Puss-cat Mew

Every child knows the sweet nursery rhyme of "Puss-cat Mew,"--

"Puss-cat Mew jumped over a coal;
In her best petticoat burnt a great hole;
Puss-cat Mew shan't have any milk
Till her best petticoat's mended with silk."

But very few children, or big people either, know _who_ Puss-cat Mew was,
or what was the history upon which those lines were made. I do not know
that I should ever have found it out, only that I happened to overhear
the White Stable Cat talking to the Brown Kitten that lives in the
cottage over the road. I was lying down on the croquet-ground bank,
smoking my cigarette, and thinking of the pretty blue sky up at which I
was looking, and watching the fleecy white clouds that slowly followed
each other over the face of it, and wondering whether it would rain next
day, or be fine and bright enough for Ned's cricket-match, when I heard
soft voices talking near me. I raised myself on my elbow to listen, and
soon discovered whence they came. The White Cat had got the Brown Kitten
into the arbour between the croquet-ground and the kitchen-garden, and,
whilst they were watching the young robins which had just been fledged,
and plainly expecting that one would hop within reach before long, they
were talking over old times and old legends, and the White Cat was
telling the whole story about Puss-cat Mew--which by this means I am able
to tell to you.

There was, so she said, many years ago a worthy couple who had an only
son, to whom they were tenderly attached. The boy grew up strong and
hearty, and was withal of a clever turn of mind and a right cheerful
disposition. But, somehow or other, he could never fancy his father's
trade, which was that of a miller, and was seized with a great desire to
see more of the world than he could do by remaining at home. His parents
did not appear (so far as the White Cat knew) to have offered any great
opposition to his wishes; so after the usual kissing and crying on the
part of his mother, and good advice on the part of the honest old father,
our young friend boldly started off on his travels.