Show Ct I I I I I 8 I i. i TABBIES TABBIE'S FRIGHT I Tabbie was the house fat cat cat and she was supposed see to see that the mice did not eat anything in the pantry and that was the reason Tabbie slept in the kitchen every night and why the pantry pantry pan- pan try fry door was always open Never did Tabbie touch a thing in inthe inthe inthe the pantry although milk and cream were left out by the careless maid and sometimes fish but Tabbie was tobe to tobo tobo bo be trusted and nothing was disturbed But one night something had got into Tabbies Tabbie's head She was dozing In front of the stove with one eye open for mice when the thought of a meat pie she had seen cook put in the pantry pantry pantry pan pan- try came to Tabbies Tabbie's mind Cook gave me a little of ot that pie pietor for tor my supper but I dont don't think she and I think I should be better paid thought Tabbie I do a lot of night work about here and I think I be better paid than I am To be sure I have a warm place olace to sleep in but I cant can't sleep p much I have to watch for mice I have enough to eat such as it is but I get little meat and no cream atall at atall atall all and I am sure that coo cook drinks it herself I mean to take a look about the pantry and see what is there It will not be doing wrong just Lust to look I am sure sure Into the pantry went Tabbie and Jumped up on a shelf She sniffed and sniffed and pretty soon she came to the meat pie Just what I th thought said Tabbie almost a whole pie left from dinner and that stingy cook coole gave me only a little tiny bit Tabbie had just made up her mind to help herself when something 1 l 1 The pie moved Tabbie thought she must be dreaming dream dream- ing She stared hard Yes it surely did move Was the thing alive she thought Tabbie looked again and this time the pie not only moved but something something- jumped out of It scaring Tabbie nearly out of ot her senses For a minute Tabbie thought all alI of ot other her nine lives which she always thought she possessed were gone for forshe forshe forshe she fell felI off oft the the- shelf and after her tumbled tumble 1 the pie and a pan of milk and andall andall andall all the tins on the shelf shelt Such a noise and such a tumble Tabbie Tabbie Tabbie Tab Tab- bie never heard or felt before and when she picked herself up there in the pantry doorway stood the mistress with a lamp looking at the wreck In a trap in the corner was a mouse and Tabbies Tabbie's mistress looked at it and then at Tabbie So you are no longer to be e trusted Tabbie she said you let the trap catch the mice and you eat the food You will sleep out in the barn after this Tabbie was put outdoors and as she curled up under the steps she sighed I wonder if that was a mouse in that pie after all Yes I am sure it was Oh if I had him and Tabbie snapped her jaws very hardIt hardIt hard It is not fair to treat me like this she said just once in all the time I have lived In the house have I touched any food and just for tor that little once to be sent to the barn to live And I didn't get a thing after allOh all Oh dear I wish I had not done it I If only I had not thought of that pie I would be in the kitchen now where it is warm Instead of out here in the cold cold Poor Tabbie was as right If It she had thought only of her work catching the mice she would not have got into trouble but it was too late now and so all of us grownups and children should keep our thoughts on the things we should do and the things that are not right we ve should never ne think about And then we will not be like Tabbie wishing we had done right when it is too late Copyright 1917 1911 b by the Uve McClure Newspaper r g f Syndicate New N N. N w York City Its |