Concerning the " Pretty Lady " 



ing trip all through the house, smelling of every cor- 

 ner and base-board, and insisting that every closet 

 door should be opened, so that she might smell each 

 closet through in the same way. When this was 

 done, she settled herself in one of her old nooks for 

 a nap and allowed me to leave. 



But never again did she go out of sight of the 

 house. For more than a year she would not go even 

 into a neighbor's yard, and when she finally decided 

 that it might be safe to crawl under the fences on to 

 other territory, she invariably turned about to sit fac- 

 ing the house, as though living up to a firm determi- 

 nation never to lose sight of it again. This practice 

 she kept up until at the close of her last mortal sick- 

 ness, when she crawled into a dark place under a 

 neighboring barn and said good-by to earthly fears 

 and worries forever. 



Requiescat in pace, my Pretty Lady. I wish all 

 your sex had your gentle dignity, and grace, and 

 beauty, to say nothing of your faithfulness and affec- 

 tion. Like Mother Michel's " Monmouth," it may be 

 said of you : — 



" She was merely a cat, 



But her Sublime Virtues place her on a level with 



The Most Celebrated Mortals, 



and 



In Ancient Egypt 



Altars would have been Erected to her 



Memory." 



23 



