PUSSY’S DREAM.

DAME PUSS fell asleep in the great arm-chair, And she dreamed a dream that was strange and rare. She dreamed that the mice were to give a grand ball, And begged her to come and dance with them all. Pussy said, in her dream, with a curtsy low, “With pleasure, dear friends, to your ball I’ll go.” But she said to herself with a sly little mew, “I’ll dance with you, yes,—but I’ll eat you, too.” When Pussy arrived at Castle Mouse She really could hardly get into the house; For the house it was small and the crowd it was great, And besides Madame Puss was a whole hour late. When she reached the great hall, which was really quite high, The mice placed before her a huge, mammoth pie; And they said, “Lady Puss, you are hungry, we fear, So the best of our dainties we’ve brought for you here.” So Puss with good-will set to work at the food, For the smell of that pastry, oh, wasn’t it good? She picked and she licked, and she gobbled away, And wished it might last for a year and a day. And when it was gone, Pussy thought with a sigh— “Ah, how will the mice taste, now—after the pie. However, I’ll eat them, of course, since they’re here.” She looked up—no sign of a mouse anywhere. No sign of a mouse,—and the door it was shut. Pussy made every effort to open it, but,— It was firm double locked, and the windows were barred, With railings of iron all heavy and hard. To make matters worse, as each window she tried, She heard the mice giggling and squeaking outside. By their shrill cries of triumph, they thought, it was plain, That their enemy never could get out again. At this Pussy’s courage at once did revive,— “What, stay here,” she cried, “and be buried alive,— Be eaten by mice when my sufferings are over,— No—never—miow! I will break down the door.” She gathered her strength for a terrible spring, And flew at the door like a bird on the wing. Crash, smash went the panels; one more frantic leap, And, then—why Dame Pussy awoke from her sleep. And there she was sitting in master’s arm-chair; No castle, no pie, not a mouse anywhere. She stretched herself yawning, and, rubbing her eyes, And looked all around with the greatest surprise. Ah, Pussy, t’was only a dream, dear, but still ’Twas a dream full of warning for good or for ill; When you go to Mouse Castle, just take my advice, Before touching the pastry, first eat up the mice.