12 
THE ABUSED KITTEN. 
very top of its voice. Another boy fob 
lowed,' holding by the collar a great dog, 
also dripping wet, but in the highest spirits. 
Two little girls completed the group, of 
whom the elder was trying to comfort and 
quiet the younger, who was crying bitterly. 
“ What in the world is the matter?” asked 
Miss Louisa. “Have you been in the water, 
Dick?” 
“ Yes, aunt,” replied Richard, holding up 
the kitten: “I went in after this little cat.” 
“The boys put her in an old bowl in 
Short’s pond, and set their dogs on her,” 
said Annie, the oldest girl, taking up the 
story, “and Dick went in and got her. We 
sent Bruno in first; but she was afraid of 
him, and the other dogs fought him: so 
Dick went in himself and pulled her out.” 
“And Jack Short threw a stone at Dick 
and made that great mark on his face,” said 
Sidney; “and they wanted to throw more; 
but Mr. Short’s man came out and stopped 
them. And then Daisy was so scared about 
Dick and the kitten that she cried. Wasn’t 
it too bad, aunt, to treat a poor kitten so ?” 
And Sidney, who had reproved Daisy for 
crying, began to cry himself. 
