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[Illustration]

 A BOOK OF
 CHEERFUL CATS
 AND OTHER
 ANIMATED ANIMALS

 BY J. G. FRANCIS




 A BOOK OF
 CHEERFUL CATS
 AND OTHER ANIMATED ANIMALS

 BY
 J. G. FRANCIS


 THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK




Copyright, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887,
1890, 1892, 1903, by ELSIE W. FRANCIS


Printed in U.S.A.


       *       *       *       *       *




[Illustration]

    Some Cat-land fancies, drawn and dressed
      To cheer your mind when it's depressed.

[Illustration]




[Illustration: CONTENTS]


                                           Page
 SOME FUN WITH A TOY SPIDER                   1
 THE TEA-PARTY                                2
 A MUSICAL EVENING                            3
 THE GIRAFFE RIDE                           4-5
 A VERY HAPPY FAMILY                          6
 A DUTIFUL PARENT                             7
 A CASE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY                  8-9
 "THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PENNY"                  10
 THE REFORMED LION                           11
 QUITS                                       12
 THE GENIAL GRIMALKIN                        13
 EUCHRED!                                    14
 THE BICYCLE RIDE                            15
 STUDY OF HEDGEHOG STEALING APPLE            16
 THE LION IN THE BARBER-SHOP                 17
 THE BALD EAGLE AND THE BARBER               18
 THE SPRING CURTAIN                       19-21
 "'T IS A PERFECT PICNIC DAY!"               22
 "A TAM O' SHANTER DOG"                      23
 THE DONKEY AND HIS COMPANY               24-28
 LATE!                                       29
 PICTURES WITH A MORAL FOR BOYS AND DOGS  30-31
 Y^E JOYFUL OWL                              32
 A QUEER BARBER-SHOP                         33
 THE CAT AND THE CREAM                       34
 STORY OF THE CATNIP BALL                 35-36
 THE PRICKLY PIG, THE PUG AND PARD           37
 MATERNAL COUNSEL                            38
 COASTING CATS                               39
 THE ELEPHANT JUGGLER                        40
 A SEA CHANGE                                41
 A MEDICAL OPINION                           42
 A NEEDLESS APPREHENSION                     43
 THE CAT-O'-NINE-TAILS                       44
 A HAPPY NEW YEAR                            45

[Illustration]


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A BOOK OF CHEERFUL CATS




[Illustration: Some Fun with a Toy Spider.]




[Illustration]

    A little Girl asked some Kittens to tea
    To meet some Dolls from France;
    And the Mother came, too, to enjoy a view
    And afterwards play for the dance.
    But the Kittens were rude & grabbed their food
    And treated the Dolls with jeers;
    Which caused the Mother an aching heart
    And seven or eight large tears.




[Illustration]

            Sing, sing! What shall we sing?
    The cat's run away with the pudding-bag string.




[Illustration]

    They were happy and did laugh
    When their friend, the big Giraffe,
    Tried his speed along the highway with the cars.

[Illustration]

    But their joy was turned to grief
    When their charger bit a leaf
    That was growing in a region near the stars.




[Illustration: STUPENDOUS AGGREGATION OF MIRACULOUS MARVELS]

    THE
    MUSICAL LAMB
    ORPHEUS

    JUMA
    THE JUGGLER

    LADY BLANCHE
    THE COLOSSAL
    FAT CAT

    ONLY LIVING
    FIVE EARED
    LITERARY RABBIT




A DUTIFUL PARENT.

    Cried a cat to his wife, "See, my dear,
    The superlative Circus is here!
    With the children we'll go,--'tis our duty, you know,
    Their young minds to enlighten and cheer."




[Illustration: A CASE OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY]

    Said a Cat to his sons, "I should deem
    This blithe Picture-Book Boy carried cream."

[Illustration]

    "Let us give him a scare,
     So he'll leave it right there."

     This will show the success of the scheme.




[Illustration]

          THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PENNY,
          AND COULDN'T BORROW ANY,
    AND THEY OWED EXACTLY HALF A DIME FOR COAL;
          SO THEY SAID, "WE'LL RUN AWAY,"--
          WHEN A GOOSE CAME OUT TO SAY:
    "YOU MUST PAY TWO CENTS APIECE ALL 'ROUND FOR TOLL!"




[Illustration]

    A Raging, Roaring Lion, of a Lamb-devouring kind,
    Reformed and led a sweet, submissive life.
    For with face all steeped in smiles
    He propelled a Lamb for miles,
    And he wed a woolly Spinster for a wife.




[Illustration: Quits.]




[Illustration: The Genial Grimalkin]

    There was an old Cat named Macduff
    Who could joke till you cried, "Hold, enough!"
    His Wife and his Child so persistently smiled
    That their cheeks got a permanent puff.




[Illustration: Euchred!]




