"Oh, then it's a bird," cried the little girl.

But her papa only shook his head.

"Maybe it's a bunny, then," said Alice.

"No, no, you will never guess right," laughed papa, "so I will have to tell you. Just listen a moment," he said, as he held the basket close to Alice's ear.

The little girl stood on her tiptoes and fairly held her breath. Soon she heard a faint sound: "Meow! meow! meow!"

"It's a kitty! It's a kitty! Do open the basket quickly, papa," cried Alice, dancing up and down and clapping her hands. Then she tried to push her fingers under the cover.

Sure enough, when the basket was opened there lay a tiny kitten.

"Oh, isn't she black!" cried the little girl.

"Yes, indeed, she is," said Alice's papa. "I should call her Topsy. There isn't a white hair in her whole glossy coat, from the tip of her little pink nose to the end of her little black tail."

"What big yellow eyes! And oh, look! look! what funny feet she has! Why are they so large, papa?" asked Alice.

"That's because she is a seven-toed kitten, little daughter. I expect that she will catch a great many mice with those big feet of hers, when she grows to be a cat."

Alice turned one of the funny front paws over. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," she counted. "Yes, there are just seven toes here, but look, papa, there are not so many on her hind feet. I wonder if she is hungry. May I feed her, mamma?"

Mamma brought some milk, and soon Topsy seemed to feel quite at home. She lapped the milk with her little red tongue, until there was not a drop of it left in the saucer. Then she began to purr and to rub her face against the hand of her new mistress. Finally she curled up in Alice's lap until she looked like a shiny black ball, and began blinking at the fire with sleepy eyes.

Alice was sleepy, too. She curled up in papa's lap, just as kitty had done in hers, and soon Topsy and she were both fast asleep.



TOPSY STORIES.

II. HOW TOPSY KEPT WARM.

"Is that Topsy crying?" said Alice's mamma, one morning. "Listen a moment."

Alice stopped playing with her doll and kept very quiet. Yes, she could hear a faint meow. She ran to the outside door and opened it, but kitty was not there. She listened again, and again she heard the same sound: "Meow! meow! meow!"

"Perhaps kitty is at the other door," said Alice's mamma.

Alice turned the knob and pulled the door wide open; but only a rush of cold air and a few snowflakes came in.

"Where can she be, mamma? Oh, I know now! She is down cellar," said Alice. But no kitty was there. "Maybe she is in the wood shed. I'll run and see! No, mamma, she isn't there, either. I don't think she is happy, wherever she is. She doesn't sound so. Just hear her cry!"

Both listened again to the half-smothered meow.

"No, she doesn't sound very happy, pet," said mamma. "She is shut up somewhere and can't get out. We must find her."

So the mother and the little girl began to search for Topsy. Upstairs and downstairs they went, looking everywhere. They opened all the closet doors, they looked into all the trunks and boxes. They even peeped into the baby's hamper and lifted the lid of grandmother's big workbasket; but no kitty did they find. Still they could hear her crying "Meow! meow! meow!" all the time.

Back to the kitchen they went. "She must be in this room," said mamma; "the meowing sounds louder here than it does anywhere else."

Round and round the room went Alice, peeping everywhere. Her mother looked in all the places, too. No kitty in the cupboard, no kitty in the china closet, no kitty in the washtubs, no kitty in the wood box!

At last Alice stood still, quite close to the big stove, wondering where she could look next.

"Meow! meow! meow!"

"Oh, mamma. It sounds loudest right here!"

Alice's mother bent her head and listened. "So it does," she said. Then she put her hand on the door of the big warming oven. She pulled it open, and—out walked Topsy, very warm indeed, but not hurt at all.

Alice caught kitty up in her arms and gave her a good hug. The poor cat's fur was quite hot.

"It's a good thing for pussy that we found her as soon as we did," said mamma.

Alice gave Topsy a saucer of milk, and soon her pet was curled up in the doll's cradle fast asleep and none the worse for her warming.



