large cigar box, and with a knife Jeff soon cut a hole in one
side, large enough to slip the China Cat through.

"Dere's her stable!" he declared with satisfaction.

As for the China Cat, when she was shut up in the cigar box, she wanted,
most dreadfully, to sneeze. For the box smelled very strongly of
tobacco, and it made her nose tickle. But she dared not so much as utter
a faint _aker-choo_ for fear she would be heard. So the China Cat held
back the sneeze, though it made her nose ache, and she was very glad
when Jeff took her out of the cigar box stable.

During the remainder of that day the colored boy and his sisters and
brothers took turns playing with the China Cat. For, after a while, Jeff
allowed the others to handle his toy. And the China Cat was passed
around among the colored children so often that she kept getting more
and more dirty. And on account of having spots of molasses on her, every
bit of dirt and grime that touched her stuck right there. Jeff and his
brothers and sisters did not think of washing themselves, much less of
washing the China Cat.

At last, after having been much handled and passed from one to another,
the China Cat was set on a shelf in the kitchen of the basement tenement
where the colored family lived. Many other colored folk lived in the
same house, and in adjoining houses.

"At last I have time to breathe, but I am so dirty I do not know what to
do," said the China Cat to herself. "I do not believe that any of the
other toys that came from the workshop of Santa Claus ever had such an
unpleasant adventure as I am having."

But if the China Cat had only known it, the Lamb on Wheels, about whom
one of these Make Believe books has been written, had an adventure
almost as sad. The Lamb went down into a coal bin, which was a great
deal blacker than the negro tenement.

"I wonder what will happen to me next?" thought the China Cat, as she
found herself perched on the kitchen shelf. She could look down and see
Jeff, his brothers and his sisters, and his father and mother, eating
supper. They did not offer the China Cat anything to eat, of course.
Toys don't have to eat, which is very lucky sometimes.

"Come now, chilluns! Off to bed wif yo' all!" called Jeff's mother, when
supper was finished. "Yo' was up early, an' yo' mus' git to bed early."

"Can't I play with my China Cat?" asked Jeff.

"No, indeedy!" declared the colored woman, shaking her head. "Yo' leave
dat cat alone,