New Neighbors 153 
always so sad and doleful. The reason for this is 
that cats sing only when they are sad or in trouble, 
when they are contented and happy, they purr. 
As soon as the song was ended, Napoleon began 
to whine, and thrust his nose between the pickets 
again. I think he wanted more song, but Toddy 
evidently thought he wanted more breakfast, for 
the moment his nose was well through between the 
pickets, Toddy made a lunge for it, and this proved 
to be Napoleon’s Waterloo. Before he could 
withdraw, his nose was a perfect network of 
scratches, with blood oozing out of them like so 
many small beads. 
After Napoleon had retreated, mistress called us 
into the house, but in the afternoon I went out 
there again and jumped over on Nap’s side of the 
fence into the tall grass. But the old speckled hen 
drove me back with her cackle as she had often 
done before. She probably thought I was another 
naughty cat like Buttercup who stole her chickies ; 
but, really, I was only looking for grasshoppers. 
Now, although I am not much acquainted with 
Napoleon, I have given him a place in my book, 
because I want my readers to stop and think how 
cruel it is to keep a dog chained all the time, and 
