Chapter I

Transcriber's Note: Characters following ^ are superscript.

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A BOOK OF CHEERFUL CATS AND OTHER ANIMATED ANIMALS

BY J. G. FRANCIS

A BOOK OF CHEERFUL CATS AND OTHER ANIMATED ANIMALS

BY J. G. FRANCIS

THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK

Copyright, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1890, 1892, 1903, by ELSIE W. FRANCIS

Printed in U.S.A.

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Some Cat-land fancies, drawn and dressed
To cheer your mind when it's depressed.

Page SOME FUN WITH A TOY SPIDER 1 THE TEA-PARTY 2 A MUSICAL EVENING 3 THE GIRAFFE RIDE 4-5 A VERY HAPPY FAMILY 6 A DUTIFUL PARENT 7 A CASE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY 8-9 "THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PENNY" 10 THE REFORMED LION 11 QUITS 12 THE GENIAL GRIMALKIN 13 EUCHRED! 14 THE BICYCLE RIDE 15 STUDY OF HEDGEHOG STEALING APPLE 16 THE LION IN THE BARBER-SHOP 17 THE BALD EAGLE AND THE BARBER 18 THE SPRING CURTAIN 19-21 "'T IS A PERFECT PICNIC DAY!" 22 "A TAM O' SHANTER DOG" 23 THE DONKEY AND HIS COMPANY 24-28 LATE! 29 PICTURES WITH A MORAL FOR BOYS AND DOGS 30-31 Y^E JOYFUL OWL 32 A QUEER BARBER-SHOP 33 THE CAT AND THE CREAM 34 STORY OF THE CATNIP BALL 35-36 THE PRICKLY PIG, THE PUG AND PARD 37 MATERNAL COUNSEL 38 COASTING CATS 39 THE ELEPHANT JUGGLER 40 A SEA CHANGE 41 A MEDICAL OPINION 42 A NEEDLESS APPREHENSION 43 THE CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS 44 A HAPPY NEW YEAR 45

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A BOOK OF CHEERFUL CATS

A little Girl asked some Kittens to tea
To meet some Dolls from France;
And the Mother came, too, to enjoy a view
And afterwards play for the dance.
But the Kittens were rude & grabbed their food
And treated the Dolls with jeers;
Which caused the Mother an aching heart
And seven or eight large tears.

Sing, sing! What shall we sing?
The cat's run away with the pudding-bag string.

They were happy and did laugh
When their friend, the big Giraffe,
Tried his speed along the highway with the cars.

But their joy was turned to grief
When their charger bit a leaf
That was growing in a region near the stars.

THE
MUSICAL LAMB
ORPHEUS

JUMA
THE JUGGLER

LADY BLANCHE
THE COLOSSAL
FAT CAT

ONLY LIVING
FIVE EARED
LITERARY RABBIT

A DUTIFUL PARENT.

Cried a cat to his wife, "See, my dear,
The superlative Circus is here!
With the children we'll go,--'tis our duty, you know,
Their young minds to enlighten and cheer."

Said a Cat to his sons, "I should deem
This blithe Picture-Book Boy carried cream."

"Let us give him a scare,
So he'll leave it right there."

This will show the success of the scheme.

THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PENNY,
AND COULDN'T BORROW ANY,
AND THEY OWED EXACTLY HALF A DIME FOR COAL;
SO THEY SAID, "WE'LL RUN AWAY,"--
WHEN A GOOSE CAME OUT TO SAY:
"YOU MUST PAY TWO CENTS APIECE ALL 'ROUND FOR TOLL!"

A Raging, Roaring Lion, of a Lamb-devouring kind,
Reformed and led a sweet, submissive life.
For with face all steeped in smiles
He propelled a Lamb for miles,
And he wed a woolly Spinster for a wife.

There was an old Cat named Macduff
Who could joke till you cried, "Hold, enough!"
His Wife and his Child so persistently smiled
That their cheeks got a permanent puff.

"OH, dear Papa!" three children cried.
"You promised don't you know?
That next when you should take a ride
All three of us should go."
"I DID," that father said. "You know
I never speak at random.
So get your roller-skates. We'll go
Off in a tearing tandem!"

A Lion emerged from his lair
For a short summer cut to his hair.
But the Barber he wept;
While his customers slept
As they waited their turn in the chair.

When the Barber at last shut his shop,
From the clouds a Bald Eagle did drop,
To purchase a lotion,
A brush, or some "notion"
To make the hair grow on his top.

The Spring Curtain. A drama in five acts.

1. Which?

2. The Choice.

3. The Rivals.

4. "Ha, the Spring Curtain!"

5. Revenge.

"'T is a perfect picnic day!" the little dog did say,
As he found his friends all ready for the train,
"Still, I thought 't would ease your mind
Not to leave this thing behind,--
For you know a bonnet suffers so from rain."

A Tam o' Shanter Dog
And a plaintive piping Frog,
With a Cat whose one extravagance was clothes,
Went to see a Bounding Bug
Dance a jig upon a rug,
While a Beetle balanced bottles on his nose.

A desultory Dog once met a discontented Donkey who could form no plans for his summer vacation. "Why not go with me to Bayreuth?" said the Dog. "We'll hear some music there, besides meeting all our friends." "Agreed," cried the Donkey; "'t is a happy thought." And they shook hands on it.

On the way they met a fashionable Cat, and also a proud and sensitive young Fowl, who both declared they had long desired to go to Bayreuth. And so the four walked on in company.

About noon the second day they suddenly stopped to listen, for they heard distant music. "That must be the ending of an overture," said the Dog. "I should judge by the sound we were now about three miles from the Opera House."

Arriving at the Opera House, they found all the seats were sold, and that they could gain no admittance; and this so disappointed the sensitive Fowl that the others kindly assisted him to look in at an upper window.

The music which poured from the building now so stirred them that they simultaneously burst into song.

After the opera they all went to the Inn, where they had an excellent dinner, and then spent the evening in happy festivity.

Their musical sensibilities were now so quickened that they resolved to give a concert themselves, which was a great success and aroused immense enthusiasm.

An Owl, with a Visage of Joy,
Once Chassed a Kate Greenaway Boy.
"'T will Break In my New Shoes,
And my Children Amuse;"--
And it Did:--but Alas! for y^e Boy.

The Prickly Pig, the Pug and Pard
Try to surprise the Nubian Bard.
He only smiles, with gesture kind,--
Wild flights do not disturb his mind.

Said a Sheep to her child, "My dear Ruth,
Such precipitate haste is uncouth.
When you come down a stair
Use more caution and care,
And restrain this wild impulse of youth."

O, coasting Cats! my nerves you thrill
As in your box you bounce and fly!
If Jack and Jill are down this hill,

I think you'll meet them presently.
And they may feel constrained to say
That yours is quite a sudden way.

An Elephant sat on some kegs
And juggled glass bottles and eggs.
And he said. "I surmise
This occasions surprise,--
But, oh dear, how it tires one's legs!"

They strolled at sunset down the beach and perched upon some piles,
And sang about the Summer Sea--which then was out for miles.
By eight o'clock the Summer Sea was flowing towards the shore,
And then, I think, they all got down and sang of it no more.

The Infant Camel felt depressed,--
A case of doleful dumps.
The Doctor said, "It seems to me
His back has got the mumps."

This diagnosis did divert
The Nurse, a Kangaroo,
And she did tell it to the Cat,
And he smiled somewhat, too.

A shipwrecked Spoonbill always has a shock
When he sees a Wigbird wading towards his rock.

It makes a Cat-o'-Nine-Tails simply smile,
When a Peacock tries the Neighbors to beguile.