Concerning Still Other Peoples Cats 



icking with her kittens instead of sleeping quietly by 

 the fire as was her wont, my grandmother would look 

 up and say : ' Kitty is wild to-night. The wind wUl 

 blow hard before morning.' If I sometimes asked 

 how she knew these things, the reply woxild be, ' My 

 mother told me when I was a little girl.' Now her 

 mother, my great-grandmother, was a distinguished 

 personage in my eyes, having been the daughter of 

 Captain Jonathan Prescott who commanded a com- 

 pany under Sir William Pepperell at the siege of 

 Louisburg and lost his life there; and I could not 

 question the wisdom of colonial times. Indeed, to 

 this hour I have a lingering belief that cats can fore- 

 tell the weather. 



" And what a mouser she was ! Before her time we 

 often heard the rats and mice in the walls, but with 

 her presence not one dared to peep, and cupboard 

 and pantry were unmolested. Now and then she 

 carried her forays to hedge and orchard, and I 

 remember one sad summer twilight that saw her 

 bring in a slender brown bird which my grandmother 

 said was the cuckoo we had delighted to hear in the 

 still mornings among the alders by the river. She 

 was scolded and had no milk that night, and we 

 never knew her to catch a bird again. 



" O to see her with her kittens ! She always hid 

 them in the haymows, and hunting and finding them 

 brought us no end of excitement and pleasure. 

 Twice a day, at least, she would come to the house 



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