23 1 
A Kittie Party 
taking note of what was going on, and that she 
thought another time she would venture to try it. 
Said I, “ The way to learn to do a thing is to do it, 
and you have probably missed the chance of your 
life.” 
At this Mollie gave me a very solemn look, and 
as she turned to go I heard her mutter something 
to herself about “ no use crying over spilled milk.” 
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But to return to the party. Each of us big cats 
wore a wide ribbon sash with a big bow tied 
at the back, but the little kittens wore narrow rib- 
bons tied around their necks. Goldie wore white, 
Booker crimson, Budge blue, and I orange ; and the 
kittens wore blue except Hiddigeigei who wore pink. 
Our basket, handsomely decorated with fresh ribbon, 
was placed in a sheltered corner of the library, and 
let me assure you that we cats looked every bit as 
festive and gay as did our guests. 
For a while the children wanted to do nothing 
else but play with the kittens, and I was only sorry 
that I did not have enough to go around. I never 
saw children handle kittens so carefully ; no maul- 
ing, no squeezing ; they just laid them on their 
breasts or on their laps, and stroked their backs and 
scratched their heads and chins, as if they all knew 
