good-natured play.

THE CAT AND THE PIGEON.

Similar affection for one of the feathered race was shown by a cat which
was rearing several kittens.

In another part of the loft a pigeon had built her nest; but her eggs
and young having been frequently destroyed by rats, it seemed to occur
to her that she should be in safer quarters near the cat. Pussy,
pleased with the confidence placed in her, invited the pigeon to remain
near her, and a strong friendship was established between the two. They
fed out of the same dish; and when Pussy was absent, the pigeon, in
return for the protection afforded her against the rats, constituted
herself the defender of the kittens--and on any person approaching
nearer than she liked, she would fly out and attack them with beak and
wings, in the hope of driving them away from her young charges.
Frequently, too, after this, when neither the kittens nor her own brood
required her care, and the cat went out about the garden or fields, the
pigeon might be seen fluttering close by her, for the sake of her
society.

Help and protect one another in all right things, as did the cat and the
pigeon, whatever your respective ages or stations in life. The big boy
or girl may be able to assist and protect the little ones, who may
render many a service in return.

THE CAT AND THE LEVERET.

Cats exhibit their affectionate nature in a variety of ways. If
deprived of their kittens, they have a yearning for the care of some
other young creatures, which they will gratify when possible.

A cat had been cruelly deprived of all her kittens. She was seen going
about mewing disconsolately for her young ones. Her owner received
about the same time a leveret, which he hoped to tame by feeding it with
a spoon. One morning, however, the leveret was missing, and as it could
nowhere be discovered, it was supposed to have been carried off and
killed by some strange cat or dog. A fortnight had elapsed, when, as
the gentleman was seated in his garden, in the dusk of the evening, he
observed his cat, with tail erect, trotting towards him, purring and
calling in the way cats do to their kittens. Behind her came,
gambolling merrily, and with perfect confidence, a little leveret,--the
very one, it was now seen, which had disappeared. Pussy, deprived of
her kittens, had carried it off and brought it up instead, bestowing on
it the affection of her maternal heart.

It is your blessed privilege to have heart