Three Little Kittens 
 
 A Story for Little Tots 
 By UNCLE MILTON 
 
 Published and Copyrighted 1908 by 
 
 THE ULLMAN MFG. CO. 
 NEW YORK 
 
NE morning Mrs. Tabby Car 
 called her three little child- 
 ren, Monser, Touscr and 
 Pussy, and said: "Mamma 
 will be very busy to-day, as she must 
 make a Milk pudding and some Mouse 
 pie for to-morrow's dinner, because 
 Aunt Kittie is coming to visit us, so 
 you must be good children and go to 
 school. After school you can play until 
 supper time; but be careful and do not 
 get into trouble or mischief. When 
 you come home, if you have been good 
 little kittens, I will give each of you 
 a piece of Mouse pie. Now run along 
 to school." 
 
O Mouser, To user and Pussy 
 started for school as happy 
 as could be for they were 
 thinking of the Mouse pie. 
 They had not gone far before they 
 heajd a terrible growl and as they 
 looked to see what it was they saw a 
 fierce looking dog behind the fence in 
 Jimmie Brozvn's yard. He was a 
 strange dog that they had never seen 
 before and he looked so cross that they 
 ran as fast as they could. But the 
 fence was strong, so the dog could not 
 get out to chase them. They had a 
 terrible fright, and were glad when 
 they reached a place of safety. 
 
 s 
 
N school, Mauser, who stil 
 remembered the big dog that 
 had frightened them so, and 
 the nice Mouse pie that their 
 mother had promised them, went to the 
 blackboard at recess time and wrote in 
 large letters BAD DOGS, NICE 
 MICE. It made the other kittens 
 laugh very much and they all agreed 
 with him that, of all things, dogs are 
 the worst, and mice the best. In fact 
 they much preferred mice to ice-cream. 
 What do you think of that? They 
 learned lots of useful things in school 
 such as catching mice, and chasing 
 birds, but principally singing, so that 
 when they grew up they could have con- 
 certs on the back fence. 
 
 6 
 
FTER school was over the 
 remembered what their 
 mother had said about play- 
 ing until supper time, so 
 they thought they would go into Jim- 
 mie Brozvn's garden where the ground 
 \vas soft and where they could play 
 hide-and-seek, and soldiers with Mr. 
 
 i 
 
 Brown's big flag. They had quite for- 
 gotten about the bad dog by this time 
 and were only thinking of play. The 
 dog had been put there by Jiininie to 
 frighten away little boys who came 
 to take apples, but he thought it his 
 duty to frighten away cats as well. 
 Luckily he was asleep in his kennel and 
 didn't hear the kittens. 
 
OUSER, bein^ the oldest, too 
 the lead and they were soon 
 poking about in search of 
 fun. Suddenly Mouser came 
 to a closet near the house where Mrs. 
 Brozvn kept her preserves. On the 
 shelf stood a row of jams and jellies 
 that made his mouth water to look at. 
 He quickly got up on a chair and poked 
 about the jars, one of which he upset. 
 At length he found some currant jam 
 and began eating it greedily. Oh ! what 
 a state he was in, with jam smeared all 
 over his face and clothes ! But he smiled 
 sweetly and said, "That was very 
 good," and he looked for more mis- 
 chief. 
 

N the garden he found a pot 
 of red paint that Jimmic 
 Brown's father had careless- 
 ly left standing- by the 
 fence. Mouscr loved painting as much 
 as he loved eating jam. He had at 
 home a little box of paints that his 
 big cousin Tom had given him for 
 Christmas. Mouscr thought the fence 
 would look better if it were red, so he 
 painted as hard as he could, quite un- 
 mindful that there were any such things 
 as dogs in the world. While most of 
 the paint went on the fence, quite a 
 lot spattered on his clothes, but he did- 
 n't mind that. 
 
X the meantime, Pussy foun< 
 a watering can in the garden. 
 There was water in it, so 
 she thought she would 
 sprinkle some on the yellow sun flowers 
 and see if they would not grow as tall 
 as Jack's bean stalk. She said she 
 hoped they would grow up to the sky 
 as she wanted to climb up and pick 
 a star and see what made it shine so 
 brightly and twinkle so merrily. Then 
 she picked some catnip to take home to 
 her mother, who was very fond of it 
 and often made catnip sauce when they 
 had pudding for dinner. 
 
OUSER, who had found 
 big fat watermelon, thought 
 it would he jolly to carry it 
 home to his Mama; but, 
 just as he was about to try and roll 
 it away, he heard a noise that fright- 
 ened him very much. Boit'-ivoiv-ivow 
 was what he heard and though it seem- 
 ed far off at first, as he listened it 
 seemed to be coming nearer rapidly. 
 Bow-wow-wow! AYhat a terrible sound 
 for a little kitten to hear. The dog had 
 awakened, and seeing the kittens at 
 play, made a dash at them, barking with 
 all his might and looking very savage. 
 Dogs ought to know better than to 
 frighten little kittens. 
 
\ 
 
OUSER and Pussy had heard 
 the dreadful noise also, so 
 they all scampered together 
 as fast as they could to reach 
 the hole in the fence through which 
 they had come in. They were very much 
 frightened and Touscr lost a boot and 
 Mouscr tore a big hole in his cont on 
 a bramble bush, while two little mice, 
 who were hidden in the grass clapped 
 their hands, hoping that the big dog 
 would catch the bad Kittens. The Kit- 
 tens were in too great a hurry to run 
 after the mice and only thought of get- 
 ting aw r ay as quickly as possible from 
 the dreadful dog who barked so fiercely. 
 
HEV finally reached tin 
 fence, and crawling through, 
 ran for home as fast as they 
 could. The hig dog could not 
 get under the fence to chase them. He 
 got his head caught between the boards, 
 which served him right for being so 
 unkind. But, oh ! how frightened the 
 three kittens were and how they had 
 spoiled their nice clothes. Their after- 
 noon's pleasure was all gone. The 
 watermelon and the catnip were left 
 behind in their hurry, and Pussy got 
 her head all scratched on a nail in 
 the fence. They were very much wor- 
 ried too, as to what their Mama would 
 say. 
 
RS. TABBY CAT was ven 
 angry when her kittens came 
 home and she saw their ter- 
 rible condition. You never 
 saw nice little kittens look so dirty. 
 Mauser's coat was all daubed with red 
 paint and jam, so she took off his clothes 
 and sent him to bed without any sup- 
 per for being so naughty. "Mauser 
 was the oldest," she said, "and ought 
 to show his brother and sister a good 
 example." Mauser felt very sorry and 
 said as he stood by his bed : "Oh ! I do 
 so want to be a good kitten and mind 
 my Mama!" Then he crept into bed 
 and was very sad indeed. 
 
T took Mama nearly an hou: 
 to clean the Kittens' clothes. 
 Then they sat down to a 
 supper of Mouse-pie which 
 was really very fine. Monscr didn't 
 get a bite, but he smelled the pie, and 
 sighed and said: "This is what comes 
 of being naughty." 
 
 At last he fell asleep and dreamed 
 that he was in a big garden where all 
 the flowers and fruits were mice and 
 there were no cruel dogs to bark and 
 bite, and he was very happ 
 
 Nex^day his Mother ird forgiven 
 him for she loved him in s )ite of his 
 faults, and Mouser made* up his mind 
 never to get into trouble again, pvy 
 
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