I was one day calling in Dorsetshire on a clever, kind old lady, who
showed me a beautiful tabby cat, coiled up before the fire. "Seventeen
years ago," said she, "that cat's mother had a litter. They were all
ordered to be drowned with the exception of one. The servant brought me
one. It was a tortoise-shell. `No,' I said; `that will always be
looking dirty. I will choose another.' So I put my hand into the
basket, and drew forth this tabby. The tabby has loved me ever since.
When she came to have a family, she disappeared; but the rain did not,
for it came pouring down through the ceiling: and it was discovered that
Dame Tabby had made a lying-in hospital for herself in the thatched roof
of the house. The damage she did cost several pounds; so we asked a
friend who had a good cook, fond of cats, to take care of Tabby the next
time she gave signs of having a family, as we knew she would be well
fed. We sent her in a basket completely covered up; and she was shut
into a room, where she soon exhibited a progeny of young mewlings. More
than the usual number were allowed to survive, and it was thought that
she would remain quietly where she was. Not so. On the first
opportunity she made her escape, and down she came all the length of the
village, and early in the morning I heard her mewing at my bed-room door
to be let in. When I had stroked her back and spoken kindly to her, off
she went to look after her nurslings. From that day, every morning she
came regularly to see me, and would not go away till she had been spoken
to and caressed. Having satisfied herself that I was alive and well,
back she would go. She never failed to pay me that one visit in the
morning, and never came twice in the day, till she had weaned her
kittens; and that very day she came back, and nothing would induce her
to go away again. I had not the heart to force her back. From that day
to this she has always slept at the door of my room."
Surely you will not be less grateful to those who brought you up than
was my old friend's cat to her. Acts, not mere words, show the
sincerity of our feelings. Consider how you are acting towards them
each hour and day of your life. Are you doing your best to act well,
whether at home, at school, or at play?