ID you ever see a cat laugh? Look at the cat in the picture, and see if she is not laughing. It is plain to me that she is.
What is she laughing at? Why, that is plain enough too. She is amused at the talk of those two little girls about her kittens.
There are four kittens,—just two for each; but little Jenny wants to take them all up in her arms, though she can hardly hold more than one. This is what pleases the old cat.
Now I am going to tell you a cat story.
Once, when I taught school in the country, I boarded at farmer Clark's house, where there were sixteen cats,—Yes, sixteen cats! There was a big yellow cat, and a big gray cat, and a big black-and-white cat, and lots of little kittens.
The big gray cat was named Gussy. She was the grandmother of them all. She lived in the house. The rest staid around the barn. Farmer Clark was a good man, and did not believe in killing any thing that was not dangerous to life or property. So no little kittens were drowned, if he knew it.
Mrs. Clark taught me how to make butter; and I was told to feed the skimmed milk to the cats. There were two large dish-pans that I used for this purpose. They were shallow and leaky; but precious little time there was for the milk to leak.
As soon as I appeared at the door, and called, "Tom, Tom!" the cats came tumbling, pell-mell, mewing, and rubbing against me. It was a sight to see.