Part 1 — KITTY'S CHRISTMAS.
Reading edition
"Mew! mew! mew! Why don't they let me in? I have been here on these cold steps for three days. I am very hungry and unhappy. Why do they shut me out in the cold?
"Ethel said she was going to the city for the Christmas vacation. She said I could catch mice till she came back. But the mice are in the barn and I can't get in.
"The house, too, is shut up. No one is there to give me any milk. My warm bed is in the kitchen, by the stove. I can't sleep on these cold stones.
"This is a dreadful Christmas! Last year I had a pitcher of cream and a string of popcorn from Ethel's Christmas tree. She is very good to me when she is at home. I wish she would come back. I am so frightened and hungry! Mew! mew!"
TO MY CAT MUFF.
Thou art not "dumb," my Muff; In those sweet pleading eyes and earnest look Language there were enough To fill, with living type, a goodly book, Wherein who read might see What tones unheard, and forms of silent speech Are given, that such as thee The eloquence of dumbness, men might teach. JOHN OWEN.