The Slum Cat 
not a Roman Catholic mission, but a place 
whose garbage-tins abounded in choicest fish 
scrapings. She soon made the acquaintance 
of the meat-man, and joined in the shy fringe 
of Cats that formed the outer circle. She also 
met the Wharf Dog as well as two or three other 
horrors of the same class. She knew what to 
expect of them and how to avoid them; and she 
was happy in being the inventor of a new 
industry. Many thousand Cats have doubt- 
less hung, in hope, about the tempting milk-cans 
that the early milk-man leaves on steps and 
window-ledges, and it was by the merest acci- 
dent that Kitty found one with a broken lid, 
and so was taught to raise it and have a satisfy- 
ing drink. Bottles, of course, were beyond her, 
but many a can has a misfit lid, and Kitty was 
very painstaking in her efforts to discover the 
loose-jointed ones. Finally she extended her 
range by exploration till she achieved the heart 
of the next block, and farther, till once more 
among the barrels and boxes of the yard behind 
the bird-man’s cellar. 
The old iron-yard never had been home, she 
had always felt like a stranger there; but here 
24 
