XXXIIA KITTIE PARTY
Whenmy kittens were of the proper age mistress proposed they should have a chance to see all their little friends, so we sent out invitations like this:
“Meow will give a coming-out party on Saturday next from two till six, to her kittens Hiddigeigei, Lady Jane Grey and Patsy, assisted by Booker T. Washington, Mollie Scott, Budge and Goldie.”
“Meow will give a coming-out party on Saturday next from two till six, to her kittens Hiddigeigei, Lady Jane Grey and Patsy, assisted by Booker T. Washington, Mollie Scott, Budge and Goldie.”
The happy day came at last, sunshiny and bright, as if it had been made expressly for our party, and at the appointed hour came also our little guests. There were Marjory, Winifred, George and Doris, and my new friends Frances, Arline, Earl, Lillian and Burt. These, with Booker, Goldie, Budge, myself and the kittens, made just sixteen in all.
Hiddigeigei, Patsy and Lady Jane GreyHiddigeigei, Patsy and Lady Jane Grey
Hiddigeigei, Patsy and Lady Jane Grey
Hiddigeigei, Patsy and Lady Jane Grey
Mollie Scott was also invited, but she did not come. After it was all over she called and excused herself, saying she had never attended a party, and didn’t know just how it would be; but that she had spent most of the afternoon on the back fence,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.”
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 ribbons 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 mauling, 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 knewjust how kittens like to be treated. I half suspect that mistress took them aside and showed them how.
The kittens enjoyed the party much more than we older ones. Budge—poor, timid, bashful Budge—he never did like a crowd. When he saw such a troop of children come in, he made for the basement, where he remained in hiding behind the laundry stove till mistress brought him up and put him on top of the high bookcase; and there he seemed to feel secure, for none of the children could reach him. Booker and Goldie spent most of the afternoon in hiding under the couch.
When my kittens had been played with long enough, I went into my basket, and mistress understood just what I meant by it.
“Children,” said she, “you see the kittens’ mother thinks her babies have had enough play for the present, and she has gone to her basket to invite them to come to her to have some dinner and to take a nap. Now set all the kittens down on the floor and see what they will do.”
When my kittens were set free I began crooning to them, and oh, how it pleased the children to see the little things stand still a second, prick up theirears, and then run as one man in the direction of the sound that a tired kitten loves so well to hear.
In less time than it takes to tell it, the three were gathered at my breast and in another minute they were purring contentedly, and Booker, dear thoughtful child, stood guard in front of the basket.
Then some of the children sang beautiful songs about kittens and birds, and Miss Wallace accompanied them on the piano. I liked Lillian’s song best of all; I will tell you the words of it:
“A homeless little kittenCame to my door one day,‘I’m cold and starved, please let me in!’Its sad cries seemed to say.I took it up and shut the doorUpon the bitter storm,And put the little shiv’ring thingBefore the fire to warm.“I gave it milk to drink, and smoothedIts pretty, soft gray fur.‘Poor Pussy, stay with me,’ I said.It answered with a purr.And ever since that winter dayI have so happy been;I gained a merry playmate whenI let my pussy in.”
“A homeless little kittenCame to my door one day,‘I’m cold and starved, please let me in!’Its sad cries seemed to say.I took it up and shut the doorUpon the bitter storm,And put the little shiv’ring thingBefore the fire to warm.“I gave it milk to drink, and smoothedIts pretty, soft gray fur.‘Poor Pussy, stay with me,’ I said.It answered with a purr.And ever since that winter dayI have so happy been;I gained a merry playmate whenI let my pussy in.”
“A homeless little kittenCame to my door one day,‘I’m cold and starved, please let me in!’Its sad cries seemed to say.I took it up and shut the doorUpon the bitter storm,And put the little shiv’ring thingBefore the fire to warm.
“A homeless little kitten
Came to my door one day,
‘I’m cold and starved, please let me in!’
Its sad cries seemed to say.
