Whenever they tried
To dig in the dirt.

F. L. T.

[Illustration]

KITTY BELL.

ONCE there was a little girl named Alice, and she had an Uncle George
whom she loved very dearly. One day, as Alice was looking out of the
window, she saw her Uncle George coming into the yard with a covered
basket in his hand.

Alice ran to meet him, and, as she was kissing him in the hall, she
heard a faint sound in the basket, and exclaimed, "O Uncle George! what
have you brought me?"

"Look into the basket and see," said her uncle.

So Alice peeped in very carefully, and saw a little black kitten. The
little girl was delighted, and fairly danced around her uncle as she
said, "What a dear little kitten! Is it for me, Uncle George? Who sent
it to me? Did you bring it from your house?"

"Yes," said her uncle, "your Cousin Edith sent it to you; she thought
you would like it."

"Well," said Alice, "you must thank Edith a thousand times, and here is
a kiss for you for bringing it to me; and I'm sure the poor little thing
must be hungry: so I'll give it something to eat."

She carried the kitten into the kitchen, and soon got from the cook a
nice pan of milk. Her little brother Harry came running in to see the
new kitten eat its dinner, and with him came the old family cat, Mouser,
who rubbed and purred against Alice, as if he wanted her to pet him too.

The next thing was to find a name, "pretty, and not too common," Alice
said. While she was trying to think of one, she went up to her own
little room, and searched among her ribbons for a piece to tie around
the kitten's neck. She soon found one that was just the thing.

In one of her drawers she found a tiny bell that somebody had given
her, and thought it would be a good plan to hang that around kitty's
neck by the ribbon. Kitty made no objection to being thus decorated, and
a happy thought struck Alice; "Kitty Bell would be just the name for
her!" and Kitty Bell it was.

[Illustration]

Kitty grew very fast; and one morning, after she had got to be a
good-sized kitten, she came to Alice, and mewed quite piteously. Alice
gave her some milk; but Kitty Bell was not hungry, and mewed still more.
Alice could not think what was the matter.

At last Kitty Bell gave her head a shake, and put one paw up to the
ribbon on her neck, as if trying to pull it over her head. Alice untied
the ribbon, and away ran K