time with the cats, and every time any cat or kitten stepped over the
little wall of stakes into the apartment of another family, it was very
gently lifted up and put back again into its own room, and stroked and
told in gentle voice,--

"Stay in your own room, kitty."

And at meal-times there was very little trouble, after the first few
days, with anybody but Juniper. All the rest learned very soon which
milk-pan belonged to them, and would run straight to it, as soon as
Johnny called them. But Juniper was an independent cat; and he persisted
in walking about from room to room, pretty much as he pleased. You see
he was the only unemployed cat in the set. Mammy Tittleback had her
hands full,--I suppose you ought to say paws full when you are speaking
of cats,--with six kittens of her own and two adopted ones; and
Mousiewary was just as busy with her two kittens as if she had had ten;
but Juniper had nobody to look after except himself. He was a lazy cat
too. He always used to walk slowly to his meals. The rest would all be
running and jumping in their hurry to get to the house when Johnny and
Rosy called them; but Juniper would come marching along as slowly as if
he were in no sort of hurry, in fact, as if he didn't care whether he
had anything to eat or not. But once he got to the pan he would drink
fully his share, and more too.

[Illustration]

II.

Now I must tell you about the adopted kittens. They belonged to a wild
cat who lived in the garden. Nobody knew anything about this cat. She
was a kind of a beggar and thief cat, Johnny said. She wouldn't let you
take care of her, or get near her; and the only reason she took up her
abode in the garden with her kittens was so as to be near the
milk-house, and have a chance now and then to steal milk out of the
great kettles. One day the children found the poor thing dead in the
chicken yard. What killed her there was nothing to show, but dead she
was, and no mistake; so the children carried her away and buried her,
and then went to look for her little kittens. There were four of them,
and the poor little things were half dead from hunger. Their mother must
have been dead some time before the children found her. They were too
young to be fed, and the only chance for saving their lives was to get
Mammy Tittleback to adopt them.

"She's got an awful big family now," said Phil, "but we might try her."

"She won't know but they're her own, if we don't let them