k. She has kept the
mice down. We must keep her."

They have kept me. 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.

A Silly Question

"HOW do you come to be white, when all your brothers are tabby, my
dear?" Dolly asked her kitten. As she spoke, she took it away from the
ball it was playing with, and held it up and looked in its face as Alice
did with the Red Queen.

"I'll tell you, if you'll keep it a secret, and not hold me so tight,"
the kitten answered.

Dolly was not surprised to hear the kitten speak, for she had read her
fairy books, as all good children should, and she knew that all
creatures answer if one only speaks to them properly. So she held the
kitten more comfortably and the tale began.

"You must know, my dear Dolly," the kitten began--and Dolly thought it
dreadfully familiar--"you must know that when we were very small we all
set out to seek our fortunes."

"Why," interrupted Dolly, "you were all born and brought up in our barn!
I used to see you every day."

"Quite so," said the kitten; "we sought our fortune every night, and it
turned out to be mice, mostly. Well, one night I was seeking mine, when
I came to a hole in the door that I had never noticed before. I crept
through it, and found myself in a beautiful large room. It smelt
delicious. There was cheese there, and fish, and cream, and mice, and
milk. It was the most lovely room you can think of."

"There's no such room----" began Dolly.

"Did I say there was?" asked the kitten. "I only said I found myself
there. Well, I stayed there some time. It was the happiest hour of my
life. But, as I was washing my face after one of the most delicious
herring's heads you ever tasted, I noticed that on nails all round the
room were hung skins--and they were cat skins," it added slowly. "Well
may you tremble!"

Dolly hadn't trembled. She had only shaken the kitten to make it speak
faster.

"Well, I stood there rooted to the ground with horror; and then came a
sort of horrible scramble-rush, and a barking and squeaking, and a
terrible monster stood before me. It was something like a dog and
something like a broom, somethi