“The first thing that Dixie could remember was of being cuddled up to some one who was soft and comfortable and gave her sweet warm milk to drink. Somehow, she knew that this was her mother, and that her mother would feed her when she was hungry and keep her warm and take care of her and not let anything hurt her.
“By this time Tommy was six months old, and as full of pranks as a six-months-old kitten well could be. His education had begun the very moment he entered the Hartford postoffice, so it is not surprising that by the time he had spent half a year there he was really remarkable.
“I felt very unhappy after you drove off yesterday, and did not know what to do with myself. I went into the barn, and thought I would take a nap on the hay, for I do think going to sleep is one of the very best things for people who are unhappy; but it seemed so lonely without old Charlie stamping in his stall that I could not bear it, so I went into the garden, and lay down under the damask rose-bush, and caught flies…”
“Once upon a time I can’t say exactly when it was there stood a neat, tidy little hut on the borders of a wild forest. A poor old woman dwelt in this hut.
“One evening when a company of children and older people were looking at funny cat-pictures and telling cat-stories, a little ten year-old girl asked: ‘Why can there not be a Cats’ Arabian Nights Story Book?
“The Author begs to assure her young readers that the principal circumstances on which this little story is founded are true. The friendship between the two animals, the dog’s journey home, and return in company with his friend, are facts which occurred within her own knowledge.
“There is a superstition among railroad men which, strangely enough, is seemingly warranted by experience, that when one wreck occurs, two more are certain to follow. And, sure enough, two more did follow, though neither was so serious as the one at Vinton; which, indeed, still lives in the memories of those who helped clear it away as the worst that ever happened on the division…”
“Twice we heard Henry Watterson deliver his classical lecture on Abraham Lincoln. At the most dramatic point in the address the speaker discussed the problem, how to account adequately for the great president.
“The Jews are found in all nations, but are not fully of any nation — a situation which Christians, who are supposed to be in the world but not of the world, holding their citizenship in heaven rather than in any earthly country, should find it easy to understand.
“The prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Gentiles had been so numerous and diversified that nothing but the partial blindness of Israel could have prevented them from entertaining a general expectation of the speedy accession of all nations to the kingdom of God…