Now, Pussy, don't turn away and look sulky. I've only put you in Polly's
cage so that you may understand a real true cage story that Uncle Rupert
told me last night. He's a soldier, you know, and he wears a red sash,
just like mine, only he does not wear it round his waist as little girls
do, but across his shoulder.
Well, that's not the story, but this is. Uncle Rupert was in China,
where the men wear pig-tails down their back, and it was war time: the
English were fighting against the Chinese. He told me why, but I've
forgotten, but I know in the end the English won; but they lost a battle
first, and Uncle Rupert was taken prisoner. English people are kind to
their prisoners, Pussy, but the Chinese are very cruel. Uncle Rupert
says he could not tell me the dreadful things that they did to some of
the poor English soldiers, but he told me what they did to him, and
though it was dreadful it was rather funny too. Listen, Pussy! They made
a big cage, only it wasn't nearly big enough, and they shut Uncle up in
it, and slung it on a big stick, and carried him about as a show to all
the towns and villages. It was very hot, and Uncle was so cramped up in
the cage that he could hardly move, and he was very hungry and thirsty,
and very, very miserable. The people used to come and stare at him, and
tease him by poking nice fruit through the bars, and then snatching it
away before he could eat it. Uncle Rupert said he longed to die; but he
said one thing, Pussy, which I must always remember, only I'm afraid you
won't understand this. He told me how glad he was that when he was a
little boy his mother had taught him a great many texts and hymns. They
all came into his mind then, and they comforted him very much, and made
him remember that God was near him, even in the cage. So he was patient,
and at last he was saved, for some English soldiers marched to the
village, and the Chinese ran away and left the cage behind them, and you
may be sure the soldiers soon got Uncle Rupert out.
[Illustration: GOOD NIGHT.]
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