He was awakened by hunger.
Moumouth was born of poor parents who had abandoned him in his earliest infancy; he had been brought up in the streets, obliged to procure his own living, and trained in the school of adversity. Thus he was very skillful in the art of catching rats and mice,—a useful art, too often neglected by cats belonging to the first families.
The Imprudent Mouse.
He placed himself on the watch, and surprised a mouse that had stolen out of its hole to eat some flour. He dropped upon the imprudent mouse, in describing what is called in geometry a parabola, and seized it by the nose, to prevent it from crying out. This feat, although performed with address and in silence, attracted the attention of the baker’s boy. "Hi! a cat!" cried the apprentice, arming himself with a scoop.
"Don’t hurt him!" said the Baker.
The master-baker turned his eyes towards Moumouth, saw him devouring the mouse, and said to the boy:—
"Don’t hurt him; he is doing us a service."
"But where did he come from?"