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 fc * - - 
 
 BOSTON *. 
 
 OTaiSBED B X fctlKKDB ASD EPiWCIS, 
 
 No. 4, OornhilL 
 
 ■ .. Mm. 
 
 ~~-m 
 
 

 MARY AND HER CAT. 
 
 nouns not EXCEEDING 
 
 TWO SYLLABLES. 
 
 Illustrated with Cuts. 
 
 boston : 
 
 PRIMED BK MMWS AHD FBAHC« 
 N0 4, i ORNHU I 
 
THE 
 
 STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 LITTLE MARY 
 
 AND 
 
 HER CAT. 
 
 JL HERE Avas once a pret-tv lit- 
 tle girl, call-ed Ma-ry, who was 
 ve-ry fond of an old wo-man, that 
 liv-ed in a small white cot-tage, just 
 at the end of her pa-pa's gar-den. 
 This old wo-man had nurs-ed this 
 pret-ty lit-tle girl, and ta-ken great 
 care of her, when she was but a 
 ba-by, and not a-ble to walk, or 
 put any thing in-to her mouth. 
 Nurse Brown, for that was her 
 
name, was a kind good old wo- 
 man. She lov-ed Ma-ry dear-ly, 
 and Ma-ry lov-ed her nurse dear- 
 ly, and she u-sed ve-ry of-ten to 
 go to the cot-tage, where some- 
 times she would read to her nurse, 
 and some-times nurse Brown would 
 tell sto-ries to her, or sing old 
 songs, such as she had learn-ed 
 
from the books that arc sold at 
 Munroe and Francis' book-store 
 in Corn-hill, where all kinds of 
 books that can a-muse or in-struct 
 chil-dren are to be bought. And 
 
 o 
 
 af-ter tel-ling these tales, or sing- 
 ing these old songs, nurse Brown 
 u-sed ve-ry of-ten to say, you have 
 a good mam-ma, my sweet Ma-ry, 
 and you say you love her. It is 
 ve-ry ea-sy for a-ny lit-tle girl to 
 say those words, but my Ma-ry 
 must show that she loves her mam- 
 ma by mind-ing all that her mam- 
 ma says, and nev-er do-ing those 
 things which her mam-ma tells her 
 it is wrong to do. If a ht-tle girl 
 will tell a lie, or do any thing 
 which she is bid not to do, she 
 gives her mam-ma great pain. Yes, 
 when lit-tle girls are naugh-ty, mam- 
 
 A* 
 
mas have more pain in their hearts 
 than all the lit-tle girls in the 
 world ev-er felt with the tooth- 
 ache, or head-ache, or sore fin- 
 gers. But nurse Brown's dear Ma- 
 ry will nev-er give her mam-ma 
 such a pain in her heart. Ma-ry's 
 blue eyes, fix-ed up-on her nurse, 
 u-sed to shine bright-ly, while the 
 good old wo-man talk-ed to her 
 m this way ; and she was al-ways 
 rea-dy to jump for joy, when the 
 hour came in which her mam-ma 
 gave her leave to skip through 
 the gar-den, and a-way to nurse 
 Brown's neat clean cot-tage, where 
 nurse, in a plain stuff gown, with 
 a cap and a-pron as white as 
 snow, was al-ways to be found at 
 her spin-ning wheel, with her cat 
 ?it-ting by her side. 
 
The name of this cat was Muff, 
 and Muff was as pret-ty a cat as 
 any in the whole world. His back 
 was stri-ped with black and grey 
 stripes, his face was round, and 
 broad, and his breast, and paws, 
 were as white as nurse Brown's 
 a-pron. Muff was al-ways ve-ry 
 glad to see Ma-ry. He would 
 some-times watch for her at the 
 win-dow ; and he would of-ten go 
 to the door of the cot-tage, to 
 meet her when she was com-ing 
 a-cross the path. If Ma-ry play- 
 ed with Muff, Muff nev-er put out 
 her claws to scratch Ma-ry. 
 
