And gazed at his master and understood;
Then up we carried, in order due,
“Maria,” the cat, and her kittens two.
Proud purred the mother, and arched her back,
And vaunted her kittens, one white, one black;
And the sweet white kitten was good and still,
But the black one played with his nightgown’s frill.
He stroked them all with his poor weak hand.
But he felt they could not understand.
He smiled, however, and was not vext,