266 HOME AND GARDEN 



of the wrestlers are locked in deadly fight, they will 

 suddenly stop and lick each other's faces. I had two 

 own brothers who were specially fond of this fun. 

 They were the best of friends, were scarcely ever apart, 

 and slept in the same hay-bed, but the daily mock- 

 combats were fearful to see. A mother-pussy lashes 

 her tail for her kittens to play with, looking round 

 out of the corner of her eye to see if he is taking 

 notice. A small kitten, just learning to mouse, will 

 toss up a ball of wool or a bit of fur and make an 

 imaginary mouse of it. And my pussies always enjoy 

 the game of Tigers in the Jungle, that we play in a 

 large group of Bamboos, with a slender stick rattled 

 among the canes. And any little game that I invent 

 they understand and adopt at once ; and if it is 

 repeated two or three times they remember, and dis- 

 tinctly beg that it may be repeated. And in all ways 

 I find them kindly appreciative and grateful for 

 friendly notice; so that if I pass through a room and 

 pause for a moment to contemplate an apparently 

 fast-asleep pussy, I have only to say " Patty, darling," 

 and I see the last two inches of her pretty tail just 

 raised and lowered in courteous acknowledgment, and 

 hear a few drowsy vibrations of responsive purr. 



Last winter I iiad a visit of a week or two from 

 my youngest niece, of nine years old. Wishing to 

 have some small jollification before she went home, I 

 thought it would be nice to have a pussies' tea-party, 

 and as the prospect delighted her, we set to work 



