"Mew! mew! mew! Why don't they let me in? I have been here on these cold steps for three days. I am very hungry and unhappy. Why do they shut me out in the cold?

"Ethel said she was going to the city for the Christmas vacation. She said I could catch mice till she came back. But the mice are in the barn and I can't get in.

"The house, too, is shut up. No one is there to give me any milk. My warm bed is in the kitchen, by the stove. I can't sleep on these cold stones.

"This is a dreadful Christmas! Last year I had a pitcher of cream and a string of popcorn from Ethel's Christmas tree. She is very good to me when she is at home. I wish she would come back. I am so frightened and hungry! Mew! mew!"

TO MY CAT MUFF.

Thou art not "dumb," my Muff;
In those sweet pleading eyes and earnest look
Language there were enough
To fill, with living type, a goodly book,
Wherein who read might see
What tones unheard, and forms of silent speech
Are given, that such as thee
The eloquence of dumbness, men might teach.
JOHN OWEN.