Three Little Kittens
A Story for Little Tots
By UNCLE MILTON
Published and Copyrighted 1908 by
THE ULLMAN MFG. CO.
NEW YORK
NE morning Mrs. Tabby Car
called her three little child-
ren, Monser, Touscr and
Pussy, and said: "Mamma
will be very busy to-day, as she must
make a Milk pudding and some Mouse
pie for to-morrow's dinner, because
Aunt Kittie is coming to visit us, so
you must be good children and go to
school. After school you can play until
supper time; but be careful and do not
get into trouble or mischief. When
you come home, if you have been good
little kittens, I will give each of you
a piece of Mouse pie. Now run along
to school."
O Mouser, To user and Pussy
started for school as happy
as could be for they were
thinking of the Mouse pie.
They had not gone far before they
heajd a terrible growl and as they
looked to see what it was they saw a
fierce looking dog behind the fence in
Jimmie Brozvn's yard. He was a
strange dog that they had never seen
before and he looked so cross that they
ran as fast as they could. But the
fence was strong, so the dog could not
get out to chase them. They had a
terrible fright, and were glad when
they reached a place of safety.
s
N school, Mauser, who stil
remembered the big dog that
had frightened them so, and
the nice Mouse pie that their
mother had promised them, went to the
blackboard at recess time and wrote in
large letters BAD DOGS, NICE
MICE. It made the other kittens
laugh very much and they all agreed
with him that, of all things, dogs are
the worst, and mice the best. In fact
they much preferred mice to ice-cream.
What do you think of that? They
learned lots of useful things in school
such as catching mice, and chasing
birds, but principally singing, so that
when they grew up they could have con-
certs on the back fence.
6
FTER school was over the
remembered what their
mother had said about play-
ing until supper time, so
they thought they would go into Jim-
mie Brozvn's garden where the ground
\vas soft and where they could play
hide-and-seek, and soldiers with Mr.
i
Brown's big flag. They had quite for-
gotten about the bad dog by this time
and were only thinking of play. The
dog had been put there by Jiininie to
frighten away little boys who came
to take apples, but he thought it his
duty to frighten away cats as well.
Luckily he was asleep in his kennel and
didn't hear the kittens.
OUSER, bein^ the oldest, too
the lead and they were soon
poking about in search of
fun. Suddenly Mouser came
to a closet near the house where Mrs.
Brozvn kept her preserves. On the
shelf stood a row of jams and jellies
that made his mouth water to look at.
He quickly got up on a chair and poked
about the jars, one of which he upset.
At length he found some currant jam
and began eating it greedily. Oh ! what
a state he was in, with jam smeared all
over his face and clothes ! But he smiled
sweetly and said, "That was very
good," and he looked for more mis-
chief.
N the garden he found a pot
of red paint that Jimmic
Brown's father had careless-
ly left standing- by the
fence. Mouscr loved painting as much
as he loved eating jam. He had at
home a little box of paints that his
big cousin Tom had given him for
Christmas. Mouscr thought the fence
would look better if it were red, so he
painted as hard as he could, quite un-
mindful that there were any such things
as dogs in the world. While most of
the paint went on the fence, quite a
lot spattered on his clothes, but he did-
n't mind that.
X the meantime, Pussy foun<
a watering can in the garden.
There was water in it, so
she thought she would
sprinkle some on the yellow sun flowers
and see if they would not grow as tall
as Jack's bean stalk. She said she
hoped they would grow up to the sky
as she wanted to climb up and pick
a star and see what made it shine so
brightly and twinkle so merrily. Then
she picked some catnip to take home to
her mother, who was very fond of it
and often made catnip sauce when they
had pudding for dinner.
OUSER, who had found
big fat watermelon, thought
it would he jolly to carry it
home to his Mama; but,
just as he was about to try and roll
it away, he heard a noise that fright-
ened him very much. Boit'-ivoiv-ivow
was what he heard and though it seem-
ed far off at first, as he listened it
seemed to be coming nearer rapidly.
Bow-wow-wow! AYhat a terrible sound
for a little kitten to hear. The dog had
awakened, and seeing the kittens at
play, made a dash at them, barking with
all his might and looking very savage.
Dogs ought to know better than to
frighten little kittens.
\
OUSER and Pussy had heard
the dreadful noise also, so
they all scampered together
as fast as they could to reach
the hole in the fence through which
they had come in. They were very much
frightened and Touscr lost a boot and
Mouscr tore a big hole in his cont on
a bramble bush, while two little mice,
who were hidden in the grass clapped
their hands, hoping that the big dog
would catch the bad Kittens. The Kit-
tens were in too great a hurry to run
after the mice and only thought of get-
ting aw r ay as quickly as possible from
the dreadful dog who barked so fiercely.
HEV finally reached tin
fence, and crawling through,
ran for home as fast as they
could. The hig dog could not
get under the fence to chase them. He
got his head caught between the boards,
which served him right for being so
unkind. But, oh ! how frightened the
three kittens were and how they had
spoiled their nice clothes. Their after-
noon's pleasure was all gone. The
watermelon and the catnip were left
behind in their hurry, and Pussy got
her head all scratched on a nail in
the fence. They were very much wor-
ried too, as to what their Mama would
say.
RS. TABBY CAT was ven
angry when her kittens came
home and she saw their ter-
rible condition. You never
saw nice little kittens look so dirty.
Mauser's coat was all daubed with red
paint and jam, so she took off his clothes
and sent him to bed without any sup-
per for being so naughty. "Mauser
was the oldest," she said, "and ought
to show his brother and sister a good
example." Mauser felt very sorry and
said as he stood by his bed : "Oh ! I do
so want to be a good kitten and mind
my Mama!" Then he crept into bed
and was very sad indeed.
T took Mama nearly an hou:
to clean the Kittens' clothes.
Then they sat down to a
supper of Mouse-pie which
was really very fine. Monscr didn't
get a bite, but he smelled the pie, and
sighed and said: "This is what comes
of being naughty."
At last he fell asleep and dreamed
that he was in a big garden where all
the flowers and fruits were mice and
there were no cruel dogs to bark and
bite, and he was very happ
Nex^day his Mother ird forgiven
him for she loved him in s )ite of his
faults, and Mouser made* up his mind
never to get into trouble again, pvy
\
