Both of their parents were dead. Their loose 

 leaf-nest overhead had been riddled with shot. 

 I had climbed up and found them ; I had 

 brought them down ; I must— feed them ! The 

 other way of escape were heathen. 



But how could I feed them I Mpples, quills, 

 spoons— none of them would fit these mites of 

 mouths. What a miserable mother I was ! How 

 poorly equipped for foundlings ! They were 

 dying for lack of food ; and as they pawed about 

 and whimpered in my hands I devoutly wished 

 the shot had put them all out of misery together. 

 I was tempted to turn heathen and despatch 

 them. 



Unhappy but resolute, I started homeward, 

 determined to rear those squirrels, if it could be 

 done. On my way I remembered— and it came 

 to me with a shock— that one of my neighbor's 

 cats had a new batch of kittens. They were 

 only a few days old. Might not Calico, their 

 mother, be induced to adopt the squirrels ? 



Kothing could be more absurd. The kittens 



were three times larger than the squirrels. 



Even had they been the same size, did I think 



the old three-colored cat could be fooled ? that 



[80] 



