JIMINY CHRISTMAS: HIS FIRST APPEARANCE He Was Probably a Graceless Vagabond, Born in the Gutter, With no Pretensions to Breeding or Even Good Looks THE GREAT SMALL CAT · AND OTHERS Seven Tales BY MAY E. SOUTHWORTH ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND DECORATED BY PEDRO J. LEMOS PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS · SAN FRANCISCO Copyright, 1914 Paul Elder and Company San Francisco IN LOVING MEMORY OF THURSDAY MY OWN...

Everyone knows that there are all kinds of people; also there are all kinds of cats, worthy and unworthy. No two are exactly alike, and by those who do not class them in a bunch, but study them as individuals, they are found to have decided characteristics all their own, ever presenting strange surprises in a mixture of the unexpected higher qualities of civilization and the evils of lowest barbarism. The appeal of the kitten is almost universal, as there are few men, women or children, even tho

Once upon a time, a while ago, during pleasant hours spent in the "land of big cows and small horses," I met one of the most modest of black mother cats, but one with such a pathetic experience in her life as to make her stand alone, not as a cat, but as the cat. At any rate, the story as told by the young ranchman is absolutely true and surely worth the telling, if only to prove that cats are singularly human in their love for their offspring, and are all mother in sacrifice and thoughtful care

A girl, a hammock, a book and a day in June: a happy combination for memories, idleness and half-sadness, with no end of interesting possibilities that might come to one who loves and responds to the allurement. It was one of those hot early June days in a California valley when all nature seems held in quiet suspense. The wonderful and unusual stillness brooding over this little sunny spot in the world, at last arrested the girl's attention as she lazily swung in the hammock under a group of gi

The mining camps of California in the days of '49 are full of romance and history and any man who has once tasted their free independent adventure can never more escape the influence. The gambling chance which every miner took in those fascinating days, is continually tempting him again to the old life. This charm, which that most merciless Enchantress of the California Hills casts on all alike, is unfathomable, and grips the mighty as well as the weak. The quest of gold, which rewarded some and

The contented purr of "Home Sweet Home" on the hearth, by a resident kitten, was the one touch of coziness lacking in our newly acquired country bungalow. Seeing an exhibition of thoroughbreds advertised, with many for sale, a trip was made for the sole purpose of filling this pleasant need in our comfortable chimney corner, and so making our little ménage complete. On arriving at the crowded display rooms, where each cat's family ancestors were found carefully recorded, the problem of selecting

It was midsummer and the city sweltering in an overpowering heat wave, but in the country there were cool retreats and a fulness of verdure that were calling with enticing insistence to all the suffering city-bound folk to come to their bounty and rest. To one weary country-bred woman, the alluring summons sounded clear with a healing message to her tired nerves and jaded brain. It was the seductive call of the big blue sky and the pure air of her own old-fashioned country home, and her whole so

It was when Maida, a rarely beautiful Maltese, was about a year old that she became the mother of a collection of variegated little mongrel babies, with spotted fur of all sorts, except one, which was pure white. Maida was all mother, and very proud of this disreputably mixed progeny, but evidently especially pleased with the white one. Her preference for the milk-white blonde was plain, for she always picked this one out for extra care and scrubbing during the short time they were allowed to sn

One frosty morning, by arguing, reproaching and beguiling in turn, we coaxed from under cover of a heap of rubbish in the alley, one of the dirtiest yellow and white gutter kittens ever seen; one that had been eyeing us timidly and insolently from the safe protection of his smelly hiding place for several days. Gaunt, miserably hungry and shivering with the cold, he did not respond to our overtures of trying to make him a mite happy on Christmas day, with the eagerness one would naturally expect