TOPSY STORIES.

III. HOW TOPSY MOTHERED HER NEIGHBOR'S KITTENS.

Topsy had no babies of her own. Tarlequin, her next door neighbor, had two soft, little, cuddley ones. Topsy was lonely. Her tail grew big and bushy, and her eyes grew dark and bright as she trotted off toward the wood shed where, in a barrel of nice smelling shavings, her neighbor had set up housekeeping.

Tarlequin was not at home that morning. Topsy did not stop to knock, but gave a big spring and landed right in the middle of the babies' bed. Then she took one of the babies right in her mouth by the loose skin at the back of its neck, jumped out of the barrel, and ran home as fast as she could. She laid the stolen kitten softly down on her own bed, and began to wash it all over with her funny rough tongue.

Soon the kitten began to cry, for it was hungry and missed its own mother.

Alice heard the strange sound and ran to find out what it could be.

When Topsy saw her little mistress, she curled herself up all around the stolen baby and began to growl and hiss, something she had never done to Alice before.

"Oh, mamma, do come and see what Topsy has found!"

"Well, well!" said mamma. "It is one of Tarlequin's babies. Where did she get it?"

"Why are Topsy's eyes so shiny, and why does she growl at me, mamma? I am afraid to touch her," said Alice.

"She thinks that you are going to take the kitten away, little daughter; but it will never do to let her keep it. Tarlequin will miss it and, besides, we have no way of feeding it."

Alice's mother began to talk softly to Topsy. After a while she put her hand down and gently stroked the cat's face. Very soon Topsy allowed mamma to take both herself and the little kitten up in her arms. Then mamma carried them back to Tarlequin's barrel in the neighbor's wood shed.

Tarlequin was at home this time. She seemed very glad to see her lost baby back again and called, "Meow! meow! meow!"

Mamma stroked Tarlequin, saying, "Nice kitty! nice kitty!" Then she put Topsy right down in the nest beside Tarlequin and stroked her. Soon the two cats were purring softly and licking each other and the two kittens by turns.

That was the last time that Topsy was ever lonely, for she lived in Tarlequin's barrel after that, and helped bring up Tarlequin's babies; and she took just as good care of them as their own mother did, too.

She cuddled close to them when they were asleep so that they would not feel cold. Every day she licked their coats until they were smooth and shiny. When the kittens were big enough, Topsy brought them all the plump mice they could eat, and she let them tumble and scramble all over her, nip at her ears and play with her tail as much as ever they liked.

"Isn't Tarlequin real good, mamma," said Alice one day, as she saw her pet frolicking with the two kittens, "to let poor Topsy help bring up her babies?"

"Yes, indeed," said mamma; "and I wonder if there was ever a family of kits before that had two mothers at the same time!"



TOPSY STORIES.

IV. TOPSY'S HIDING PLACE.

All around the kitchen they went, playing hide and seek. Topsy hid under the stove, Alice hid in the cupboard; Topsy hid behind the wood box, Alice hid under the table; Topsy hid in the corner back of the coal hod, Alice hid in the folds of mamma's big apron hanging behind the kitchen door; but they never failed to find each other and always had a great frolic after each one's hiding place was discovered.

At last the play was over and Topsy went fast asleep, lying on her back in the doll's cradle. She looked very funny, with her paws sticking straight up in the air.

Soon Alice wanted to put dolly to bed; so Topsy found another nice resting place, stretched out in mamma's workbasket, with her front paws lying on the pincushion; but when mamma came for thimble and thread kitty was forced to move again.

"Meow! meow!" she said. "I will get out of every one's way, and go where I can sleep as long as I please without being disturbed!" So Topsy sprang upon the table, then upon a tall folded screen near by, and, with a big jump, landed at last on the very tiptop of the china closet. No one saw her. She crept far back against the wall and was soon fast asleep, lying in a nice warm corner, just under the ceiling.

