New Companions 53 
before the day was over had told me her whole his- 
tory. Said she, “ My home is in a grocery store, 
where I have been living with my mother and three 
other kittens in a barrel. This morning our master 
gave me to a boy to take home to his sister. But 
he squeezed me so hard, I scratched him, and then 
lie threw me out on the wet grass and walked 
away.” 
“How cruel,” said I, “ but don’t think that all 
boys are like him, for I know some that are just as 
kind as anybody.” 
“ Then I tried to go back and find my mother,” 
said Beauty, “ and I went up to the door of a place 
that looked like my home, but as I stood there cry- 
ing, a man came out and picked me up very 
harshly, and threw me out onto the sidewalk. Jt 
seemed as if all the world were against me, and I 
tried to crawl away to a place where no one would 
find me, when a boy came along who picked me up 
very tenderly, and it was he who brought me here.” 
I told Beauty of my own experience as a home- 
less cat and bade her be thankful that she had 
fallen into such good hands. 
During the evening we played together by the 
beautiful moonlight, but all at once I missed her, 
