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"Give me turkey for my dinner,"
Said a tabby cat.
"Before you get it, you'll be thinner,
Go and catch a rat,"
Said the cook, her pastry making,
Looking fierce and red,
And a heavy roller shaking
Over pussy's head.
Hark! her kittens' shriller mewing;
"Give us pie," said they,
To the cook, amid her stewing,
On Thanksgiving day.
"Pie, indeed! You idle creatures!
Who'd have thought of that?
Wash your paws and faces neater,
And go hunt! Scat! Scat!"
So they went and did their duty,
Diligent and still;
Exercise improved their beauty,
As it always will.
Useful work and early rising
Brought a merry mood ;
And they found the cook's advising,
Though severe, was good.
-- Cats and Kittens (Readings and Recitations No. 35), Edgar S. Werner, ed. (New York : Edgar S. Werner & Company, c1906), 38.
Happy Thanksgiving, Museum friends!
2 comments:
I can see I have life lessons to learn from a cat. I should get out and hunt my food instead of expecting it to just land in front of me on a plate.
Goodness...sitting at a desk feels a lot like hunting down my food some days!
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