 At last poor nurse Brown fell 
 sick, and the Doc-tor thought she 
 would not live. Ma-ry's mam-ma 
 sent wine to the good old wo-man, 
 
 B 
 
8 
 
 and phy-sic, and all things that 
 were like-ly to do her ser-vice ; 
 and she sent a per-son to take 
 care of her, and at-tend up-on her 
 night and day. Ma-ry pray-ed 
 her mam-ma to let her go and at- 
 tend up-on nurse Brown ; but her 
 mam-ma said, No my dear child, 
 you are not strong e-nough, nor old 
 e-nough, to nurse a sick per-son. 
 You may go to see her, and sit 
 by her, and tell her how much you 
 love her, and you may give her 
 the cup with her phy-sic when you 
 are there ; but if you were to 
 stay all night, it would dis-tress 
 her much, for she knows that sit- 
 ting up at night would make you 
 ve-ry ill too. So Ma-ry went once 
 a day to the cot-tage, and tears 
 u-sed to fill the eyes of the kind 
 
9 
 
 heart-ed lit-tle girl to see how 
 ve-ry bad her poor old friend was, 
 but she turn-ed a-way her head, 
 or went to the oth-er end of the 
 room, to wipe a-way her tears, that 
 she might not grieve her poor 
 nurse with cry-ing. 
 
10 
 
 Nurse Brown was in great pain 
 all day and all night, but she did 
 not e-ven groan. She pray-ed to 
 God that he would bless her dear 
 Ma-iy and make her a good girl, 
 and a good wo-man. When she 
 thought she should not live ma-ny 
 hours long-er, she sent for Ma-ry, 
 to take her last leave of her. My 
 dear Ma-ry, she said, you must 
 nev-er for-get that I die hap-py, 
 be-cause I have al-ways been a 
 good wo-man: you will be hap- 
 py if you are good. 
 
 Think of me as you grow old-er. 
 You know I am but a poor wo- 
 man, I ne-ver had a fine house, 
 nor any fine clothes, nor a coach, 
 nor ser-vants to wait upon me, 
 
n 
 
 but I have al-ways done that 
 which I knew to be right, and 
 good per-sons have lov-ed me for 
 so do-ing. I have been hap-py 
 in my lit-tle cot-tage and in my 
 stuff gown, bc-cause I was good, 
 and be-cause all good per-sons 
 lov-ed me, and spoke well of me. 
 You will see nurse Brown no more, 
 my dear child; but you can al- 
 ways love to think of her, and of 
 all that she has said to you. I 
 have no-thing to give my Ma-ry 
 but my cat. He is as gen-tle, a^ 
 kind, and as good as a cat can be. 
 Take Muff home with you, take 
 care of him, and if you should hap- 
 pen at a-ny time to do wrong, when 
 you look at Muff, you will think of 
 me, and be sor-ry for your fault. 
 
12 
 
 Ma-ry and Muff were ta-ken 
 home by the ser-vant, and nurse 
 Brown di-ed that night. 
 
 Ma-ry cri-ed sad-ly ; and poor 
 Muff, who did not know at all 
 why he was ta-ken from the cot- 
 tage, and his old mis-tress, would 
 
13 
 
 not eat the bread and milk that 
 the ser-vant brought to him, but 
 walk-ed round and round the room, 
 and scratch-cd at the doors and 
 win-dows, to find some place to 
 get out at. If any one came in-to 
 the room he hid him-self un-der 
 a ta-ble or chair, but he would 
 come out if Ma-ry call-ed him, for 
 he knew her voice ; and the most 
 part of that af-ter-noon she let 
 him lie in her lap, and then he 
 was con-tent and qui-et, but the 
 mo-ment she put him down from 
 her lap, he crept a-bout cry-ing 
 mew, mew, and looking up at her, 
 as much as to say, pray take me 
 to my own home a-gain. 
 
