I delivered a lecture on cruelty to animals , confiscated the victim , and , wrapping her in a newspaper , bore the muddy little beast away in triumph . Being washed and dried , she turned out a thin black kit , with dirty blue bows tied in her ears . As I do n't approve of ear-rings , I took hers out , and tried to fatten her up , for she was a forlorn creature at first . But Blot would not grow plump . Her early wrongs preyed upon her , and she remained a thin , timid , melancholy little cat all her days . I could not win her confidence . She had lost her faith in mankind , and I do n't blame her . 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 XXXXX , I found Mrs. Bunch and her young family comfortably settled .
Blot Bunch MacCarty beguilements cosey darlings day ear-rings right woes