The Life and Adventures of Poor Puss

Excerpt

Poor Puss, the subject of the following memoir, was the favourite companion of Widow Wales and her little girl Julia. She departed this life in her fifth year, and was interred at the bottom of the garden, last Thursday morning at half-past eight o'clock. The cause of her death proceeded from an internal disorder and shortness of breath. For a week or more it was evident that her end was fast approaching, as her strength was nearly gone, and she was unable to perform her usual duties.

The principal events in the life of poor Puss, we shall now endeavour to relate. She was born at a farm house, in the neighbourhood of Easingwold. At a very early period in life she became addicted to little petty thefts and misdemeanors, such as getting into the dairy and lapping the cream from the bowls, and stealing meat or anything that happened to be on the table, as soon as ever she had a chance. For these and other acts of transgression she frequently got a good whipping, so that she was very shy of going into the dairy again.

When she got a little older, she would frequently run about in the yard, and play with old Keeper and hide herself in his kennel, where she would remain concealed behind the door and when Keeper wanted to come in, she would spring at him, and scratch his nose, but Keeper did not like such fun as this, and so he fell quite vexed, and bit a piece of her tail end, which so frightened poor Puss that she durst not come near him for a long time to come.

The mother of poor Puss now thought it was high time that she should begin to fend for herself, and so she took her into the barn on a mousing expedition. For a long time they watched the hole of a mouse, which appeared to be the residence of a whole family, and at length the old mouse came out followed by six little ones. The old cat seized the old mouse, and killed three or four of the little ones. The young cat seized hold of one, and wanted to play with it, but it slipped into the hole and she could see no more of it. The other little mouse was running away as fast as it could, but Puss sprang at it and gave it a nip which made it quiet enough.

Puss soon became a good hand at killing mice, but her pride received a severe check, for one day a large rat was running across the barn, and Puss thinking it was a large mouse ran to seize it, but the rat turned round and seized Puss by the nose and bit her severely so that she went away to her mother, mewing very piteously with her face all swelled and covered with blood.

Puss durst not meddle with rats for a long time after this, but at length she got stronger and would kill them and many other such vermin. She had plenty of work, for there were many rats at the farm house. While pursuing a large rat one day, she set her foot into a trap which had been set to catch them, and though she was taken out very carefully by the farmer's daughters who were swinging in an old tree at the bottom of the orchard, it hurt her very much and she was lame for many weeks after.

Puss was now become a fine, healthy, good looking cat, and a smart looking Tom Cat in the neighbourhood paid his court to Miss Puss, and asked her by kind looks and gentle actions if she would become his wife. Puss scolded and scratched for some time, but at length they made a match of it, and in due time, Puss became a mother. She however, notwithstanding all her skill in concealing them, was doomed to see her small family torn from her, and share the same fate as her brothers and sisters had experienced on former occasions....