The Roly-Poly Pudding

								
[In Remembrance of "Sammy,"
the Intelligent Pink-Eyed Representative of
a Persecuted (But Irrepressible) Race.
An Affectionate Little Friend,
and Most Accomplished Thief!]

Once upon a time there was an old
cat, called Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, who
was an anxious parent. She used to
lose her kittens continually, and
whenever they were lost they were
always in mischief!

On baking day she determined to
shut them up in a cupboard.

She caught Moppet and Mittens,
but she could not find Tom.

Mrs. Tabitha went up and down all
over the house, mewing for Tom
Kitten. She looked in the pantry under
the staircase, and she searched the
best spare bedroom that was all
covered up with dust sheets. She went
right upstairs and looked into the
attics, but she could not find him
anywhere.

It was an old, old house, full of
cupboards and passages. Some of the
walls were four feet thick, and there
used to be queer noises inside them,
as if there might be a little secret
staircase. Certainly there were odd
little jagged doorways in the wainscot,
and things disappeared at night--
especially cheese and bacon.

Mrs. Tabitha became more and
more distracted and mewed
dreadfully.

While their mother was searching
the house, Moppet and Mittens had
got into mischief.

The cupboard door was not locked,
so they pushed it open and came out.

They went straight to the dough
which was set to rise in a pan before
the fire.

They patted it with their little soft
paws--"Shall we make dear little
muffins?" said Mittens to Moppet.

But just at that moment somebody
knocked at the front door, and
Moppet jumped into the flour barrel
in a fright.

Mittens ran away to the dairy and
hid in an empty jar on the stone shelf
where the milk pans stand.

The visitor was a neighbor, Mrs.
Ribby; she had called to borrow some
yeast.

Mr. Tabitha came downstairs
mewing dreadfully--"Come in,
Cousin Ribby, come in, and sit ye
down! I'm in sad trouble, Cousin
Ribby," said Tabitha, shedding tears.
"I've lost my dear son Thomas; I'm
afraid the rats have got him." She
wiped her eyes with her apron.

"He's a bad kitten, Cousin Tabitha;
he made a cat's cradle of my best
bonnet last time I came to tea. Where
have you looked for him?"

"All over the house! The rats are too
many for me. What a thing it is to
have an unruly family!" said Mrs.
Tabitha Twitchit.

"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help
you to find him; and whip him, too!
What is all that soot in the fender?"

"The chimney wants sweeping--
Oh, dear me, Cousin Ribby--now
Moppet and Mittens are gone!

"They have both got out of the
cupboard!"

Ribby and Tabitha set to work to
search the house thoroughly again.
They poked under the beds with
Ribby's umbrella and they rummaged
in cupboards. They even fetched a
candle and looked inside a clothes
chest in one of the attics. They could
not find anything, but once they
heard a door bang and somebody
scuttered downstairs.

"Yes, it is infested with rats," said
Tabitha tearfully. "I caught seven
young ones out of one hole in the back
kitchen, and we had them for dinner
last Saturday. And once I saw the old
father rat--an enormous old rat--
Cousin Ribby. I was just going to jump
upon him, when he showed his yellow
teeth at me and whisked down the
hole.

"The rats get upon my nerves,
Cousin Ribby," said Tabitha.

Ribby and Tabitha searched and
searched. They both heard a curious
roly-poly noise under the attic floor.
But there was nothing to be seen.

They returned to the kitchen.
"Here's one of your kittens at least,"
said Ribby, dragging Moppet out of
the flour barrel.

They shook the flour off her and set
her down on the kitchen floor. She
seemed to be in a terrible fright.

"Oh! Mother, Mother," said
Moppet, "there's been an old woman
rat in the kitchen, and she's stolen
some of the dough!"

The two cats ran to look at the
dough pan. Sure enough there were
marks of little scratching fingers, and
a lump of dough was gone!

"Which way did she go, Moppet?"

But Moppet had been too much
frightened to peep out of the barrel
again.

Ribby and Tabitha took her with
them to keep her safely in sight, while
they went on with their search.

They went into the dairy.

The first thing they found was
Mittens, hiding in an empty jar.

They tipped over the jar, and she
scrambled out.

"Oh, Mother, Mother!" said
Mittens--

"Oh! Mother, Mother, there has
been an old man rat in the dairy--a
dreadful 'normous big rat, Mother;
and he's stolen a pat of butter and the
rolling pin."

Ribby and Tabitha looked at one
another.

"A rolling pin and butter! Oh, my
poor son Thomas!" exclaimed
Tabitha, wringing her paws.

"A rolling pin?" said Ribby. "Did we
not hear a roly-poly noise in the attic
when we were looking into that
chest?"

Ribby and Tabitha rushed upstairs
again. Sure enough the roly-poly noise
was still going on quite distinctly
under the attic floor.

"This is serious, Cousin Tabitha,"
said Ribby. "We must send for John
Joiner at once, with a saw."

Now, this is what had been
happening to Tom Kitten, and it
shows how very unwise it is to go up a
chimney in a very old house, where a
person does not know his way, and
where there are enormous rats.

Tom Kitten did not want to be shut
up in a cupboard. When he saw that
his mother was going to bake, he
determined to hide.

He looked about for a nice
convenient place, and he fixed upon
the chimney.

The fire had only just been lighted,
and it was not hot; but there was a
white choky smoke from the green
sticks. Tom Kitten got upon the fender
and looked up. It was a big old-
fashioned fireplace.

The chimney itself was wide
enough inside for a man to stand up
and walk about. So there was plenty
of room for a little Tom Cat.

He jumped right up into the

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