[Illustration]

       "OH, dear Papa!" three children cried.
         "You promised don't you know?
     That next when you should take a ride
          All three of us should go."
    "I DID," that father said. "You know
          I never speak at random.
        So get your roller-skates. We'll go
          Off in a tearing tandem!"




[Illustration: Study of Hedgehog Stealing Apple.]




[Illustration]

    A Lion emerged from his lair
    For a short summer cut to his hair.
    But the Barber he wept;
    While his customers slept
    As they waited their turn in the chair.




[Illustration]

    When the Barber at last shut his shop,
    From the clouds a Bald Eagle did drop,
    To purchase a lotion,
    A brush, or some "notion"
    To make the hair grow on his top.




[Illustration]

The Spring Curtain. A drama in five acts.

1. Which?

2. The Choice.

[Illustration]

3. The Rivals.

4. "Ha, the Spring Curtain!"

[Illustration]

5. Revenge.




[Illustration]

    "'T is a perfect picnic day!" the little dog did say,
     As he found his friends all ready for the train,
    "Still, I thought 't would ease your mind
     Not to leave this thing behind,--
     For you know a bonnet suffers so from rain."




[Illustration]

        A Tam o' Shanter Dog
        And a plaintive piping Frog,
    With a Cat whose one extravagance was clothes,
        Went to see a Bounding Bug
        Dance a jig upon a rug,
    While a Beetle balanced bottles on his nose.




[Illustration: The Donkey and his Company.]

A desultory Dog once met a discontented Donkey who could form no
plans for his summer vacation. "Why not go with me to Bayreuth?"
said the Dog. "We'll hear some music there, besides meeting all
our friends." "Agreed," cried the Donkey; "'t is a happy thought."
And they shook hands on it.

[Illustration]

On the way they met a fashionable Cat, and also a proud and
sensitive young Fowl, who both declared they had long desired to
go to Bayreuth. And so the four walked on in company.

[Illustration]

About noon the second day they suddenly stopped to listen, for
they heard distant music. "That must be the ending of an overture,"
said the Dog. "I should judge by the sound we were now about three
miles from the Opera House."

[Illustration]

Arriving at the Opera House, they found all the seats were sold,
and that they could gain no admittance; and this so disappointed
the sensitive Fowl that the others kindly assisted him to look in
at an upper window.

The music which poured from the building now so stirred them that
they simultaneously burst into song.

[Illustration]

After the opera they all went to the Inn, where they had an excellent
dinner, and then spent the evening in happy festivity.

[Illustration]

Their musical sensibilities were now so quickened that they resolved
to give a concert themselves, which was a great success and aroused
immense enthusiasm.




[Illustration: Late!]




[Illustration: Pictures with a Moral for Boys and Dogs. I.]

[Illustration: II.]

[Illustration: III.]




[Illustration: Y^e JOYFUL OWL.]

     An Owl, with a Visage of Joy,
     Once Chassed a Kate Greenaway Boy.
    "'T will Break In my New Shoes,
     And my Children Amuse;"--
     And it Did:--but Alas! for y^e Boy.




[Illustration: A Queer Barber-Shop.]




[Illustration: Scene I.]

[Illustration: Scene II.]




[Illustration: Story of the Catnip Ball. The Beginning.]

[Illustration: The End.]




[Illustration]

    The Prickly Pig, the Pug and Pard
    Try to surprise the Nubian Bard.
    He only smiles, with gesture kind,--
    Wild flights do not disturb his mind.




[Illustration: MATERNAL COUNSEL]

    Said a Sheep to her child, "My dear Ruth,
    Such precipitate haste is uncouth.
    When you come down a stair
    Use more caution and care,
    And restrain this wild impulse of youth."




[Illustration]

    O, coasting Cats! my nerves you thrill
    As in your box you bounce and fly!
    If Jack and Jill are down this hill,

         I think you'll meet them presently.
         And they may feel constrained to say
         That yours is quite a sudden way.




[Illustration]

    An Elephant sat on some kegs
    And juggled glass bottles and eggs.
    And he said. "I surmise
    This occasions surprise,--
    But, oh dear, how it tires one's legs!"




[Illustration: A Sea Change]

    They strolled at sunset down the beach and perched upon some piles,
    And sang about the Summer Sea--which then was out for miles.
    By eight o'clock the Summer Sea was flowing towards the shore,
    And then, I think, they all got down and sang of it no more.




[Illustration: A Medical Opinion]

    The Infant Camel felt depressed,--
    A case of doleful dumps.
    The Doctor said, "It seems to me
    His back has got the mumps."

    This diagnosis did divert
    The Nurse, a Kangaroo,
    And she did tell it to the Cat,
    And he smiled somewhat, too.




[Illustration: A Needless Apprehension.]

    A shipwrecked Spoonbill always has a shock
    When he sees a Wigbird wading towards his rock.




[Illustration]

    It makes a Cat-o'-Nine-Tails simply smile,
    When a Peacock tries the Neighbors to beguile.




[Illustration: A HAPPY NEW YEAR!]