6o 
Pussy Meow 
My new companions were named Budge and 
Toddy, after the two that had left us. I became 
friendly with them at once, for I had learned by this 
time that mistress was a good judge of cats, and 
that I was perfectly safe in associating freely with 
those of her choice. The only unpleasant thing 
about Budge and Toddy was, they had fleas, and, of 
course, I was visited by some of them ; but after a 
few baths with Spratt’s soap we got quite rid of 
them. I will tell you how it was done, for mistress 
seemed to know just the right way. 
First she made a nice warm suds, and saturated 
our necks thoroughly with it. She called this the 
“ dead line ” because the fleas could not crawl into 
our eyes, but had to stay back and be drowned. 
Then she rubbed the suds into the skin all over our 
bodies, and used a coarse comb so as to have it pen- 
etrate the fur clear to the skin, carefully shielding 
our eyes. Guy always assisted by holding us while 
she did the washing. He would hold the front legs 
in one hand and the hind legs in the other, which 
gave mistress complete control of the body as it lay 
in the suds, and Guy would turn it as she directed. 
After we were thoroughly washed, mistress rinsed 
us off in plenty of clean warm water, wiped us dry 
