THH SIX KITTENS,

ONCE upon a time a cat had six kittens, whom she brought up in
the most genteel manner. No one could say that their education
was in any wise neglected, for besides being taught the ordinary
duties of life by their mother, such as mouse-hunting, fish-stealing,
and bird-catching, they received instructions in the arts of singing,
and playing the harp and the piano, and were taught to waltz
and dance the polka with every imaginable grace. Now when the
kittens grew to be of age, it was their custom of an afternoon to
spend some hours at tea and intellectual talk. The youngest
always performed the duties of servant, while one of the elder ones
would entertain the rest by playing airs from the latest opera, or
singing a love-song, the music of which she had herself composed.

It is true some animals who dwelt close by complained of this
music, and called it by all kinds of ill names; but that is ever the
jealous way of the world: and the kittens frequently performed
serenades in their garden by moonlight, when all who passed by
would stay to listen to their melody.

But to our tale. It happened that, one fine summer’s after-
noon, when the kittens were all enjoying themselves at tea; when
Paulina, the eldest, was warbling some of her most delightful
songs, and Violet, the second, was entertaining the rest, in an
under tone, with a little bit of scandal about a neighbouring