weaned she nursed and mothered the squirrels. 

 I have frequently seen them let into the kitchen 

 when the old cat was there, and the moment 

 they got through the door they would rush 

 toward her, dropping chestnuts or cookies by 

 the way. She in turn would hurry to meet them 

 with a little purr of greeting full of joy and 

 affection. They were shamefully big for such 

 doings. The kittens had quit it long ago. Calico 

 herself, after a while, came to feel the impro- 

 priety of mothering these strapping young ones, 

 and in a weak, indulgent way tried to stop it. 

 But the squirrels were persistent and would not 

 go about their business at all with an ordinary cuff. 

 She would put them off, run away from them, slap 

 them, and make believe to bite ; but not until 

 she did bite, and sharply too, would they be off. 

 All this seemed very strange and unnatural ; 

 yet a stranger thing happened one day, when 

 Calico brought in to her family a full-grown 

 gray squirrel which she had caught in the woods. 

 She laid it down on the floor and called the 

 kittens and squirrels to gather around. They 

 came, and as the squirrels sniffed at the dead one 

 on the floor there was hardly a mark of differ- 

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