The lady who took Mack had a little daughter who became attached to the
kitten and in a few weeks they were the best of friends. By the time
Mack was one year old he had learned many tricks and was very obedient.
When he wanted someone to open the door he would stand on his hind feet
and put both front feet around the door knob and try to open the door
or attract attention. It was a good thing that Mack learned to do this.
One night he was left in the kitchen to sleep. The little girl of the
home, Mack’s little mistress, was asleep in another room which opened
into the kitchen. About two o’clock that night the girl’s mother heard
Mack rattling the door knob and meowing with all his might. She knew
that something was wrong so she went to the kitchen to see why he was
calling so much. When she opened the door she saw that the kitchen was
on fire and the blaze had almost reached the door of the little girl’s
room, where Mack was calling for help. His fur was scorched a little
but he was not seriously burned. The mother said that five minutes
more and the blaze would have been beyond control and would have made
its way into the little girl’s bedroom. She feels that Mack saved her
daughter’s life by calling for her to open the door.
When the lady and her daughter moved from Albany, New York, to Chicago,
they did not leave Mack behind. He moved with them as one of the family
and lived for a long time in a boarding house in the big city. There
are so many kittens that do not get to travel over the country; neither
do they get to live in boarding houses. Almost any kitten is satisfied
to have a good place to sleep and plenty to eat. There is another thing
most kittens like, and that is kind treatment. They like to be petted
and loved as well as being cared for with home and food.
After leaving Chicago, Mack moved to Kansas City with his kind
mistress. For some time he lived in this city but at last he moved to
Maple Park, just east of the city on the Interurban line to Excelsior
Springs. It was there he lived and spent many happy days. Out there in
the open, away from the crowded streets of the big cities, Mack caught
grasshoppers as his favorite pastime in the fields. This he enjoyed
very much and it was also good exercise for him.
When the lady’s husband would sit down to read the evening paper in
the big Morris chair, Mack would always sleep on one of the arms of
the chair. At meal time he would sit in a high chair at the table and
eat just what was given to him. He would not offer to get on the table
nor bother anything in the kitchen. One day another kitten came into
the home to live but he was not so careful to keep out of the food not
intended for him. When he would try to get into anything or stand up
against the cabinet or table, Mack would box his ears and make him get
away. Mack had been trained from his baby days to keep off the table or
cabinet and to keep out of food which did not belong to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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