 But in a vc-ry few days Muff 
 was as hap-py in his new home 
 as he had been in the cot-tage. 
 
 c 
 
14 
 
 for Ma-ry was ve-ry kind to him, 
 and cats soon-er for-get their old 
 friends than lit-tle girls do. Ma- 
 ry did not for-get nurse Brown; 
 she strove to be al-ways a good 
 girl, she tri-ed not to be an-gry, 
 or cross, or fret-ful ; and when 
 she got rid of any bad tem-per 
 that was ri-sing in her heart, she 
 u-sed to stroke Muff, while she 
 thought of his old mis-tress. Some- 
 times she would say a-loud, ah t 
 Muff, if nurse Brown were a-live, 
 how hap-py it would make her to 
 see me such a good girl ! Then 
 Muff would purr a-bout her, and 
 look up in her face, as if he too 
 was made hap-py by Ma-ry's good- 
 ness. 
 
 Ma-ry and Muff were the best 
 of friends and play-fel-lows. If 
 
15 
 
 Ma-ry play-ed with her ball, he 
 u-sed to watch it; and if it fell 
 to the ground, he would take it 
 up in his mouth, and run a-way 
 with it ii>to a cor-ner as if to hide 
 it. If Ma-ry dan-ced, he would 
 run af-ter her feet. If she was 
 in the gar-den, he would frisk a-bout 
 her, and run up and down tne 
 trees like a squir-rel, as if he strove 
 to di-vert her. But when Ma-ry 
 took her skip-ping rope, Muff went 
 as far from her as he could, for 
 he once got a hard knock with 
 the rope, and cv-er af-ter he was 
 a-fraid of it. 
 
 Ma-ry's mam-ma was ve-ry fond of 
 Muff, both for his own, and for 
 poor nurse Brown's sake, and she 
 gave him a lit-tle stool, with a 
 piece of car-pet o-ver it, and when 
 
16 
 
 Ma-ry was learn-ing her les-son or 
 bu-sy with her work, there sat 
 Muff up-on his lit-tle stool, close 
 be-side her, and as grave as any 
 judge. 
 
 One day Ma-ry was ve-ry sick ; 
 she had a pain in her stom-ach, 
 and a pain in her head. Her mam- 
 ma held her in her lap, and laid 
 
n 
 
 her head up-on her bosom, think- 
 ing that if she sat qui-et for some 
 time, she would he bet-ter; but 
 the pain did not go away, she grew 
 worse and worse Then her mam- 
 ma said, my love, I must go and 
 pre-parc some-thing that will do 
 you good. When Ma-ry's mam-ma 
 came back with a cup of phy-sic, 
 Ma-ry be-gan to cry, and say, I 
 do not like phy-sic ; it is so nas- 
 ty. My dear Ma-ry, said her mam- 
 ma, no one likes phy-sic ; I do 
 not like it my-self; but when I 
 am un-well I take it to do me 
 good. You are in pain, and you 
 want to be rid of your pain. The 
 taste of fhe phy-sic will not be 
 in your mouth so much as a min- 
 ute, but the pain in your sto-mach 
 may last all day, or ma-ny days. 
 
 c* 
 
18 
 
 I think my Ma-ry is too wise a 
 lit-tle girl to re-fuse it, on-ly be- 
 cause it has not a plea-sant taste. 
 But Ma-ry was not wise just then. 
 She was in-deed vc-ry fool-ish ; 
 for she cri-cd, which made the pain 
 in her head much worse, and she 
 would not take her phy-sic which 
 would have made both her head 
 
19 
 
 and her stomach bet-ter. Weil, 
 said her mam-ma, I did not think 
 you would have been so sil-ly and 
 so naugh-ty a child. But since 
 you would rath-er be in pain, than 
 well and hap-py, you must bear 
 it as you can. I am ve-ry sor-ry 
 for you, but I shall not nurse 
 you in my lap a-ny lon-ger. Up- 
 on this Ma-ry went in-to a cor- 
 ner of the par-lour, sat down up- 
 on the ground, and be-gan to cry 
 and sob so loud that Muff heard 
 her, who till then had been sleep 
 ing on the hearth, be-fore the 
 fire. Muff start-ed up, look-ed a- 
 bout him, and see-ing his lit-tle 
 mis-tress cry-ing on the ground, he 
 ran to her, and put-ting his fore 
 paws up-on her shoul-der, be-gan 
 to rub his head a-gainst her face, 
 