After a time Alice grew tired of playing with her doll and looked about for kitty, but kitty was nowhere to be seen. The little girl went to the door and called, "Kitty! kitty! kitty!" but no kitty came. She called again, but no shrill meow answered her. She called again and again, but still no Topsy was to be heard or seen.

"Oh, mamma, where can kitty be?" said Alice, with tears in her eyes. "I am afraid she is lost. I haven't seen her for ever so long."

"Have you looked in all the hiding places? Perhaps she has gone fast asleep somewhere and doesn't hear you call," said mamma.

So Alice began to search for her pet, but though she looked everywhere no kitty did she find. She called and called again, but all in vain; no Topsy answered her.

"Never mind, little daughter," said mamma, "kitty has probably gone off hunting and will surprise you by and by with a big fat mouse."

So Alice was comforted; and though she felt very lonely with no furry ball snuggled in her lap and no bright-eyed playmate scampering at her heels, she tried to be happy playing with her dolly and looking at her new picture book.

At last the long day was over and night came. It brought no Topsy, but it did bring papa from his work. When Alice saw him coming, she ran out to meet him and, throwing herself into his arms, poured out all her trouble: "Oh, papa, Topsy is lost! We can't find her anywhere! She has been gone all day long! I have looked and looked, and called and called, but she doesn't come!"

Papa comforted his little daughter as papas know how to do. "Cheer up! little girl. We will find her after supper," he said.

When the pleasant evening meal was over and all the family sat around the cozy fire, papa said: "I think I know how to make Topsy come, if she is in the house."

"Oh, how?" cried Alice.

Papa said nothing but he puckered up his lips and began to whistle in loud, shrill tones. At the first note something stirred on top of the china closet. Then there was a short, protesting meow. Papa kept on whistling. Kitty stood up and began to stretch. As the shrill music continued, Topsy walked to the edge of the cupboard and looked down.

"Oh, there she is! there she is!" cried Alice. "Oh, my own dear kitty! But what a funny place to hide in!"

Louder and shriller grew papa's whistling. Kitty jumped upon the screen and then leaped to the table. Still papa whistled on. Topsy sprang to the floor and, jumping into papa's lap, began to rub her face against his breast. "Meow! meow!" she said. Still the shrill noise did not atop. Pussy put her front paws high up on papa's chest and rubbed her face against his chin, at the same time nipping it gently with her teeth and calling, "Meow! meow!" which meant, "Stop! stop! Please, master, I am here. What do you want? Oh, do stop that dreadful noise!"

So papa stopped whistling and Alice and Topsy had a fine frolic before bedtime.

This was the first and only time that Topsy was ever lost; but to this day, she will sometimes steal away and sleep for hours on her lofty perch, heedless of coaxing or scolding, and only dislodged at night by papa's shrill whistle.



TOPSY STORIES.

V. TOPSY'S BABIES.

"I must teach the kittens some tricks," said Alice one day. "They are getting so big and plump. Don't you think they are old enough to learn to do things, mamma?"

"Well, little daughter, suppose you try teaching them," said mamma.

So Alice went to the door and called: "Kittens! kittens! kittens! Come, Tip! Come, Trot! Come, kittens!" Now their real names were Tipkins and Trotkins, but Alice always called them Tip and Trot for short.

When the kittens heard their little mistress call, they came running as fast as their fat little bodies and their short little legs would let them come; for "Kittens, kittens, kittens!" almost always meant: "Here is some nice warm milk to drink."

Alice gathered the funny little things up in her arms. They looked just exactly alike, for Tipkins had a black spot on the end of his tail, and Trotkins had a black spot on the end of his tail, too; Tipkins' eyes were blue, so were Trotkins'; Tipkins' nose was black, and Trotkins' nose was black, too. Alice often wondered how their mother, Topsy, ever told them apart.

"Now," said the little girl, "you have grown to be such big pussies that it is time you learned to work. You must earn your dinner. What do you say to that?"

