There was once a boy named James, and one day his father came home and said, “James, I have got something for you.”

“What is it, father?” said James.

“Oh, I will show it to you presently,” said his father.

“Where is it?” said James.

“It is in a little basket, which I left out in the other room.”

So when James’ father had put away his hat and whip, he went out into the other room, and presently came in bringing a basket in his hands, which he was holding carefully by the handle.

“Oh, let me see, let me see,” said James; and he came up to his father, and began to pull down the basket.

This was wrong, for children ought never to attempt to pull any thing away from their father. It was foolish too, as well as wrong, for James could not succeed in pulling it away. The more he pulled, the higher his father held up the basket, until at last his father told him to let go. He obeyed.

Then his father held the basket down low. He put it in a chair, and James stood by the side of it. He saw that there was a cloth spread over the top of it, and tied round the basket. James’ father untied the string, and unwound it, and then carefully lifted up the cloth, and James looked in and saw there a beautiful gray kitten.

The kitten appeared afraid; she curled down into a corner of the basket, and looked up as if she was frightened.

“Oh, father,” said James, “let me take her out.”

“Well,” said his father, “but do it carefully.”

So James put his hands in to take up the kitten; but when she saw them coming, it frightened her more, and she jumped up to the top of the basket, and then leaped out upon the chair, and from the chair to the floor. She ran along the floor. At the same instant, James ran after her, holding out his hands, saying, “Oh, catch her, catch her.” His father only turned round quietly, and shut the door. He was much wiser than James, for James’ bustle and noise only made the kitten more frightened, while his father quietly did what would effectually keep the kitten from running away.

“Now, James,” said his father, “let the kitten stay there under the table a minute or two, while I tell you something. You see how frightened she looks. She is afraid you will hurt her. Now, if you treat her very gently and kindly for a few days, and do not try to catch her at first, she will soon find out that you are her friend, and she will not be afraid of you. She will let you take her, and play with her as much as you please. But if you handle her roughly, or tease her in any way, she will be always wild.”

Then James’ father went away.

James stood a minute or two looking at his kitten, and then he thought he would go and catch her. So he walked along towards the table, and then stooped down to take up the kitten, but she suddenly turned round, and ran under the chairs, and hid behind a basket, in one corner of the room.

James ran after her. He pulled away the basket, and saw the kitten for an instant crouching in a corner of the room, staring wildly at him, and evidently very much terrified. The moment she found that the basket was taken away, and that she was exposed again, she started off, ran directly across the room, towards a large clock which was in the opposite corner, and squeezed under it.

James now did not know what to do. He could not move the great, heavy clock. He put his face close down to the floor, and looked under, and he could just see the kitten’s two shining eyes there, but he could not reach in, to take her.“Ah,” said he at last, “I know what I can do. I can go and get father’s cane, and then I can poke her out.” So he went out into the entry and got the cane, and came back, and began to thrust it under, and behind the clock. The poor kitten was much more frightened to hear this thumping around her, and to feel the great stick punching her sides; so presently she darted out, ran across the room, and out through the door which James had left open.

James followed her, brandishing* his cane. When he got to the entry, he found that the kitten was half way up stairs. He immediately began to go up as fast as he could, but she could go faster. She leaped up from step to step, then ran along the passage way at the top until she reached the door leading to the garret, which James saw, to his chagrin, was open a very little.

Do you know what chagrin means? It means the feeling James had when he saw that the garret door was open. What sort of a feeling do you think that was?

The kitten squeezed through the opening of the garret door, and disappeared. James opened the door wide, and went up nearly to the top of the garret stairs, and looked into the garret. It was rather dark there, and the boards looked loose on the floor, and there were a great many boxes and barrels there, and James was afraid to go in. So he stood there and called “Kitty, kitty, kitty.” But the kitty knew him by this time too well to come.

Now James began to be sorry that he had not taken his father’s advice, and treated his kitten more gently and kindly. He was afraid she was lost, and that he could never get her again.

That night, at tea time, when his father had heard all about it, he reproved James for his harsh and cruel treatment of his kitten, and told him that he thought he deserved to lose her entirely.

