PAPA’S PETS.
ON TRIAL.
Little Hal Keys was pretty sure to throw a stone at every pussy cat he saw, and so all the cats around used to have a great deal to say about him as they sat together on the back fences, or when they had a party in the big barn. At last the cats determined to do something about it, and so they said: “We will have him up for trial before Judge Thomas White.” He was the wisest and oldest of all the cats in town, and wore spectacles that made him look even wiser than he was. Eleven of the most learned cats said they would be lawyers, and get other cats to be witnesses, to tell what Hal had done, and try to get him punished. One of the eleven said: “For the sake of Hal’s mother, who has always been kind to me from the time I was a little kitten, I will be his lawyer, and try to get his punishment made as light as I can.”
DOLLY VARDEN ACCUSING JACK WITH CRUELTY.
Twelve cats had to be found who could say that they were not quite sure that Hal was such a bad boy as he seemed to be. They were stay-at-home cats, who did not know what was going on outside of the comfortable houses where they lived. These twelve cats were to be the jury, and it was their duty to hear all that the lawyers and the witnesses had to say about Hal’s doings, and then to tell whether or not they thought he ought to be punished.
At last the day of the trial came; Judge Thomas White sat down in his big chair and took his pen; the lawyers took their places; the twelve jury cats were brought in, and put in a high box, so they could not jump out and run away. Hal was brought in and put in the prisoner’s box, as they call it; and Christopher Gray, his mother’s old cat, took his place beside Hal. Three cats, called “reporters,” came in with pockets full of paper and pencils, to write down all that is said; to print in the newspapers, for all cats in the world to read.
The first witness to tell all the bad she knew about Hal was his sister Alice’s little Dolly Varden. How saucy she looked, with the blue ribbon tied around her neck, as she sat on the witness stand telling how Hal chased her from cellar to garret; and stepped on her tail; and gave her saucer of milk to the dog Jack whenever he got a chance. “Cruel, cruel boy,” said Dolly Varden, “he teases his sister almost as much as he teases me.”