L 20 
 
 ■ 
 
 and sing purr! purr! This made 
 Ma-ry think of nurse Brown, and 
 how of-ten she had seen her take 
 dose af-ter dose of phy-sic. She 
 stroak-ed Muff, and she was sor- 
 ry for her fault. She kiss-ed 
 her mam-ma, took her phy-sic, ate a 
 piece of o-range peel af-ter it to 
 take a-way the taste ; and sat in 
 her mam-ma's lap, who told her a 
 sto-ry. She then fell a-sleep, and 
 when she a-woke a-gain the pain 
 was all gone, and she and Muff 
 went to play. 
 
 As Ma-ry was once ta-king a 
 walk, she found a half-starv-ed lit- 
 tle kit-ten. A cru-el boy had 
 thrown it in-to a pond to see how 
 it could swim, and the poor lit-tle 
 crea-ture had crawl-ed out of the 
 wa-ter just as Ma-ry came by. 
 
 tmm 
 
21 
 
 s^= 
 
 The boy ran a- way, and Ma-ry 
 took the kit-ten home with her. 
 Muff had nev-er seen a kit-ten be- 
 fore, and at first could not tell 
 what to make of it, but the kit- 
 ten took Muff for its mo-ther, and 
 ran up to him in a great hur-ry, 
 but Muff ran backward half-a- 
 fraid, and hid him-self un-der a ta- 
 
22 
 
 ble. When the kit-ten had been 
 fed, St lay down to sleep lie-fore 
 the fire. Muff came and look-ed 
 at it, and af-ter some time lie lay 
 down by it, and at last be-gan to 
 clean it, for it was ve-rj dir-ty. 
 From that time Muff was quite fond 
 of the kit-ten ; and play-ed with it 
 in the most gen-tle man-ner. It 
 al-ways lay at night in his bas-ket. 
 They ate out of the same plate, 
 and Muff of-tcn would sit still, and 
 let the kit-ten eat first, as if he was 
 a-fraid it would not have e-nough. 
 Ma-ry had an un-cle who was go- 
 ing a great way off in a ship. He 
 did not ex-pect to come back for 
 three or four years, and when he 
 said fare-w 7 ell to Ma-ry, he gave her 
 a ve-ry fme lock-et, with some of 
 his hair in it, and set round with 
 
23 
 
 gold and pearls. It was but a use- 
 less pre-sent for such a lit-tle girl. 
 Ma-ry ti-ed it round her neck, with 
 a black rib-bon, and ta-king up her 
 rope, she be-gan to skip, but then 
 the lock-et jumped up and down 
 on her neck, and once hit her on 
 the mouth. Ma-ry ti-ed it tight- 
 er, and then it made her too warm. 
 
24 
 
 What shall 1 do with it, said Ma-ry? 
 Oh! Muff shall wear the lock-et, 
 and then I can al-ways see it. So 
 she call-ed Muff, and ti-cd the lock- 
 et round his neck. Muff shook his 
 head a-gain and a-gain, he rub-bed 
 his paw o-ver his ear, he could not 
 think what was the mat-ter with, 
 his neck ; then as the lock-et hung 
 down be-low his breast, he pat-ted 
 it from side to side, first with one 
 paw, and then with the other, which 
 made Ma-ry laugh re-ry much. 
 Ma-ry's mam-ma was that day go-ing 
 out to din-ner, and while Ma-ry 
 was laugh-ing to see Muff pat a-bou? 
 the lock-et, her mam-ma came in 
 to kiss her, be-fore she went out. 
 See-ing Muff with the lock-et on, 
 she told Ma-ry to take it from 
 him as it would be spoil-ed by 
 Muff, and it was too good a loc 
 
26 
 
 et to be made into a play-tiling. 
 It would be best, she said, to 
 wrap it in pa-per, and put it a-way 
 in a draw-er, till Ma-ry was old 
 e-nough to wear it her-self. Ma- 
 ry took off the lock-et from Muff's 
 neck, and her mam-ma went a-way 
 to pay her vis-it. 
 
