American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Sunday schools -- United States -- Periodicals
Unlike most of his sex, the second John Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus
Mozart (for we had given him the full name of the great musician,
calling him simply Mozart for short) seemed to take an interest in the
art of sewing. I may record as a proof of this that when my aunt Julia
would be sewing on her machine, my hero would jump up into the vacancy
between her spinal column and the chair, and there remain until he was
dismissed. If he had been allowed a longer time to stay there than
_was_ given him, he would, probably, not have left so soon, but as to
that I cannot positively speak.
Before recording the following incident I will repeat the aforesaid
statement that every word of this biographical sketch is strictly
true, and unto that fact I will set my signature and seal, any time you
wish. (Possibly that is one particular in which this differs from most
biographical sketches.)
Mozart’s saucer from which he was in the habit of eating and drinking,
stood out in the kitchen by the sink. On the day of which I speak, he
came in and told in plaintive accents that something was the matter.
As I have remarked heretofore, he always left us in uncertainty as to
_what_, for a time, at least. When questioned, however, he earnestly
smelled of his empty saucer, and then, jumping up on the sink, put
his paw on the cold water faucet, and then, descending, repeated his
summons for aid. The saucer was speedily filled with water, and he
drank long and eagerly.
This same incident was repeated in every particular, at another time,
with the faucet in the bath-room upstairs.
On one occasion Mr. Mozart did a most disgraceful thing—one that was
enough to bring disrepute on any family—namely, he ran away. There
were several cats living around our barn in those days, and whether he
eloped with one of them or not, I never heard, but certain it was that
he disappeared, and no trace of him could be found.
But after sin, remorse is sure to come, and conscience speaks earnestly
to the sinner, so “in the stilly night,” when “slumber’s chains _had_
bound” the inmates of our house, some of them were awakened by mournful
and heart-rending sounds coming from the rear of the house. Under some
circumstances, we might have thought we were being serenaded; one of
the members of the household was despatched to the back door, to admit
the runaway! The lost had returned! the prodigal had come home! And as
he rested once more on his couch of carpeting, how sweet it must have
smelled to him (in which respect he would have differed from us), and
how soft it must have felt, because his conscience was at rest, and
because he could once more sleep the sleep of the innocent! Some of
his feline friends had returned to the door with him, and had uplifted
their voices with his, but only the proper inhabitant of the house was
admitted.
PARANETE.
SOME REMARKABLE WOMEN.
P.—PRENTISS, ELIZABETH.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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