“Our old cat Jane,” said Eliza Ann Jones, “is a regular cheat.  You see, she would lie in grandma’s chair.  She used to jump in if grandma left it only for a minute; and grandma wouldn’t know she was there, and two or three times sat right down on her.  Why, it was just awful, and scared poor grandma half to death.  Well, ma whipped the old cat every time she caught her in the chair, and we thought she was cured of the habit; but one day ma came into the room and there was nobody there but Jane, and she was stretched on the rug and seemed to be fast asleep; but grandma’s chair was rocking away all by itself.  Ma wondered what made the chair go, so she thought she’d watch.  She left the door on a crack and peeped through, and as soon as the cat thought she was alone she jumped into the chair and settled herself for a nap; but when ma made a little noise, as if somebody were coming out, she hopped out and stretched herself on the rug and made believe she was fast asleep.  ’Twas her jumping out so quick that set the chair rocking.  Now, wasn’t that cute?”

“I never knew till the other day,” said Florence Austin, “that cats scatter crumbs to attract the birds, and then watch for them and spring out on the poor things when they are feeding.”

“What a shame!  I wouldn’t keep a cat who played such a cruel trick,” Mollie said.

“My Dinah Spot doesn’t catch birds or chickens,” said Nellie Dimock; “only mice.”

Mrs. Elliot had come in with a message to her sister while this talk went on, and had lingered to hear Eliza’s story of old Jane.

“Girls,” she said, “with your President’s permission, I will tell you a story about a cat.  It is curious, because it proves that a cat remembers and reasons much as a man or woman would in similar circumstances.  Susie and Mollie, I have told it to you before, but you will not mind hearing it again.

“When my brother Charles was a young man he kept a bachelor establishment in the country, and with other pets owned a beautiful gray cat he had; brought with him from Germany.  She was very intelligent and docile, a great favorite with her master, and was allowed many privileges in the house.  She came in and out through a small door cut in the side of the house which she opened and closed for herself.  A chair was regularly placed for her at the table; she slept at the foot of my brother’s bed, and perched herself on his shoulder when he took a stroll in the garden.  She could distinguish the sound of his bell from any other in the house, and was greatly disturbed if the servant delayed in answering his call.

“One summer my sister Helen and her two boys were staying with Charles, and in the midst of the visit he was called away on business, and was absent for several weeks.  Now, Carl and Teddy were dear little fellows, but full of mischief; and in their uncle’s absence they so teased and tormented poor Miess, taking advantage of her amiable disposition, that she was forced at length to keep out of their way.  About a week before Charles came home she had kittens, which she carefully hid behind a heavy book-case in the library.