<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>THREE LITTLE KITTENS</h2>
<div class='poem'><div class='cap'>
THREE little kittens lost their mittens<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And they began to cry,</span><br/>
"Oh, mother dear, we very much fear<br/>
That we have lost our mittens."<br/></div>
</div>
<p>"I'll help you find them," cried Puss, Junior,
looking in through the door of a little green
house.</p>
<p>"Will you?" said a little tabby cat.</p>
<p>"I think we lost them by the woodpile," said
a little gray kitten.</p>
<p>"Perhaps we dropped them while playing
hide and go seek," said a cute black kitty.</p>
<p>"Come on, my little pussyfoots," cried Puss,
Junior, with a grin. "I'm pretty good at finding
things—except people—I can't find my dear
father."</p>
<p>"How did you lose him?" asked the first little
kitty, as they all ran out into the back yard.</p>
<p>"I don't know any more than you know how
you lost your mittens," replied Puss, Junior,
with a laugh.</p>
<p>"If you find our mittens we'll help you find
your father," cried the three little kittens. But,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span>
hunt as they might, no mittens were to be found.
Under the woodpile and back of the old well,
behind the woodshed and under the grape arbor,
they hunted, but in vain.</p>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/gs10.png" width-obs="367" height-obs="475" alt="Puss and Mittens" title="" /></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"You naughty kittens! Lost your mittens!
Then you shall have no pie!"</p>
<p>"Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow."</p>
<p>"No, you shall have no pie."</p>
<p>"Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow."</p>
<p>"Have you looked in the barn?" asked Puss.</p>
<p>"No," cried the three little kittens.</p>
<p>"Well, that's a good place to look if you've
been playing there," suggested Puss. So they all
ran out to the barn. But just as they entered
the big door a little mouse scurried into a hole
and a big gray rat ran into the corn bin.</p>
<p>"Look here, little mouse, if you'll tell us whether
you've seen any mittens we won't hurt you," cried
Puss. But the little mouse didn't reply.</p>
<p>"My dear Mr. Rat," said Puss, Junior, speaking
into a crack of the corn bin, "if you'll tell us
whether you have seen any mittens we'll promise
not to touch you." But the rat didn't answer.</p>
<p>"They're afraid of you," said the little black
kitty.</p>
<p>"Then you ask them," whispered Puss, Junior.</p>
<p>"Did you see our mittens?" whispered the
black kitty to the little mouse.</p>
<p>"Yes," replied a squeaky voice. "I saw some
mittens in the tool closet." Then the little black
kitty ran over to the tool closet, and pretty soon
he came dancing out on his two hind legs.
"Here they are! Here they are!" he cried, with a
happy purr.</p>
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