as usual of
them or economical, because all the outcast cats came and took up with
her, and homeless or unlovable animals of other kinds heard about it and
came, and these spread the matter to the other creatures, and they came
also; and as the birds and the other timid wild things of the woods were
not afraid of her, but always had an idea she was a friend when they
came across her, and generally struck up an acquaintance with her to get
invited to the house, she always had samples of those breeds in stock.
She was hospitable to them all, for an animal was an animal to her,
and dear by mere reason of being an animal, no matter about its sort
or social station; and as she would allow of no cages, no collars, no
fetters, but left the creatures free to come and go as they liked, that
contented them, and they came; but they didn't go, to any extent, and
so they were a marvelous nuisance, and made Jacques d'Arc swear a good
deal; but his wife said God gave the child the instinct, and knew what
He was doing when He did it, therefore it must have its course; it would
be no sound prudence to meddle with His affairs when no invitation had
been extended. So the pets were left in peace, and here they were, as
I have said, rabbits, birds, squirrels, cats, and other reptiles, all
around the child, and full of interest in her supper, and helping what
they could. There was a very small squirrel on her shoulder, sitting
up, as those creatures do, and turning a rocky fragment of prehistoric
chestnut-cake over and over in its knotty hands, and hunting for the
less indurated places, and giving its elevated bushy tail a flirt and
its pointed ears a toss when it found one--signifying thankfulness and
surprise--and then it filed that place off with those two slender front
teeth which a squirrel carries for that purpose and not for ornament,
for ornamental they never could be, as any will admit that have noticed
them.

Everything was going fine and breezy and hilarious, but then there came
an interruption, for somebody hammered on the door. It was one of those
ragged road-stragglers--the eternal wars kept the country full of them.
He came in, all over snow, and stamped his feet, and shook, and brushed
himself, and shut the door, and took off his limp ruin of a hat, and
slapped it once or twice against his leg to knock off its fleece of
snow, and then glanced around on the company with a pleased look upon
his thin face, and a most yearning an