and was caused by a boy hitting me with a sharp stone. What satisfaction
can it be to them? Harming a defenseless animal can surely give none, but
it always seems a great temptation to them to do so. Once I saw a group of
small boys stoning a kitten which they had tied to a raft. I was glad when
a big policeman caught them at it. Dogs and boys were the only drawback to
what was otherwise a perfect life, and a lazily lounging about one; first
a feast and then a famine.

No matter how intense were the pangs of hunger, I followed mother's advice
and never ate sparrows or any other birds.

About this time I made the acquaintance of a cat who lived in a theatre
and one night he invited me to go behind the scenes with him. My eyes were
opened that night. Strange looking girls in stranger looking costumes came
upon the stage and attempted to dance and sing. The like of this I had
never seen before (nor, I hope, will I ever again). When their gowns were
not too short, they were much too loud for my taste, but, nevertheless, it
seems that people sit for hours watching them rave, dance, and scream.
These peculiar people were kind to me, though, for I ambled about with
considerable interest. One young female called out, "Larry, pipe the new
cat!"

Now I had seen Mr. Carver smoke a pipe and sometimes he would pick me up
and playfully blow rings of smoke in my face and laugh at me so I scurried
away for fear I should have to take one of those nasty things in my mouth.
As I was leaving the theatre one man called out to me to "beat it," and,
as I could not understand their language, which was not in the text books
at school, I made good my escape with the kindly help of an old shoe,
which accompanied me part way. "That is no place for a self-respecting
cat," I thought, so went out into the night. I was a homeless wanderer,