One day mistress took me into grandpa’s room and said, “Father, this is Meow the Second.” Although grandpa was too ill to say much to me, still I knew from the kind look on his face, and from his gentle touch, that he was a friend of cats. “I’m very glad to see Meow, but don’t hurt Watch’s feelings,” was all he was able to say, and pretty soon mistress took me out.
Watch was a big shepherd dog that had lived on the farm for many years. He wanted to be in grandpa’s room all the time. When he was admitted he would lie down alongside the bed, and look straight at grandpa all the while, till he was ordered out, and then he just went as far as the door and lay down. There he would stay all day, and unless his food was brought to him, he would go hungry.
Watch never did me any harm, but he wasn’t as friendly with me as Dennis. He barked at all strangers, but never hurt anybody.
In front of the house was a very large maple tree under which mistress stretched her hammock, and there in the cool shade we spent many happy days; but Guy spent most of his time at the neighbors helping the boys do their chores.
V
SOME EXPERIENCES ON THE FARM
I had never seen any chickens until I visited grandpa’s farm, so one day shortly after our arrival I went into the chicken-coop to make them a visit.
A hen was sitting on a lot of eggs, and I had no intention of disturbing her. But when she saw me she began a terrible cackling, and flew away. Then I went up and sat on the eggs myself; but in a few minutes the big rooster came to the coop, followed by nearly all the other roosters and the hens, and such a cackling and crowing I never heard in all my life. It seemed as if every one of the seventy fowl in the barnyard would cry themselves hoarse. I concluded that I was not a welcome visitor, so I left the nest and jumped out of the window. I thought it best not to go through the door with all those cacklers in wait for me.
The stable was empty, because Elsa the cow, and Kate the horse, were out in the pasture. Elsa had large brown eyes and a beautiful brown coat with a white star on her forehead, and she was very gentle. Guy generally rubbed her back and sides and shooed off the flies while grandma milked her, and we cats were always on hand at milking time. Just as soon as grandma had finished she would always pour some milk into our saucer, and it tasted just about like our city milkman’s cream. (Once when Guy came home from school he filled my saucer out of the cream pail, and that’s how I know what city cream tastes like.)
Elsa had once been the queen of a large milk-herd, and she seemed very proud of her old Swiss cow-bell which always hung at her neck, suspended from a leather strap. Whenever it was time to bring her in from the pasture, grandma or Guy would take a little bucket containing salt, and stand up on the fence and show it to Elsa. Then as soon as she saw it she would come right along; and, of course, she was always given some salt as soon as she reached the barnyard.
It was Kate that brought us out from the steamboat landing on that dreadfully hot summer day. There was no real hard work for her to do on the farm. But she had served grandpa so well during the years of her strength, that, although no longer needed, still she was allowed to remain and enjoy the rest and quiet. All the neighbors seemed to know and respect her, and whenever any of them passed by, she would go up to the fence and whinney, in response to their greeting. Elsa was her constant companion in the pasture, and their lot was indeed a happy one.