d Rosy went to their Uncle
Frank's for this visit, and she had two little kittens of her own that
could just run about. They were wild little things, and very fierce, so
Phil had called them the Imps. But Johnny and Rosy soon got them so tame
that this name did not suit them any longer, and then they named them
over again "Beauty" and "Clover."

Mammy Tittleback's second family of kittens were born in the barn, on
the hay. After a while she moved them into an old wagon that was not
used. This was very clever of her, because they could not get out of the
wagon and run away. But pretty soon she moved them again, to a place
which the children did not approve of at all; it was a sort of hollow in
the ground, under a great pile of fence rails that were lying near the
cowshed.

[Illustration: "After a while she moved them into an old wagon that was
not used."--PAGE 14.]

This did not seem a nice place, and the children could not imagine why
she moved them there. I think, myself, she moved them to try and hide
them away from the children. I don't believe she thought it was good for
the kittens to be picked up so many times a day, and handled, and
kissed, and talked to. I dare say she thought they'd never have a chance
to grow if she couldn't hide them away from Johnny and Rosy for a few
weeks. You see, Johnny and Rosy never left them alone for half a day.
They were always carrying them about. When people came to the house to
see their Aunt Mary, the children would cry, "Don't you want to see our
six kittens? We'll bring them in to you." Then they would run out to the
barn, take a basket, fill it half full of hay, and very gently lay all
the kittens in it, and Johnny would take one handle and Rosy the other,
and bring it to the house. They always put Mammy Tittleback in too; but
before they had carried her far, she generally jumped out, and walked
the rest of the way by their side. She would never leave them a minute
till they had carried the kittens safe back again to their nest. She did
not try to prevent their taking them, for she knew that neither Johnny
nor Rosy would hurt one of them any more than she would; but I have no
doubt in her heart she disliked to have the kittens touched.

[Illustration: "Johnny would take one handle, and Rosy the other, and
bring it to the house."--PAGE 16.]

The children worried a great deal about this last place that Mammy
Tittleback had selected for her nursery. They thought it was damp