St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, No. 06, April 1878: Scribner's IllustratedVarious
General
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, No. 06, April 1878: Scribner's Illustrated
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals; Children's periodicals, American
I'm afraid it is not the right answer, and I'm beginning to think that the
archbishop made the riddle on the First of April!
TABBY'S RIDE.
Tabby was a great traveler. She knew every spot about the house--from
attic to cellar--and just where everything that she liked was kept. There
was hardly a rat or a mouse on the place that could hide from her. She
crawled into every dark corner of the barn; could tell the number of eggs
in each hen's nest; and often she took long walks through the fields,
creeping through every hole in the fence that was as big as her body.
Besides all this, she rode about the farm-yard a great many times. She had
merry rides with little Harry in his baby-carriage, with Johnny and Fred
as horses; she had lain curled up on the great load of hay when Mr. Dorr
and the men drove in from the fields; and she had traveled ever so many
miles in the empty wagon, when the boys played it was a train of cars. She
liked this railroad journey best; but Fred always waked her up at every
station by his loud Too-oo-oo-t! At other times, she did not know that
they were moving, even when Fred said they were dashing along at a
terrible rate!
But such a ride as the one I shall tell about, she never had had before in
all her life! Indeed, she would never have taken it--but she could not
help it. Ponto made her go. You see, Ponto and Tabby were good friends.
They lived and ate together; they ran races and played all sorts of nice
games; and they liked each other very much. Sometimes they had little
quarrels; but they soon forgot their anger and were friends again.
Every evening, when Ponto came into the yard, the two friends would run
down one little hill from the house and up another little hill to the barn
where Mary was milking. Ponto would keep the pigs out of the yard, and
Tabby would watch every hole in the barn floor for a rat or a mouse. Then,
when Mary was done milking, she would pour some fresh milk into a pan for
Tabby to drink.
But, after a while, there came a long rain-storm. Ponto had to stay in the
yard for two or three days. Tabby did nothing but doze! It seemed as if it
never would stop raining! But it did at last; and when Ponto and Tabby ran
down the hill again, they saw at the bottom--a pond deep enough to drown
them both!
Tabby did not know what to do. In all her travels she had never crossed a
pond of water. She was frightened, and would have gone back to the house,
but she looked toward the barn, and saw Mary and the pan of milk waiting
for her beside the door.
Ponto did not care for the water, for he could swim. So when they came to
the edge of the pond, he plunged in and was soon across. Then he looked
back to see what had become of Tabby. He thought she would be at his
heels.
But no! There she was on the bank where he had left her. Her back was
curled up till it looked as if it were broken, and her tail was waving
over it! What in the world was the matter? She never looked so except when
she was angry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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