"Meow! meow!" said Tipkins. "Meow! meow!" said Trotkins. "Meow! meow!" said Tipkins and Trotkins together. Which seemed to mean, "That we will, little mistress; only show us how."

Alice took a tiny bit of meat in her fingers and let one of the kittens smell of it; then she said very slowly, "Now, pussy, roll over." The kitten liked the smell of the meat very much, so he said, "Meow! meow!" but he did not know in the least what "roll over" meant, so he did nothing. "Roll over, kitty," said his little mistress again, but he only said, "Meow! meow! meow!" once more. Then Alice made pussy lie down, and she gently rolled him over with her hand, saying very slowly as she did so, "Roll over." After this she gave him the bit of meat.

Then it was the other kitten's turn. He had no more idea than his brother what "roll over" meant; but after Alice had said the words two or three times, she gently rolled his plump little body over, too, and then gave him the nice bit of meat also. Then she set a big saucer of milk down in front of her pets, and so ended the first lesson of Tipkins and Trotkins.

This was only the first of many lessons, however. Alice worked patiently with the kittens every day for a whole month and, at the end of that time, both Tipkins and Trotkins knew just what she meant and would roll over every time she told them to, even though they got not a scrap of anything good to eat in return.

Tipkins seemed to think it was great fun, and he would sometimes roll over five or six times without stopping, just as Alice herself often rolled on the grass when at play. But Trotkins never seemed to like doing it, and would turn round and round until he was fairly dizzy before finally lying down. Then, as he rolled over, he would give a funny meow, as much as to say, "I don't like to; but, if I must, I will."

Tipkins learned to ring a small bell by striking it with one of his front paws. Trotkins could never be coaxed to touch this bell; but he would sit by while his brother rang it and cry, "Meow! meow! meow!" Alice thought that this was very funny, and she said that Trot sang while Tip did the playing.

Both the kittens learned to jump over a stick when their mistress held one out in her hand, about a foot from the floor; and Alice taught Tipkins to jump through a small wooden hoop; but she could never persuade Trotkins even once to try to jump through the hoop.

As Tipkins and Trotkins grew older, their mother, Topsy, taught them to hunt for mice in the big, dark barn, and to catch moles and grasshoppers in the field. They had less and less time, as the days went by, to play with their little mistress; and Alice found them so sleepy, when they did have time, that at last she gave up trying to teach them any new antics.

As the months passed by they grew sleek and fat. They were kittens no longer, but had grown as large and could hunt as well as Mother Topsy; and although they learned no new tricks now, the old ones, taught them by their little mistress, were never forgotten by Tipkins and Trotkins.



ETHEL'S FRIENDS.

Ethel was a little girl who lived in the great city of New York, but she loved the country very much and often wished that she could play in the big, green fields or pick wild flowers in the wood. She remembered one summer, when she was a very little girl, staying in the country for ever so many days, almost a whole month, and having such a happy time lying on the grass, listening to the birds, and watching the cows and horses and sheep, the cunning little lambs, and the old white hen with her brood of downy chicks. Oh, how she did wish that she could see them all again! But the country was far, far away, and Ethel's papa and mamma were too busy to take their little daughter there.

There was a place in the big city called Central Park that seemed to Ethel like the country. She loved to go there, and had a happy time watching the sparrows as they scratched for seeds and looked about for crumbs, and trying to get the gray squirrels to come nearer and take nuts from her hand. Here, some days, O happiest times of all! she could lie with her rosy face buried in the short, green grass, and press it close, oh! so close to the "great brown house," the home of the flowers.

One sunshiny day in June Ethel had been playing in the park for a long time. Though she had coaxed and coaxed the squirrels, they would not come near; and though she had listened for a long time to the hoarse croak of a frog, and watched and waited, and looked about with big bright eyes, she could not get even so much as a peep at him. At last she grew very tired and sat down upon a bench near by to rest before going home. Scarcely was she seated when she heard some one call her name. "Ethel! Ethel!" a sweet voice said. She looked all about but could see no one. "Ethel! Ethel!" it called again, this time very near. She looked around, saying, "Here I am; who is calling?" "It is I. Don't you see me? I am close beside you," said the same sweet voice.

