Soffrona and Her Cat Muff

by Mary Martha Sherwood

I could tell you much about the pretty places through which they passed in going to poor Martha’s cottage, which were quite new to the little girls. They first went through some dark woods, where the trees met over their heads like the arches in a church; and then they came to a dingle, where water was running at the bottom, and they crossed the water by a wooden bridge; then they had to climb up such a steep, such a very steep hill, covered with bushes; then they came to a high field surrounded with trees, and in a corner of that field was old Martha’s thatched cottage. It was a poor place: the walls were black-and-white, and there were two windows, one of which was in the thatch, and one below, and a door, half of which was open; for it was such a door as you see in cottages, the lower part of which can be shut while the other is open. There was a little smoke coming out of the chimney, for Martha was cooking her potatoes for her dinner.

“Do you think Martha has any milk in her house?” said Soffrona; “for poor Muff must be very hungry by this time.”

“I fear not,” replied Jane: “but come, young ladies, we have been a long time getting up this hill, and we must be at home by three o’clock.”

So they went on, and came close to the door, and stood there a little while, looking in. They saw within the cottage a very small kitchen; but it was neat, and there was nothing out of its place. There was a wide chimney in the kitchen; and in the chimney a fire of sticks, over which hung a little kettle. Old Martha was sitting on a stool within the chimney. She was dressed in a blue petticoat and jacket, and had a high crowned, old-fashioned felt hat on her head, and a coarse clean check handkerchief on her neck. Before her was a spinning-wheel, which she was turning very diligently, for she could not see to do any work besides spinning; and by the fire, on the hob, sat a fine tortoise-shell cat, which was the old woman’s only companion. “O!” cried little Soffrona, “there is a cat! I see a cat!”

“Dear, Miss,” said Jane, “you can think of nothing but cats.”

“Well, Jane,” answered Sophia, “and if she is fond of cats, is there any harm in it?”

Jane could make no answer, for by this time old Martha had seen them, and came halting on her crutch to meet them, and to offer them all the seats in her house; and these were only a three-legged stool and two old chairs.

Sophia then presented the old woman with what she had brought from her mamma, and Jane gave her a bottle of medicine from her pocket: and the old woman spoke of the goodness of Almighty God, who had put it into the lady’s heart to provide her with what she needed most in this world.

Now, while Sophia and Jane and Martha were looking over the things which the lady had sent, the old cat had left the hob, and had come to Soffrona, and was staring wildly, and mewing in a strange way round the basket; and at the same time the kitten within began to mew. “Puss! Puss! pretty Puss!” said Soffrona, for she was half afraid of this large cat, and yet at the same time very well inclined to form a friendship with her.