 Af-ter din-ner Ma-ry wish-ed 
 she could show the maids how 
 pret-ty Muff look-ed, when dress-ed 
 in the lock-et, so she for-got to mind 
 what her mam-ma had said, and a- 
 gain put the lock-et round the cat's 
 neck. Muff was soon ti-red of play- 
 ing with it, and then he be-gan to 
 bite it witli his teeth, so Ma-ry ti- 
 ed it tight un-der his chin, wher^ 
 he could not get at it to bite it, at 
 she and the maids all laugh-ed to 
 see what odd tricks he play-ed, as 
 
26 
 
 he tri-ed to get rid of a thing he 
 was not u-sed to, and which tcas-cd 
 him ve-ry much. At last some per- 
 son came in whom Ma-ry was glad 
 to see, and she for-got the cat and 
 the lock-et. That per-son gave her 
 a new book, and she read the book 
 till it was time to go to bed, and 
 still she nev-er thought of the cat, 
 and her un-cle's pres-ent. 
 
 When Ma-ry got up the next 
 morn-ing, Muff did not come to purr 
 a-bout her feet as he u-sed to do. 
 Ma-ry went down stairs, and there 
 was no Muff in the par-lour. Ma- 
 ry went up stairs, in-to the bed 
 rooms, and in-to the gar-rets, and 
 /*nok-ed in-to all the clo-sets, and 
 Secien in-to the kitch-en, and the cel- 
 lars, and the wash-house, and brew- 
 house, but Muff was not to be found 
 
27 
 
 in a-ny of these pla-ces. Ma-ry 
 went sc-b-bing in-to the gar-den, and 
 call-ed Muff! Muff! Muff! but Muff 
 was not to be found in sum-mer 
 house, or green-house, or coach- 
 house, or sta-ble. 
 
 When Ma-ry went back to the 
 par-lour, her mam-ma ask-ed her if 
 she had a-gain ti-ed on the lock-et 
 to Muff's neck. Ma-ry blush-ed : 
 
28 
 
 but she al-ways told the truth ; and 
 she said, yes, mam-ma, I did. You 
 did ve-ry wrong, said her mam-ma. 
 You see what mis-chiefs hap-pen, 
 when lit-tle girls will not o-bey their 
 mam-mas or those who are wi-ser 
 than them-selves. Some bad peo- 
 ple have found Muff out of doors, 
 and have sto-len him for the sake of 
 the lock-et. The cat you lov-ed so 
 well may be ill-used, or e-ven kill-eel, 
 and the lock-et is lost which your 
 un-cle gave you to keep for his sake, 
 when he was go-ing a-way for ma-ny 
 years, and might per-haps never 
 see you a-gain. 
 
 Ma-ry was now rea-dy to break 
 her heart with grief. She had 
 made her mam-ma angry, she had 
 lost her un-cle's pres-ent, and she 
 had caus-ed poor Muff, who had 
 been nurse Brown's cat, and who 
 
29 
 
 was so fond, so gcn-tle, and so good 
 a cat, to bo sto-len, and per-haps 
 starv-ed, or beat, or kick-ed, if not 
 kill-ed, for she could not sup-pose 
 that a-ny per-son who was so wick* 
 ed as to steal Muff and the lock-et, 
 would use him well. Ma-ry's mam- 
 ma sent to all the hou-ses round a- 
 bout to en-quire for Muff, but no 
 news could be heard of him. One 
 day, two days, three days pass-ed a- 
 way, and Muff was not found. I 
 shall nev-er, nev-er see him a-gain, 
 said Ma-ry. Oh that I had mind- 
 ed what my mam-ma said to me ! 
 then poor Muff would have been 
 sit-tin£ on his stool be-side me here, 
 and I should have been good and 
 hap-py. 
 
