228 
Pussy Meow 
Several days afterward Budge told me that dur- 
ing the first night of the big cat’s stay with us she 
confided to him that her reason for leaving her home 
was the fact that a new housekeeper who had lately 
come, had just made her life unendurable ; and 
that in utter despair she had wandered away not 
knowing whither to go. 
The very next day after the stranger arrived she 
became the mother of five kittens. I dread to think 
what would have become of the poor thing and her 
helpless babies on that cold w inter night, if mistress 
hadn’t allowed her to stay. But no doubt the kind 
Providence directed her safely to our door. 
A day or two after the little kittens came, there 
was a notice in the newspaper : “ Lost, strayed or 
stolen, a full grown tiger cat. Leave at ‘ The 
Elms ’ and get reward.” When mistress saw it 
she sent word to “ The Elms” and they sent the 
coachman, who identified the cat and took her and 
her kittens home, wrapped up in a Buffalo robe and 
tucked in a laundry basket which he had brought in 
the coupe. The people at “ The Elms ” were so 
grateful to mistress for sheltering their pet that they 
sent her a basket of beautiful flowers. 
Of course, it is not to be expected that every lady 
