Moles.
“We lived in the hayloft and oh what frolics we used to have! What frolics! What frolics! We raced, we scampered, we skipped, we hopped, we tumbled over each other, we tumbled over ourselves, we chased each others’ tails, we chased our own tails, we played hide-and-seek in the hay, we scrambled up the beams, we ran along the rafters, we peeped down, we took turns sitting in our sunbeam—I speak now of a sunbeam which shone through a knot-hole.
With Her Eyes Half Shut.
“Our mother liked to curl herself up and sit with her eyes half shut watching our sports. She would sit a long, long time, scarcely moving, except to stir the end of her tail. We were happy to have her near us. She was gentle in her manners, though of course when she was watching, or catching, or holding, she looked fierce. Any cat would do so. She was not one of the cross kind, always cuffing and boxing and snapping and growling and spitting. She never punished us but once and that was when we were very little. We fell down the crooked stairs which led up to our home. She had always made us keep away from the small ends of the crooked stairs because there was no room there to put our paws.
Watching a Mouse.
“One day our mother had been watching a mouse at the bottom of the crooked stairs while we played at the top. I hopped too near the small ends and peeped down and my brothers and sisters hopped at me, and down we all went, heels over head. Our mother was angry, for she lost the mouse. We went without our dinner and had other punishment which I need not mention.
White Satin at Home.