A KITTEN’S. PUZZLE

New Zealand Tablet, 11 April 1912, Page 61

A KITTEN’S. PUZZLE

v Grandma • was sorry she ever thought of giving the black kitten to Janey and Carolyn, when she learned that they quarrelled about its name. Janey wished to name the kitten ‘Midnight,’ because it was so black. Carolyn insisted upon calling it ‘ Jetty.’ The only fact about that kitten upon which the little sisters agreed was its color. It was unquestionably black. - -.. Janey wished the kitten to be fed on nothing but milk and begged to keep its bed in the kitchen. Carolyn tried to teach the kitten to eat everything, even oranges; she was glad mother said it must sleep in the woodshed. It did seem as if the little black kitten made more trouble in the family than anything that had ever happened—even measles. Mother threatened to send the pretty creature back to the farm to live with its mother cat and grandma and grandpa. ■ While mother, father, grandma, and grandpa were feeling so bad because* 7 Janey and Carolyn quarrelled about their pet, no one stopped to think that the kitten was much troubled himself. You see, he didn’t know whether he was Midnight or Jetty. Sometimes he thought he was Midnight, and liked nothing but milk to drink; again, he was sure he was Jetty, who preferred bits of beefsteak for dinner. It was-extremely puzzling. One day something happened that never had happened before. - " ; :Said Japey; c It’s name is Midnight, -1 tell you.’ \ - - Said Carolyn: ‘ And I tell you its name -is Jetty.’ The kitten had listened to this many times before; but; when Janey made a face at Carolyn and Carolyn that very minute made a face at Janey, the kitten fled. - One day passed, two days passed, and the kitten failed to return. Janey waited with fresh saucers of milk. Carolyn waited with a feast spread on the woolshed steps. \ ' . . ' y ’’’ ■ / At last Janey cried. ‘I am afraid something has happened 'to our dear kitten‘’she said. Oh, if it will only come back, we will call it Jetty!’ ‘Don’t speak of it/ answered ; Carolyn. £ ‘lf the sweet thing ever comes back, I shall be too glad to call it Midnight. lam afraid it has been killed by dogs.’; ; tOr run over -by an automobile,’ ; wailed J aney . ‘ And it is all our own fault,’ persisted Carolyn. r-If we had even said; ** Come back, kitty, kitty,” that day, I believe it would have stayed at home.’

‘ Instead; of doing that,’ moaned Janey, ‘I called, ‘.‘ Come, Midnight, Midnight, Midnight,” and it mewed and ran fast.’ cv \j,, r ri , i * Yes,’ added Carolyn, ‘ and when I called “ Come, Jetty, Jetty, Jetty,” it mewed and : -. ran faster ; than ever. I believe that kitten knew more’n we supposed.’ • ‘ Oh, I often saw the little thing wash its face and think at the- same time,’ admitted Janey. ' ■ .-t i, One moonlight evening, when Janey and Carolyn were sitting on the front steps with their arms around each other/-'who should come walking up the garden path but .one ■ black, kitten followed by a second .black kitten ! Midnight ‘ and ' Jetty had come back home, but which is which neither Janey nor Carolyn : knows* to this day; All they do know is that grandma’s kitten from , the -country came : home with a twin so exactly like himself that even grandma can’t tell which one is the farm kitten. , . • ~ The kitten himself knows which one he is, because once in a great while, when Janey and Carolyn talk over the past and agree never to quarrel over anything again, one kitten winks at the little girls. •. Before . Janey and Carolyn get over their prise, . the kitten quickly has a. game of ‘tag’ with his twin, and three seconds after that no one can tell which kitten winked, because they both look so exactly alike and so pleasant. Perhaps all kittens would do nothing but purr cheerfully and nevermew if they lived with such loving little sisters as Janey and Carolyn have been ever since; their kitten left home long enough to think of a way out of his puzzle. ; t J