted him on to his coat lapel. There heclung and shook and cried.
"Well, I suppose we mustn't keep him then," said he; "but we will givehim a warm supper anyway." So they got some milk and heated it, andset it in a shallow dish before the grate. How that Kitten did eat!The Lady sat on the floor beside him, and the Gentleman drew his chairup close, and they said that it seemed hard to turn him out, but thatthey would have to do it because they had promised each other.
The Kitten lapped up his milk with a soft click-clicking of hislittle pink tongue, and then turned his head this way and that untilhe had licked all the corners clean. He was so full of warm milk thathis sides bulged out, and his fur had begun to dry and stuck up inpointed wisps all over him. He pretended to lap milk long after it wasgone. This was partly to show them how well he could wash dishes, andpartly to put off the time when he should be thrust out of doors.
THE KITTEN LAPPED UP HIS MILK. _Page 6_]
When he really could not make believe any longer, his tongue being sotired, he began to cry and rub against these two people. The Gentlemanwas the first to speak. "I cannot stand this," he said. "If he has togo, I want to get it over." He picked up the Kitten and took him tothe door. As fast as he loosened one of the Kitten's claws from hiscoat he stuck another one in, and at last the Lady had to help get himfree. "He is a regular Rough Rider," said the Gentleman. "There is noshaking him off."
The Kitten didn't understand what a Rough Rider was, but it did notsound like finding a home, so he cried some more. Then the door wasshut behind him and he was alone in the porch. "Well," he said, "Ilike that house and those people, even if they did put me out. I thinkI will make them adopt me." So he cuddled down in a sheltered, drycorner, put his four feet all close together, and curled his tail, asfar as it would go, around them. And there he stayed all night.
In the morning, when the rain had stopped and the sun was shiningbrightly, he trotted around the house and cried. He went up on toanother porch, rubbed against the door and cried. The Maid opened thedoor and put out some milk for him. He could see into the warm kitchenand smell the breakfast cooking on the range. When she came out toget the empty dish, he slipped in through the open door. She said"Whish!" and "Scat!" and "Shoo!" and tried to drive him out, but hepretended not to understand and cuddled quietly down in a corner whereshe could not easily reach him. Just then some food began to burn onthe range and the Maid let him alone. The Kitten did not cry now. Hehad other work to do, and began licking himself all over andscratching his ears with his hind feet.
When he heard the Gentleman and the Lady talking in the dining-room,he watched his chance and slipped in. He decided to pay the mostattention to the Gentleman, for he had been the first to take him up.They were laughing and talking and saying how glad they were that therain had stopped falling. "I believe, John," the Lady said, "that ifit had not been for me, you would really have kept that Kitten lastnight."
"Oh, no," answered the Gentleman. "We ought not to keep Cats. I thinkthat if it had not been for me _you_ would have kept him."
Just at that minute the Kitten began climbing up his trousers leg andcrying. "Poor little Pussy," said the Gentleman. "Clara, can't wespare some of this cream?" He reached for the pitcher. The Kittenbegan to feel more sure of a home.
"O John, not here?" began the Lady, and the Maid came in to explainhow it all happened. The Kitten stuck his claws into the Gentleman'scoat and would not let go. Then he cried some more and waved his tail.He had a very beautiful tail, marked just like that of a Raccoon, andhe turned it toward the Lady. He had heard somewhere about putting thebest foot forward, and thought that a tail might do just as well.While he was waving his tail at the Lady he rubbed his head againstthe Gentleman's black beard.
"If we _should_ keep him, John," said the Lady, "we ought to call himSilvertip, because he has such a pretty white tip to his tail." TheKitten waved it again and began to purr.
"If you knew what a strong and fearless f
ellow he is, you would callhim Teddy," answered the Gentleman, turning over a paper which said inbig black letters, "Our Teddy Wins."
"Call him Teddy Silvertip then," said the Lady, as she reached for thebell. When the Maid came in answer to her ring, she said, "Belle,please take our Kitten into the kitchen and feed him." Then the Kittenlet go and was carried away happy, for he had found a home. He hadalso learned how to manage the Lady and the Gentleman, and he wasalways _very_ firm with them after that.
Dooryard Stories Page 3
