CHAPTER III
OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR
In a minute he came out with a tin pail in his hand, and all the cats ran after him, and he said, "Shoo, Teddy," and they ran away a little bit, but came back and mewed and rubbed against his feet. He handed me the pail across the fence, and I took it, and he said, "A little at a time, boy." Then he went up to his porch and got a big dish and said, "Here, Teddy, Teddy," and all the cats ran to him, and he fed them.
I stood watching him, and he said, "Why don't you ease the pump?" and I said, "If you please, sir, which one of your cats is Teddy?" He said, "Sho, boy, they're all named Teddy after President Roosevelt, and because it saves trouble. When I calls, 'Here, Teddy,'—they all comes. When I calls, 'Shoo, Teddy,'—they all shoos," And I said, "That's the best idea I ever heard of—for cats."
He said, "Now, boy, you lift the handle of that pump high and throw some water into her, and then keep a-pumping." And I did, and the water came, and I pumped up a glassful, but he wouldn't take any.
Then I said I'd fill the pail and bring it round because I'd like to see his cats close to, and he said, "Never mind the pail, young fellow, jist hand it over and come round yourself,"
So I did, first calling to Aunty Edith to ask if I might, and she came to the door and shook hands with him, over the fence, and said, "How do you do, Mr. Taylor. This is William Gordon, the son of Captain Gordon, I told you of." Then he said, "Sho, you don't meanter say it! I served under his grandfather." And Aunty Edith said to me, "William, Mr. Taylor was a soldier in the army all through the Civil War, and he can tell you lots about it." So I went over to his house and we sat on his back porch, and he smoked a pipe, and I played with all his Teddy-cats.