he right way to work. How many times do you think
I've changed my people? Seven!--and bettered myself on each occasion.
Why, do you know where I was born? In a pig-sty. There were three of
us, mother and I and my little brother. Mother would leave us every
evening, returning generally just as it was getting light. One morning
she did not come back. We waited and waited, but the day passed on and
she did not return, and we grew hungrier and hungrier, and at last we lay
down, side by side, and cried ourselves to sleep.

"'In the evening, peeping through a hole in the door, we saw her coming
across the field. She was crawling very slowly, with her body close down
against the ground. We called to her, and she answered with a low
"crroo"; but she did not hasten her pace.

"'She crept in and rolled over on her side, and we ran to her, for we
were almost starving. We lay long upon her breasts, and she licked us
over and over.

"'I dropped asleep upon her, and in the night I awoke, feeling cold. I
crept closer to her, but that only made me colder still, and she was wet
and clammy with a dark moisture that was oozing from her side. I did not
know what it was at that time, but I have learnt since.

"'That was when I could hardly have been four weeks old, and from that
day to this I've looked after myself: you've got to do that in this
world, my dear. For a while, I and my brother lived on in that sty and
kept ourselves. It was a grim struggle at first, two babies fighting for
life; but we pulled through. At the end of about three months, wandering
farther from home than usual, I came upon a cottage, standing in the
fields. It looked warm and cosy through the open door, and I went in: I
have always been blessed with plenty of nerve. Some children were
playing round the fire, and they welcomed me and made much of me. It was
a new sensation to me, and I stayed there. I thought the place a palace
at the time.

"'I might have gone on thinking so if it had not been that, passing
through the village one day, I happened to catch sight of a room behind a
shop. There was a carpet on the floor, and a rug before the fire. I had
never known till then that there were such luxuries in the world. I
determined to make that shop my home, and I did so.'

"'How did you manage it?' asked the black cat, who was growing
interested.

"'By the simple process of walking in and sitting down. My dear child,
cheek's the "Open s