took up the kitten in
my hand, the cat still following me, made inquiry into the cause of its
death, which I found, upon summoning the servants, to have been an
accident, in which no one was much to blame; and the yearning mother
having thus obtained her object, and gotten her master to enter into her
cause, and divide her sorrows with her, gradually took comfort, and
resumed her former station by my side."

"Thank you, Harry, I do not think I ever heard that story before. Here
is one that will match it however, displaying considerable ingenuity in
a cat in the protection of her young.

"A cat belonging to Mr. Stevens, of the Red Lion Hotel, Truro, having
been removed from that town to a barn at some distance, soon afterwards
produced four kittens. Not wishing the stock increased, Mr. Stevens
desired three of them to be drowned, next morning, before opening their
eyes on the world. Puss was deeply affected by this bereavement, and
resolved on moving her remaining offspring to a place of security. When
the person appointed to feed grimalkin went with her breakfast next day,
no traces of her or her kitten were to be found. He called; but all was
silent as the tomb; every corner was searched in vain; no cat was
forthcoming. Here the matter rested for several days, when, at length,
early one morning, puss made her appearance in the court of her master's
house, a melancholy picture of starvation. Having satisfied her hunger,
and loitered about the house during the day, late in the evening she
took her departure, carrying away some meat. For several days she
continued her visits in the same manner, taking care never to leave home
empty-mouthed at night. Her proceedings having excited attention, she
was followed by two men, in one of her nocturnal retreats, and traced to
the top of a wheat stack, at some distance. On obtaining a ladder, her
surviving kitten was found, in a curiously constructed hole, sleek and
plump, but as wild as a young tiger, and would allow no one to touch it.
A few days afterwards, the mother finding, perhaps, that her own daily
journeys were rather fatiguing, or thinking it was time that the object
of her solicitude should be introduced into the world, or, probably,
that the kitten had attained an age when it could protect itself, she
took advantage of a dark and silent night, when cat-worrying dogs and
boys were reposing, to convey it safely to Truro, where tabby and her
kitten found a welcome recept