as if he had made a joke.

"I mean to take her and see the show, any way, for that will be
splendid, even if she don't get any money! O, puss, will you go, and
behave well, and get a primmynum for me, so I can buy a book of
stories?" cried Kitty, upsetting her basket in her sudden skip at the
fine plan.

Puss turned a somersault, raced after a chicken, and then rushed up her
mistress' back, and, perching demurely on her shoulder, peeped into her
face, as if asking if pranks like these wouldn't win a prize anywhere.

"You are going to take Mr. Green's hens for him; can't I go with you? I
won't be any trouble, and I do so want to see the fun," added Kitty,
after thinking over her plan a few minutes.

Now, Sam meant to take her, but had not told her so yet, and now, being
a waggish old fellow, he thought he would let her take her cat, for the
joke of it, so he said soberly,--

"Yes, I'll tuck you in somewheres, and you'd better put puss into the
blackbird's old cage, else she will get scared, and run away. You stand
it among the chicken-coops, and folks will admire her, I aint a doubt."

Innocent little Kitty was in raptures at the prospect, though the people
in the house laughed at her. But she firmly believed it was all right,
and made her preparations with solemn care.

The old cage was scrubbed till the wires shone, then she trimmed it up
with evergreen, and put a bed of scarlet leaves for snowy puss to lie
on. Puss was washed, and combed, and decked with a blue bow on the grand
day, and, when she had been persuaded to enter her pretty prison, the
effect was charming.

A happier little lass was seldom seen than Kitty when, dressed in her
clean, blue check frock, and the old hat, with a faded ribbon, she rode
away with Sam; and behind, among the hen-coops, was Miss Puss, much
excited by the clucking and fluttering of her fellow-travellers.

When the show grounds were reached, Kitty thought the bustle and the
noise quite as interesting as the cattle; and when, after putting his
poultry in its place, Sam led her up into the great hall where the fruit
and flowers were, she began to imagine that the fairy tales were coming
true.

While she stood staring at some very astonishing worsted-work pictures,
a lady, who was arranging fruit near by, upset a basket of fine peaches,
and they rolled away under tables and chairs.

"I'll pick 'em up, ma'am," cried Kitty, who loved to be useful; and down
she went on her hand