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Dixie Kitten

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<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/dkchap05.jpg" width-obs="570" height-obs="190" alt="Dixie in a corner of the barn" /></div> <h2 class="nobreak">Dixie’s Troubles</h2></div> Dixie was very happy, but even the happiest little cat has her troubles, and Dixie had one great grief and disappointment. Every evening, just as she was having the most delightful nap that could be imagined, Lady began to straighten out the books and papers, push the chairs back, and fasten the windows. Dixie watched all this with her bright, round eyes, for she knew that the next thing would be, “Come, Dixie, time to go to bed”; and then she would be put out of the door and have to go back to the barn to sleep. It seemed very hard that while the soft cushion was to be there alone all night long, she could not be permitted to use it; but Lady always said, “No, Dixie, you must run home now”; and one night when it [Pg 34] was snowing fast, Lady put on some rubber boots and carried her over to the hole in the barn door rather than let her lie on that warm cushion all night. This, then, was Dixie’s one trouble, for a cat’s home is where her bed is, and Dixie did so want to make her home with Lady and not in that barn. The trouble became worse and worse, for Dixie was going to have some kittens of her own, and where should she make a cosy nest for them? She could not bear to have them in the barn, for she did not feel that she was a barn cat any longer, she was a house cat, even if she did have to go to the barn to sleep. In every pretty coaxing way that she knew she begged Lady to let her stay in the house. She picked out one corner after another that she thought would be just the place for baby kittens. One was on the padded cover of a shirt-waist box in Lady’s room. Another was in the deep drawer of [Pg 35] an old-fashioned bureau that chanced to be left open a few minutes. Her favorite place, however, was in a big, round basket. She learned to push the cover off with her paw, and she would cuddle herself down in a little ring and look up at Lady pleadingly. “No, Dixie,” was always the answer to her begging, “you must not stay there.” She lay on the sofa much of the time. If Lady was near her, all was well; but when Lady went anywhere else, Dixie followed. When Lady sat down, Dixie seated herself directly in front of her, and made plaintive little moans and gazed straight up into her eyes so beseechingly that more than once Lady slipped out of sight and went away from the house rather than to have to say no again and again. “She must think it is pretty hard,” said Somebody Else, “to be petted as long as everything goes smoothly, and then turned out of doors as soon as she is in trouble.” [Pg 36] “But,” replied Lady, “you must remember that she is not our cat. She is a dear little visitor, but she belongs to Master and Mistress, and we must not let her make this her home.” Dixie seemed to understand that they were talking about her, and she pleaded more earnestly than ever. When Lady sat down upon the sofa, Dixie would snuggle up beside her as close as possible, she would touch Lady’s fingers with the tip of her tiny red tongue, she would purr and look up into Lady’s face more and more coaxingly every day. Still Lady said, “No, Dixie, the barn is your home, and you must make a nest there for your kittens.” She even carried Dixie over to the barn two or three times, but the poor little cat always hurried back again. At length there came a day when Dixie was plainly suffering. “She must go to the barn,” declared Lady. “Perhaps if I pull [Pg 37] down the shade of the piazza window, she will think we are away and will go back.” She pulled the shade down, but Dixie did not go; she only crouched down in the corner of the piazza nearest the window, and sat there looking sick and unhappy. Lady was almost as unhappy. She wandered from one room to another, restless and miserable. Every few minutes she came back to the sitting-room, pulled the curtain aside softly, and peeped out; and every time she saw the poor little suffering cat curled up in the corner. At last she said, “I’ll carry her over once more, and perhaps when she is once there she will be willing to stay.” Lady started to carry her over; but close to the door lay a big yellow cat. He crouched low, almost as if he was about to spring, and little Dixie trembled and clung fast to Lady. Then Lady carried her straight home and into the house. “I [Pg 38] simply won’t let any animal be so miserable and frightened,” she declared. “Master is at his office and Mistress has a house full of company, so there’s no one to ask; but that poor little kitten shan’t suffer so, no matter whether she is mine or theirs. I’m going to make you a bed, Dixie,” she continued, “and a comfortable place for the kittens.” Dixie certainly understood some of this at least, for when Lady hurried down cellar to look for a box and brought excelsior and a piece of blanket from the attic to line it with, Dixie followed, no longer moaning, but watching closely every motion. “We’ll put it into this quiet room off the kitchen,” Lady explained to Dixie; and she lifted the little cat and laid her into the soft, warm nest. Cats are not often willing to let People choose nests for them, but Dixie was happy and grateful, and she lay down at once. Lady made it all still [Pg 39] and dark around her and went away for a while. When she came back, there lay Dixie in the nest, and beside her were four of the dearest little kittens. One was yellow, and one was black, and the other two were black and white. They were named then and there. The yellow one was Buttercup, the black one Topsy, and the other two were the Heavenly Twins. Lady brought Dixie some warm milk, and then left her to rest with her four little furry kitty babies. [Pg 40] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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