TABBY thought she was a very smart cat, but there were some rats living in the barn who knew almost as much as Tabby did herself.

One morning Tabby went to the barn. She had tried for days to catch a rat, but just as she got her paw out to strike one off he scampered. “To-day I shall get the old gray rat, see if I don’t,” said Tabby to herself as she walked down the path.

She stepped softly into the door. But what was this new shining thing she saw?

Why, Farmer Jones had put a big trap there to catch the rats.

Now Tabby had never seen a trap, and she said to herself:

“Why, here is a pretty little house! It must be for me; I will walk right in. How nice!”

So she stepped in. Snap! went the door, shut! and there poor Puss was in prison.

She tried to get out, but she could not. She cried, but nobody came to let her out.

While she sat there feeling sad, two rats came and looked at her. The old gray one, as he stood on his hind legs, said:

“Aha! I see; I see! Anybody who goes into that door does not come out. I shall never go in.”

By and by Tommy Jones missed his pussy and went to the barn to look for her.

Oh! was not Tabby glad to see him coming?

Mrs. C. M. Livingston.