a "feline anecdote" near carlisle

A Scottish story, and the teller wants to be very sure you know right where it happened.  Ah, the determination of that poor mama cat.

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FELINE ANECDOTE.
THE following circumstance occurred not fourteen miles from Carlisle, and can be well authenticated :— About six years ago, at a farm on the banks of the Sark, not two miles above Gretna, a young woman was married to a farmer, near Kirkgunzeon Kirk, in the stewartry of Kircudbright; and when her parents were giving her outgate, as it is called in Scotland, in addition to their gift, she begged of them a favourite cat, which had two kittens; this was granted, and the cat and kittens were mounted along with her upon the cart, which arrived at the farmer's residence at Kirkgunzeon Kirk that evening. Puss, not satisfied with her new quarters, next night decamped with her two kittens, carrying them one after the other during the night, and hiding them during the day, when, it is supposed, she supported herself with the scanty provisions she could procure, it was ascertained, that she lost one of the kittens in the Langwood, parish of Troquire, about four miles from Dumfries, where she was seen two days; and after passing through Dumfries, she arrived at her old lodgings, on the banks of the Sark, with the other kitten; having,on her return, travelled not less than forty miles, in twelve days.

The Weekly Entertainer; or Agreeable and Instructive Repository: Containing a Collection of Select Pieces, Both in Prose and Verse; Curious Anecdotes, Instructive Tales, and Ingenious Essays on Different Subjects. Sherborne [Dorset, England: printed by R. Goadby and Co, 1783. 1809. Internet resource. 756.