Letters from a Cat.
INTRODUCTION.
Dear Children:
I do not feel wholly sure that my Pussy wrote these letters herself. Theyalways came inside the letters written to me by my mamma, or other friends,and I never caught Pussy writing at any time when I was at home; but theprinting was pretty bad, and they were signed by Pussy's name; and my mammaalways looked very mysterious when I asked about them, as if there weresome very great secret about it all; so that until I grew to be a big girl,I never doubted but that Pussy printed them all alone by herself, afterdark.
They were written when I was a very little girl, and was away from homewith my father on a journey. We made this journey in our own carriage, andit was one of the pleasantest things that ever happened to me. My clothesand my father's were packed in a little leather valise which was hung bystraps underneath the carriage, and went swinging, swinging, back andforth, as the wheels went round. My father and I used to walk up all thesteep hills, because old Charley, our horse, was not very strong; and Ikept my eyes on that valise all the while I was walking behind thecarriage; it seemed to me the most unsafe way to carry a valise, and Iwished very much that my best dress had been put in a bundle that I couldcarry in my lap. This was the only drawback on the pleasure of myjourney,--my fear that the valise would fall off when we did not know it,and be left in the road, and then I should not have anything nice to wearwhen I reached my aunt's house. But the valise went through all safe, and Ihad the satisfaction of wearing my best dress every afternoon while Istayed; and I was foolish enough to think a great deal of this.
On the fourth day after our arrival came a letter from my mamma, giving mea great many directions how to behave, and enclosing this first letter fromPussy. I carried both letters in my apron pocket all the time. They werethe first letters I ever had received, and I was very proud of them. Ishowed them to everybody, and everybody laughed hard at Pussy's, and askedme if I believed that Pussy printed it herself. I thought perhaps my mammaheld her paw, with the pen in it, as she had sometimes held my hand for me,and guided my pen to write a few words. I asked papa to please to askmamma, in his letter, if that were the way Pussy did it; but when his nextletter from mamma came, he read me this sentence out of it: "Tell Helen Idid not hold Pussy's paw to write that letter." So then I felt sure Pussydid it herself; and as I told you, I had grown up to be quite a big girlbefore I began to doubt it. You see I thought my Pussy such a wonderfulPussy that nothing was too remarkable for her to do. I knew very well thatcats generally di