She always hid in corners , quaked when I touched her , took her food by stealth , and sat in a forlorn bunch in cold nooks , down cellar or behind the gate , mewing despondently to herself , as if her woes must find a vent . She would not be easy and comfortable . No cushion could allure , no soft beguilements win her to purr , no dainty fare fill out her rusty coat , no warmth or kindness banish the scared look from her sad green eyes , no ball or spool lure her to play , or cause her to wag her mortified thin tail with joy . Poor , dear little Blot ! She was a pathetic spectacle , and her end was quite in keeping with the rest of her hard fate . Trying one day to make her come and be cuddled , she retreated to the hearth , and when I pursued her , meaning to catch and pet her , she took a distracted skip right into a bed of hot coals . One wild howl , and another still more distracted skip brought her out again , to writhe in agony with four burnt paws and a singed skin . `` We must put the little sufferer out of her pain , '' said a strong-minded friend ; and quenched little Blot 's life and suffering together in a pail of water . I laid her out sweetly in a nice box , with a doll 's blanket folded round her , and , bidding the poor dear a long farewell , confided her to old MacCarty for burial . He was my sexton , and I could trust him to inter my darlings decently , and not toss them disrespectfully into a dirt-cart or over a bridge . My dear Mother Bunch was an entire contrast to Blot . Such a fat , cosey old mamma you never saw , and her first appearance was so funny , I never think of her without laughing . In our back kitchen was an old sideboard , with two little doors in the lower part . Some bits of carpet were kept there , but we never expected to let that small mansion till , opening the door one day , I found Mrs. Bunch and her young family comfortably settled . I had never seen this mild black cat before , and I fancy no one had ever seen her three roly-poly , jet-black kits . Such a confiding puss I never met , for when I started back , surprised , Mrs. Bunch merely looked at me with an insinuating purr , and began to pick at my carpet , as if to say , -- `` The house suited me ; I 'll take it , and pay rent by allowing you to admire and pet my lovely babies . '' I never thought of turning her out , and there she remained for some months , with her children growing up around her , all as fat and funny , black and amiable , as herself . Three jollier kits were never born , and a more devoted mother never lived . I put her name on the door of her house , and they lived on most comfortably together , even after they grew too big for their accommodations , and tails and legs hung out after the family had retired . I really did hope they would escape the doom that seemed to pursue my cats , but they did not , for all came to grief in different ways .
Cuddle XXXXX had a fit , and fell out of the window , killing herself instantly .
Blot Bunch MacCarty day dirt-cart escape first purr puss woes