Miss Elliots Girls | Page 4

in full session.
"Now, Aunt Ruth," said Susie, "you promised to tell us a story, you
know."
"Yes; tell us about Dinah Diamond, please," said Mollie.
"You and Susie have heard that story before, Mollie."
"That does not make a bit of difference, Auntie. The stories we like
best we have heard over and over again. Besides, the other girls haven't
heard it. Come, Aunt Ruth, please begin."
And so, while all sat industriously at work, Ruth Elliot related to the
little girls
THE TRUE STORY OF DINAH DIAMOND.
"When I was a little girl," she began, "I had a present from a neighbor
of a black kitten. I carried her home in my apron, a little ball of black
fur, with bright blue eyes that turned yellow as she got bigger, and a
white spot on her breast shaped like a diamond. I remember she spit
and clawed at me all the way home, and made frantic efforts to escape,
and for a day or two was quite homesick and miserable; but she soon
grew accustomed to her surroundings, and was so sprightly and playful
that she became the pet of the house.
"The first remarkable thing she did, was to set herself on fire with a
kerosene lamp. We were sitting at supper one evening, when we heard
a crash in the sitting-room, and rushing in, found the cloth that had
covered the center table and a blazing lamp on the floor. It was the
work of an instant for my father to raise a window, wrap the lamp in
the table-cloth, and throw both into the street. This left the room in
darkness, and I don't think the cause of the accident occured to any of
us, till there rushed from under the sofa a little ball of fire that flew
round and round the room at a most astonishing pace.
"'Oh, my kitten! my kitten!' I screamed. 'She's burning to death! Catch

her! Catch her! Put her out! Throw cold water on her! Oh, my poor,
poor Dinah!' and I began a wild chase in the darkness, weeping and
wailing as I ran. The entire family joined in the pursuit. We tumbled
over chairs and footstools. We ran into each other, and I remember my
brother Charlie and I bumped our heads together with a dreadful crash,
but I think neither of us felt any pain. They called out to each other in
the most excited tones: 'Head her off there! Corner her! You've got her!
No, you haven't! There she goes! Catch her! Catch her!' while I kept up
a wailing accompaniment, 'Oh, my poor, precious Dinah! my burned up
Dinah Diamond,' etc.
"Well, my mother caught her at last in her apron and rolled her in the
hearth rug till every vestige of fire was extinguished and then laid her
in my lap.
"Don't laugh, Mollie," said tenderhearted Nellie Dimock--"please don't
laugh. I think it was dreadful. O Miss Ruth, was the poor little thing
dead?"
"No, indeed, Nellie; and, wonderful to relate, she was very little hurt.
We supposed her fine thick coat kept the fire from reaching her body,
for we could discover no burns. Her tongue was blistered where she
had lapped the flame, and in her wild flight she had lamed one of her
paws. Of course her beauty was gone, and for a few weeks she was that
deplorable looking object--a singed cat. But oh, what tears of joy I shed
over her, and how I dosed her with catnip tea, and bathed her paw with
arnica, and nursed and petted her till she was quite well again! My little
brother Walter ("That was my papa, you know," Mollie whispered to
her neighbor), who was only three years old, would stand by me while I
was tending her, his chubby face twisted into a comical expression of
sympathy, and say in pitying tones: 'There! there! poo-ittle Dinah! I
know all about it. How oo must huffer' (suffer). The dear little fellow
had burned his finger not long before and remembered the smart.
"I am sorry to say that the invalid received his expressions of sympathy
in a very ungracious manner, spitting at him notwithstanding her sore
tongue, and showing her claws in a threatening way if he tried to touch
her. As fond as I was of Dinah, I was soon obliged to admit that she

had an unamiable disposition."
"Why, Miss Ruth, how funny!" said Ann Eliza Jones. "I didn't know
there was any difference in cats' dispositions."
"Indeed there is," Miss Ruth answered: "quite as much as in the
dispositions of children, as any one will tell you who has raised a
family of kittens. Well, Dinah made a quick recovery, and when her
new coat was grown it