376 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



fuzzy nap — to take au eternal nap themselves. Some were 

 lively enough at first to try to jump. We had anticijoated 

 that ; hence the blanket. The harvest of dead fleas reaped 

 from the kitten-field was wonderful. 



About once a week, while the kittens were young and 

 tender,^we repeated this treatment, and soon it was curious 

 to note the difference in the disposition of the two kittens, 

 just as much as we see in two human brothers. 



They very quickly learned what the blanket and powder- 

 gun portended. One, a glossy black fellow, with a snowy 

 breast, would begin to kick and cry the moment he saw 

 them, and we had no little trouble to hold him without 

 hurting him, until his enemies were compelled to vacate 

 the premises ; the other one, a handsome buff" and white 

 kitten, seemed to understand, almost from the first, that 

 there was no use in struggling — in fact, he made a virtue 

 of necessity, instead of starting to run at the sight of the 

 little gun, he would deliberately sit up on his haunches, 

 droop his forepaws, shut his eyes, and wait to be shot with 

 the powder,''and then, when this infliction was over, lie 

 down on the blanket and let himself be turned over and 

 over without a struggle, a very personification of meekness. 



By this simple method we kept the enemy under, even 

 when a kitten feast was in view, and as the latter grew 

 older the fleas became so very scarce that we omitted the 

 powder altogether. 



Dogs, if unwashed, and above all razor-backs, if allowed 

 to approach near the house, will undoubtedly set free more 

 or less fleas to torment its inmates ; but a clean, dainty cat, 

 never. 



So we pass by the flea as giving but little annoyance in 

 most localities, although in most of the towns, especially 

 in the stores and hotels, they are apt to be more numerous 

 than elsewhere ; private houses, especially those in the coun- 