I took it up and shut the door
Upon the bitter storm,
And put the little shiv’ring thing
Before the fire to warm.
“I gave it milk to drink, and smoothedIts pretty, soft gray fur.‘Poor Pussy, stay with me,’ I said.It answered with a purr.And ever since that winter dayI have so happy been;I gained a merry playmate whenI let my pussy in.”
“I gave it milk to drink, and smoothed
Its pretty, soft gray fur.
‘Poor Pussy, stay with me,’ I said.
It answered with a purr.
And ever since that winter day
I have so happy been;
I gained a merry playmate when
I let my pussy in.”
When this song was finished they started a game of Puss in the Corner, and they were just in themidst of it when the great Swiss cow-bell rang, inviting the guests to luncheon. Then the children were formed into line with mistress and Burt at the head, and off they marched toward the dining-room to the tune of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Several ladies assisted mistress with serving. The table was decorated with daffodils, and indeed daffodils were conspicuous all over the house. At each plate stood a little red basket filled with candy to take home.
When my kittens were all fast asleep I too went to the dining-room, and those happy faces were indeed a lovely sight. The children were just having their ice cream and cake, and one of the ladies was playing a soft, sweet air on the piano.
“This table-cloth is cleaner than ours,” said a voice as I entered, and at this the ladies all smiled at each other.
“This is starshine candy,” said Marjory.
“No, it’s moonshine drops,” said Arline.
The fact is, it was sunshine chips, as I heard mistress tell Bettie when the groceries came.
“How old is your little brother?” said Lillian to Doris.
“He is three months and six years,” said Doris.
“My little brother came on the 4th of July,” said Frances. “Papa bought him instead of fireworks.”
The ladies smiled some more.
“Our little brother is only two days old,” said Lillian.
“I bet if my papa had known about it, he would have bought him before your papa got him,” said Winifred.
At this the ladies all smiled again.
When luncheon was over, Frances engaged the attention of both old and young by her skill as a climber and slider, and it seems to me that twelve successful slides down the balustrade ought to have been enough for her, but, no, she wanted more, and in the thirteenth slide—biff, bang—down she went. But fortunately she landed on the couch, so that she escaped with only a bruise on her knee, which mistress quickly covered with court-plaster. But in descending, one of her heels struck Earl in the stomach and knocked him against the wall, so that he got a big bump on the back of his head.
Poor Earl tried hard not to cry, but the tears just oozed out in spite of him. Mistress sent word toMrs. Wallace, his grandmamma, and in a few minutes she appeared with a remedy, and attended to the sore place in such an efficient way as only grandmammas know how.
Booker turned the queerest somersaults, sideways, frontward and backward trying to get his sash off, and Goldie and he engaged in several pugilistic encounters to the great delight and amusement of the children.
Finally I thought I’d show them what I could do, so I jumped on the piano and played a tune for them. At this Budge took courage. He jumped off the bookcase where he had been stowed away, and joined me on the piano and we played a duet, the like of which has never been heard on land or sea.
While we were still playing, a gentleman came with a big square box which he opened up and set upon a very high three-legged stool. Then he had mistress sit in front of it and the children all around her. The curtains were drawn, and the room was darkened, when, whiz—something blew up and made an awful flash, and everybody said “ah,” except poor little Burt; he said, “ouch,” and began to cry. Some of the stuff from the “flash”had blown toward him and burned his hand so that it became very red and blistered. Mrs. Gafney rushed across to her house to get some soothing oil that was said to be the best thing in the world for burns, and Burt’s hand was bandaged up.
It began to look by this time as though the whole party would have to be sent home in an ambulance; but the arrival of Don told us that it was getting close unto six o’clock, for he had come to take Winifred home; and in a few minutes all the children, quite unwillingly, began to make ready for their departure.
As they bade us good-bye, they all said that they had had a very nice time, and mistress pinned on the breast of each child one of those beautiful daffodils; and so ended our party.
Here endeth also my story.
May the dear, kind Providence bless and keep you all.