she was afraid at first that I was a bad quarrelsome cat, and that it
almost broke her heart. Judging from remarks that she dropped and as she
had such sad eyes and sighed so often, I am sadly afraid that father
himself was not exactly a Sunday-school model. I was stiff and sore the
next day and stayed in my corner. Mother brought part of her dinner to me,
but I could not bear to take the food from a nursing mother. The cries of
the kittens wore on my nerves to such an extent that I wondered if I could
ever settle down to a domestic life.

As soon as I felt able to go out into the world I did so, for I knew that
it made extra work for mother to have me there. I therefore took my
departure, deciding that I should not go back to the school (for after all
it was a dull place). It is needless to state that I thanked mother for
her kindness. Notwithstanding my first experience, I was anxious to see
life so set out with a brave heart, but without friends and no prospects
of a place to lay my head. Fortunately as it was summer and the nights
were warm, one could sleep out quite comfortably. I did not look quite up
to the mark, but knew that time alone would cover the bald places, and
restore my former agility. In the daytime I did not venture forth, but
slept most of the time in a quiet nook in a back yard where the people had
gone away for the summer. At night I came out, and a few uncovered garbage
pails helped me wonderfully, although it hurt my pride to eat this sort of
food. I was young and healthy, however, and enjoyed the free life in the
open air.

I made a few good friends, some of whom I have kept to this day. I
remember that I learned to shun boys, for they were apt to throw stones.
How they can be so cruel I cannot understand. If they realized how the
stones cut and sting, they would never use them for missiles and us for
targets. I nursed a wound on my hip bone for weeks, which was very painful