B40 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



marks about a "tramp cat" that bad been 

 seen around in the factory. Pretty soon I 

 caught a view of the tramp cat, and it was 

 my acquaintance of the morning, sure 

 enough. Wlien there werenothingliut strange 

 faces all around her slie gradually sidled up 

 toward me, thinking, doubtless, that, as I 

 had given her the meat, it would be about 

 as safe to trust to me as anyl)ody ; and it 

 was not long before she came \\\) aiid sat on 

 my lap while I read the letters, inuring with 

 intense satisfaction to feel that she liad at 

 least one friend in tliis cold icy world. I had 

 talked kindly to her. and had fed her when 

 she was cold', and was not that enoiigli ? 



During the day she went out around, for- 

 aging about ; but between five and six in the 

 morning, when I was reading my morning 

 mail all alone in the office, or pretty nearly 

 alone, she was my company. I would see 

 her during the day in different parts of the 

 factory, peering around in the dark-room, 

 looking behind tlie cans of maple molasses, 

 and the barrels of counter goods and glass- 

 ware. It seemed to me as if she felt grateful, 

 and concluded the best way of rei)aying 

 would be to look up the mice, and take a 

 general oversight of things. I need hardly 

 tell you that cats are very necessary helpers 

 in our factory. The mice would not only get 

 into our flour and eatables, but they would 

 go into our seeds, papers, and make sad 

 work in a hundred ways, if it were not for 

 the cats ; and yet for some reason I have 

 hard work to make the boys remember this, 

 and treat the cats kindly. '' 



Not many months ago one of our cats was 

 blinded in one eye. On inquiry I was told 

 that some of the boys in the tin-shop threw 

 things at tliem wlieu" they came around, and 

 that was tlie way this one got an eye put out. 

 Are you ever unkind to kitties, my friend ? 

 1 know it is sometimes necessary" to have 

 cats killed, or got out of the way, "when they 

 become so numerous as to be intrusive ; but, 

 dear friends, this sliould be done with kind- 

 ness and love for the i)()or duml) brutes, and 

 with as little pain as possil)le. should it not V 

 I know some of the l)oys thouglit we had 

 cats enough, and regarded this new tramp 

 cat as an intruder. Perhaps tliey laugh at 

 my weakness in befriending tramps of all 

 kinds, or, at least, of giving them a chance_ 

 to prove themselves worthy of lielp and as-' 

 sistance. As a rule, I 'am pretty fierce 

 against tramps in the luunan family, and 

 they do not often get a bite to eat, either at 

 the factory or at the house, unless they go 

 to work and earn it in some way. 



Well, after the new cat had been around a 

 week or two, I noticed one day that she was 

 dragging herself around as thougli almost 

 iniable to walk, and I made several inquir- 

 ies as to who had been so unkind as to harm 

 our new friend. I did not find out for some 

 time ; but finally I overheard and guessed 

 enough to get at the folhnving. May be I 

 have not got it just right, for I do not like to 

 go questioning around aboiit others ; but I 

 think in substance it was about like this : 



After kitty had looked over the factory 

 pretty thoroughly, to see there were no mice 

 anywhere, she wandered into the out-build- 

 ings, and finally across our branch railroad 



track into the old station-house, or freight 

 depot. A couple of grown-up boys saw her 

 in tlijere ; and thinking it would be a good 

 idea to "have fun" with a " strange cat in a 

 strange garret," they armed themselves with 

 clubs, or bits of boards, and began to chase 

 her. Poor kitty ! Perhaps she had begun to 

 imagine that humanity is kind, after all, 

 and that people are not wicked and blood- 

 tliirsty ; but now with yells and great clubs 

 she was being persecuted and pursued, first 

 behind one pile of boxes and barrels and then 

 another. Blow after blow came, even though 

 she liad offended nobody, and did nothing at 

 all out of the way, until, wounded and bleed- 

 ing, she dragged her poor suffering body un- 

 der the porch or into some place of refuse, 

 to lie down or die, or possibly recover. Tli^ 

 boys, of course, had a big time ; for if they 

 did not succeed in killing her, they "broke 

 both her hind legs, any way," and seemed 

 to think they had done a very commendable 

 thing in having accomplished so much. 



Dear friends, during these last few years a 

 great society has been formed for the preven- 

 tion of cruelty to animals. Horses and dogs 

 have been cared for, and made happy ; but 

 what lias been done for poor kitty V but more 

 than all, what has been done fo'r our grown- 

 up boys, to teach them to love not only hu- 

 manity, but to love the poor dumb brutes 

 God has placed about us V The little story 

 T have told is exceedingly boylike. Such 

 things often happen anywhere. But may 

 God help us to educate our youtli in a differ- 

 ent way ! 



In a recent Sunday-school lesson we had 

 the expression, "■ Charity suftereth long, and 

 is kind." Do you notthink, friends, this 

 kindness sliould extend even to cats and 

 dogsV Poor kitty seemed to have more of 

 the virtue of charity than we often see in 

 humanity. We read in the above chapter. 

 '• Charity endureth all things." 



I went up to poor kitty as she lay licking 

 her wounds on top of a barrel. She mewed 

 plaintively, V)ut seemed to cherish no hard 

 feeling, and liad nothing laid up. She even 

 purred in gratitutle when I stroked her with 

 my hand, and in a philosophical way seemed 

 to"]>ass tlie matter by as only a part of this 

 world's experience. 'I have thought several 

 times of talking to these young men. I have 

 wondered how I could present the matter in 

 such a way tliey would not feel unkindly to- 

 ward me. and yet realize what a wrong thing 

 it is to torment poor and defenseless nrutes. 

 The matter has l)een much on my mind ; and 

 when I realize the amount of suffering and 

 pain tliat has lieen inflicted in this careless 

 sort of way, there comes a great welling-up 

 from my li'eart, "Lord, help ! Lord, help ! " 



I have told this little story, friends, hop- 

 ing that some boys might read and ponder 

 over it, and declare they will never more be 

 guilty of frightening a poor kitty, to say 

 nothing of hurting them by cruel blows. 

 They are God's creatures, and we are his 

 childien ; for do you not remember in our 

 opening verse. 



Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, 

 and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and 

 over all the earth, and over every creeping thlntf 

 that creepeth upon the earth? 