 At the end of a week, a poor rag- 
 ged boy of the vil-lage, to whom 
 
30 
 
 Ma-ry had of-ten giv-en her cakes 
 and her fruit, bc-cause she had been 
 told he was very kind to his sick fa- 
 ther, and work-ed hard, to get mon- 
 ey for his moth-er, to buy bread for 
 his lit-tle broth-ers and sis-ters ; this 
 poor boy came with some-thing un- 
 der his coat, and ask-ed to see miss 
 Ma-ry. Ma-ry's mam-ma told the 
 nr-vant to bring Rob-ert, for that 
 
31 
 
 was the boy's name, ln-to the par- 
 lour. He came in, and pull-ing off his 
 hat, and ma-king his best bow, he 
 said, miss, I have found your cat. 
 Ma-ry jump-ed up, and so did Ma-ry's 
 mam-ma, but they look-ed ve-ry sad, 
 when they saw poor Muff al-most 
 starv-ed to death, and so weak, that 
 when Rob-ert put him on the ground 
 he could scarce-ly stand upon his 
 legs. 
 
 Rob-ert work-ed at a farm-house, 
 and had been sent that day, by his 
 mas-ter, to sweep out an old sta-ble 
 which had a hay loft o-ver it. 
 While Rob-ert was sweep-ing the 
 sta-ble, he thought he heard a cat 
 cry. He look-ed a-bout, and saw 
 no cat, but still he thought he heard 
 it cry. So, at last he climb-ed up, 
 and push-ed o-pen the door of the 
 hay loft, and there he saw poor 
 
32 
 
 Muff, ly-ing on the ground, and faint- 
 ly cry-ing, mew, mew, just as if he 
 was dy-ing. Rob-crt call-ed kirn 
 by his name, for he knew it was the 
 t that nurse Brown had giv-en to 
 
 Oct 
 
 miss Ma-ry, but Muff was so weak 
 he could not get up to come to him. 
 Rob-crt had his din-ner in his pock- 
 et, it was on-ly a small bit of brown 
 
33 
 
 bread, and a lit-tle bot-tlc of milk 
 and wa-ter, for his pa-rents were 
 ve-ry poor. But he had a kind 
 heart, and he broke his bread in-to 
 ve-ry small pie-ces, and wet it with 
 the milk and wa-ter, and put them 
 bit by bit, in-to Muff's mouth. 
 When Muff had eat the bread, he 
 seem-ed bct-ter ; and Rob-ert was 
 so glad, that he took him in his 
 arms, jump-ed down from the hay 
 loft, and ran as fast as he could to 
 car-ry him home to Ma-ry. The 
 black string was still round Mufi's 
 neck, but the lock-et was gone, and 
 the bad man that stole the lock-et 
 must have shut the cat up in that 
 empty hay loft, where, but for Rob- 
 ert, he would have di-ed of hun-ger. 
 With good care, and good food, 
 Muff grew well, and fat a-gain, and 
 was as hap-py and as mer-ry as ev- 
 
3d 
 
 er, and Ma-ry's marn-ma wag so 
 pleas-ed with Rob-ert's giv-ing up 
 his own din-ner, to feed a starv-ed 
 cat, that she said, she was sure such 
 a kind boy would make a good man, 
 she sent him to school, that he 
 might learn to read and to write. 
 She gave him new and warm clothes, 
 and was kind to his fath-er, moth-er,' 
 broth-ers and sis-ters, for his sake.' 
 Ma-ry lent Rob-crt all her books as 
 soon as he had learnt to read, and 
 she u-sed to di-vide her mo-ncy with 
 him, that he might buy other books, 
 and o-ther play-things for his lit-tle 
 sis-ters. She ney-er for-got that 
 Rob-crt had sav-ed her dear Muff 
 from death, and that it was the wi- 
 sest and the best thing she could do 
 ev-er af-ter to o-bey her mam-ma, 
 and nev-er do a-ny thing which her 
 mam-ma bid her not to do. 
 
Sj 
 
 When Ma-ry's un-cle gave her 
 the Lock-et, she gave him the Kit- 
 ten, which he car-ri-cd to sea with 
 him. How this lit-tle Kit-ten be-ha- 
 ved, and how the Lock-et was a- 
 gain found, you can learn from a new 
 Book called The White Kitten, 
 just printed by Munroe and Francis, 
 in Cornhill, Boston. 
 
 - 
 
 
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