Looking down Ethel saw at her feet a tiny creature all dressed in dainty green. "Oh!" thought she, "this must really and truly be a fairy. Why, I supposed fairies were only make-believe people!" and Ethel was so surprised that she forgot to answer the little creature.

Soon the fairy said: "Ethel, because you love the birds and the flowers and the trees and all the animals, I have come to take you out into the country to visit your friends."

Ethel clapped her hands and said: "Oh, I should love to go to the country! but I haven't any friends there."

"Yes, you have," said the fairy, "come and see."

So away they went, and Ethel all the time wondered whom the fairy could possibly mean by her friends; but they went so fast that, before she had time to do much thinking, Ethel found herself in a great, green meadow, bright and fresh and cool. Soon they came to a tree with spreading branches; and there, lying under it and resting in its shade, was a gentle looking creature with soft eyes, long smooth horns, and a hairy dress of red and white.

"Here," said the fairy, "is one of your friends, and a very good friend she is too." "Oh," said Ethel, "now I know whom you mean by my friends!"

I wonder who can tell me why the fairy called the cow Ethel's friend. Yes, because without this friend Ethel would miss her cup of milk at breakfast and the golden butter for her bread.

Ethel gave the white star on the cow's forehead a gentle pat and, looking into her great dark eyes, she said, "Surely you are my friend, Bossy." But the fairy said, "Come on, little girl, there are many more friends to see." So Ethel visited all the friendly animals,—the sheep with their woolly coats, the pigs in their sty, the chickens, the ducks and the geese in the barnyard, the pigeons in their home on the roof, the great clever collie in his kennel; and she found that she owed something to every one of them.

Just as she was giving Rover a farewell pat, old Dobbin, harnessed to the farm wagon, came clattering up to the barn. "Here comes the best friend of all!" cried Ethel. "What should we do without Dobbin to carry the milk and the butter and the eggs to the city, to draw the wood and the coal that keep us warm, to help the farmer plow and harrow the ground in the springtime, to draw in the hay and the grain in the autumn, and to trot cheerfully along the country road when the children take a ride? Oh! I hope the farmer gives him a good, dry bed to sleep upon, a manger of hay and a measure of oats when he is hungry. I hope he combs and smooths Dobbin's black coat well, and puts a blanket on his back when the weather is cold. I'm sure the farmer wouldn't cut off Dobbin's shiny black tail for the world, for how could Dobbin drive away the flies that trouble him, without his tail? I know that there is always plenty of fresh water for Dobbin to drink whenever he is thirsty, and that, sometimes, the children give him a lump of sugar to eat. The farmer never lets Dobbin lose a shoe, I'm sure, for fear he might go lame, but always takes him to the blacksmith if only a nail is loose."

Buzz z z z! buzz z z z! sounded close to Ethel's ear. She opened her eyes and looked about. There she sat upon a bench in the park. The sun had gone down behind the tall buildings, and it was almost dark. The pretty elfin in green had vanished. Her country friends were nowhere to be seen. A bee's gauzy wings and yellow legs were disappearing in the distance. "There goes another of my friends," said Ethel, "I think he must have come to tell me that it is time to go home."

So Ethel ran home and told her mother all about the fairy and her friends. "Oh, mamma! do you suppose the fairy really and truly took me to the country?" said Ethel.

"No," said mamma, "I think my little girl was asleep and dreaming; but, for all that, the animals on the farm are really among our very best friends."

"Yes, I know that," said Ethel, "how I wish I could see them!" And for many days after her wonderful dream Ethel never went to the park without thinking of how the little fairy in green took her to visit all her friends in the country.

THE END