24 Pussy Meow 
place, and amid strange surroundings, somehow I 
forgot myself for a time, and while Budge and 
Toddy washed I just sat and watched them. When 
Toddy had finished, to my great surprise he came 
over and started to wash me too. I suppose he 
thought I hadn’t been properly taught because I 
sat and watched him instead of washing myself. 
But I soon showed him that he was mistaken, and I 
have ever since strictly observed the rule of wash- 
ing after meals. 
They say folks wash before meals, and that only 
cats wait until afterward. The reason for this is, 
as I have heard, that once a cat had caught a nice 
fat mouse, and was just going to make a dinner of 
her, when Mousie said : “ Shame on you, to eat 
without first washing yourself.” So the cat stopped 
to wash ; and while she did so, Mousie ran back 
into her hole. 
When Budge and Toddy saw that I had really 
come amongst them to stay they wanted to know 
where I had come from, and I very gladly told 
them. As I talked about my proud and beautiful 
Virginia mother, and my sweet little mistress, Miss 
Virgie, and her playhouse, they kept moving closer 
and closer to me; and when I finished, Toddy said 