“Do you think I shall lose her entirely?”

“No,” said his father, “not this time. I think I can get her out of the garret.”

“How?” said James.

“Why, by kindness and gentleness. I shall draw her out by doing exactly the opposite to what you did to drive her in. But I do not believe it will do any good. I do not think you will ever treat her kindly enough to make her trust you.”

James promised that he would; but his father knew that he did not always keep his promises.That evening, James’ father poured a little milk into a saucer, and he and James carried it up garret, and put it upon the floor, and then came directly down again. The next morning they went up to look at it, and found that the milk was gone. They then brought down the saucer, filled it again, and carried it back. They stopped a minute to look round for the kitten, and presently they saw her behind a barrel. James wanted to go and catch her, but his father would not let him. His father said, “Poor pussy, poor pussy,” in a gentle, soothing tone, and put the saucer down where she could see it, and then led James away down stairs. When he went out that morning, he forbid James going to the garret till he came home.

At noon they carried some more milk up, and the kitten came out a little way towards them.“There,” said James’ father, “do you not see the effect of kindness?”

He then put the saucer down, and went back with James a few steps, and stood still. The kitten came up to the saucer and began to drink the milk.

“Now let us go and catch her,” said James.

“No,” said his father.

After the kitten had drunk all the milk, she ran back behind the barrel, and James and his father came down stairs.

The next time they went up, they stood close by the saucer, and the kitten came up slowly and cautiously. James’ father gently stroked her back while she was feeding, and James thought he was certainly going to catch her then. But he did not; he let her drink the milk and then go back behind the barrels.“Why, father, are you not ever going to catch her?” said James.

“Yes,” said his father, “when the proper time comes”; and they went down stairs.

The next time they came, the kitten came running out to meet them, and they held the saucer down. When she came near, James’ father reached out his hand, and took her up gently and said, “Now we will carry her down stairs.”

“Let me carry her,” said James.

“Well, you may,” said his father; “but you must hold her very carefully.” So James took the kitten, and his father took the saucer, and they went down stairs. They put the kitten and the saucer under the table, and pretty soon, though she seemed rather frightened at first, she began to drink. James’ father forbid his touching her, or doing any thing to her, all day.Thus, in a few days, the kitten became considerably tame, and would let James play with her, but he soon began to handle her roughly again. He would pull her by the tail, and carry her around under his arm, and try to make her stand up on her hind legs, and do a great many other things, which he thought was very good fun for him, but which were very terrifying or painful to her. The kitten became very much afraid of him. She would never let him play with her, or catch her, if she could possibly get away, and often in struggling to get away she would scratch his hands. Thus the kitten hated James, and James soon began to hate the kitten.

“She is a cross, ugly, good for nothing old puss,” said he one day.

“Very well,” said his father, “then I will take her out of your way.”So his father got the basket, and put her gently in it, and he spread the cloth over it, and tied it down; James stood by, looking sorrowfully.

“What are you going to do with her, father?” said he.

“I am going to take her out of your way. She shall never trouble you any more.”

Then James’ father put on his hat, and took the basket and walked away.

Some months afterwards James went to see Rollo. He found Rollo out on the platform, in the garden-yard. You remember the picture of the garden-yard. You can see the platform in the picture if you look back.

When James arrived at the house, and went through to the yard to see Rollo, he found him playing horses. He had a little wooden cart, very small, with a string tied to it, and was trotting about on the platform. And who do you think he had in the cart for a driver? Why, it was a little gray kitten! She was lying down in the cart with her fore paws resting on the front of it, and her chin resting on her fore paws, and she seemed to enjoy her ride very much. She looked so funny that James could not help laughing.

“Oh, what a beautiful kitten!” said he. “I wish I had such a kitten. I had one once, but she was not such a tame, good kitten as that,—she was an old, cross, ugly, good for nothing puss. She did nothing but scratch me.”

Now it happened that this was the very kitten which James had, though James did not know it. His father had come and given it to Rollo. Rollo called her Ooty, and he made her gentle and tame by treating her kindly.