1 7 1 
Raising a Family 
One day when I was on mistress’ bed with my 
kittens, Guy laid his hat down by us, and Topsy 
went over and lay on the crown of it. It being a 
soft felt, her weight caused the crown to cave in, 
but this seemed to suit Topsy all the better. She 
settled down contentedly in the little round box 
and began to purr so loudly as to attract the atten- 
tion of the other kittens. Meow Junior, seeing 
that Topsy had found such a good thing, concluded 
to join her ; and so one by one they all deserted 
me, and meandered in the direction of the hat. 
When I looked up, to my great amusement the 
five kittens were lying in a circle on the rim with 
Topsy in the middle, and the hat had the appear- 
ance of being trimmed with cats. 
In telling this incident I hope I shall not set any 
one to thinking that kittens would make suitable 
ornaments instead of the poor unhappy birds that 
do such melancholy duty on some ladies’ hats. 
Thus for many weeks I devoted myself so con- 
stantly to my little ones that mistress called me 
“ the good little mother.” 
