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Make Believe Stories
(Trademark Registered)
THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT
by
LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," "The Story of a Nodding
Donkey," "The Bobbsey Twins Series," "The Bunny Brown Series," "The Six
Little Bunkers Series," Etc.
Illustrated by Harry L. Smith
New York
Grosset & Dunlap
Publishers
Made in the United States of America
* * * * *
BOOKS
BY LAURA LEE HOPE
Durably Bound. Illustrated.
MAKE BELIEVE STORIES
THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL
THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE
THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS
THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT
THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK
THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN
THE STORY OF A NODDING DONKEY
THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT
THE STORY OF A PLUSH BEAR
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
* * * * *
THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
* * * * *
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
* * * * *
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
Copyright, 1921, by
Grosset & Dunlap
The Story of a China Cat
[Illustration: The China Cat Has a Ride in Nodding Donkey's Wagon.
_Frontispiece_--(_Page 113_)]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I TOY-SHOP FUN 1
II A NICE LITTLE GIRL 14
III "FIRE! FIRE!" 28
IV A LITTLE BLACK BOY 38
V ROUGH PLAY 50
VI A TERRIBLE STORM 63
VII THE RESCUE 76
VIII JENNIE GETS THE CAT 87
IX AN OLD FRIEND 101
X THE GLARING EYES 111
THE STORY OF A CHINA CAT
CHAPTER I
TOY-SHOP FUN
Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot!
"Goodness me! who is blowing the horn?" asked the Talking Doll, as she
sat up on the shelf in the toy shop. "This isn't Friday; and we don't
want any fish!"
"Speak for yourself, if you please," said a large, white China Cat, who
had just finished washing a few specks of dirt off her shiny coat with
her red tongue. "I could enjoy a bit of fish right now."
"I should rather have pie," said the Talking Doll. "But who blew the
horn? That is what I'd like to know. No one has a horn in this toy shop
that I know anything about."
"It wasn't a horn--that was a trumpet," said another voice. "I'll blow
it again!"
Then there sounded a jolly noise through the quiet toy shop, which was
in darkness except for one electric light in the middle of the store.
Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot! echoed the merry notes.
"What a pretty sound," said the Jumping Jack, as he jerked his arms and
legs up and down, for he had just awakened from his long day of sleep.
"Isn't it nice," agreed Tumbling Tom, a queer toy who never could stand
up, because he was made in such a funny way that he always fell down. "I
wonder if there is going to be a parade?"
"Who is blowing that horn, anyway?" asked the Talking Doll.
"I tell you it isn't a horn--it's a trumpet, and I am blowing it," said
a voice in the front part of the toy store. "I came in only to-day, but
I thought perhaps you other toys would like a little music, so I tuned
up my trumpet. But please don't call it a horn. I am not a fish man!"
With that there came walking along the shelf, from the front part of the
store, a little man wearing a blue coat, dark red trousers, and a hat
with a long, sweeping plume. I say he was a little man, but I mean he
was a toy, dressed up like a man such as you see in fairy stories. In
his hand he carried a little golden trumpet.
As he walked along the shelf, where the other toys stood, the Trumpeter,
for such he was, blew another blast on his golden instrument.
And the blast was such a jolly one that every toy in the store felt like
dancing or singing. The Jumping Jack worked his arms and legs faster
than they had ever jerked about before. The Talking Doll swayed on her
feet as though waltzing, and even the China Cat beat time with her
tail.
"That certainly was very nice," said the Talking Doll, when the
Trumpeter had finished the tune. "Did you say you just came here to be
one of us?"
"Just to-day," was the answer. "I came in a large box, straight from the
workshop of Santa Claus, at the North Pole, and I--"
"Oh! The North Pole!" suddenly mewed the China Cat.
"What's the matter? Does it make you chilly to hear about the North
Pole, where I came from?" asked the Trumpeter.
"No," answered the Cat. "I was just thinking of a friend of mine who
once lived there. You remember him," she added, turning to the Jumping
Jack. "I mean the Nodding Donkey."
"Of course I remember him!" said the Jumping Jack. "I should say I did!
A most jolly chap, always bowing to you in the most friendly way. He
isn't here any more."
"No, he was bought for a little lame boy who had to go on crutches,"
said the Talking Doll. "I remember the Nodding Donkey very well. I say
he was bought for a little lame boy. But the truth of the matter is that
the lame boy got well, and now is just like other boys. Once the Nodding
Donkey's leg was broken and he was brought back here for Mr. Mugg to
fix."
"Who is Mr. Mugg?" asked the Trumpeter, as he rubbed his horn to make it
more shiny. "Excuse me for asking, but I have not been here very long,
you know," he added.
"Mr. Horatio Mugg is the man who keeps this toy store," explained the
China Cat. "He and his daughters, Angelina and Geraldine, keep us toys
in order, dust us off and sell us whenever any one comes in to buy
playthings."
"Then it seems I am not to stay here always," went on the Trumpeter.
"Well, I like a jolly life, going about from place to place. I had fun
at the North Pole, and now I hope I shall have some fun here. That's why
I blew my trumpet--to start you toys into life."
"We always come to life after dark, and make believe we are alive when
no one sees us," explained the China Cat. "That is one of the things we
are allowed to do. But as soon as daylight shines, or when any one comes
into the store to look at us, we must turn back into toys that can move
only when we are wound up. That is, all except me. I have no springs
inside me--I move of myself whenever make-believe time comes," she
added, and she switched her tail from side to side.
"Well, I have springs inside me," said the Talking Doll, "and also a
little phonograph. When it is wound up I can say 'papa' and 'mama' and
'I am hungry.' But when we are by ourselves, as we are now, I can say
what I please."
"I, too, have springs inside me," said the Trumpeter. "That is how I
blow my trumpet. But now, as we are by ourselves and it is night, why
not have some fun? Let's do something. Perhaps, as a newcomer, I should
let some one else start it. But I could not bear to lie on the shelf,
doing nothing, especially when it is so near the jolly Christmas season.
So I just blew my trumpet to awaken you all."
"And I'm glad you did," said the Jumping Jack. "I say let's have some
fun! Shall I show you how well I can jump?" he asked. "If this is your
first night here," he said to the Trumpeter, "you do not know all the
tricks I can do."
"I should be most happy to see you do some," replied the Trumpeter.
"Oh, that Jumping Jack. He thinks he is the only one who can jump!"
whispered a Jack in the Box to Tumbling Tom. "If I could get out of this
box I'd show him some jumps that would make him open his eyes!"
"And as for tumbles!" said Tom. "Why, I can beat him all to pieces! But
we must be polite, you know, especially before strangers--I mean the
Trumpeter. Don't let's have a quarrel."
"All right," agreed the Jack in the Box, or Jack Box, as he was called
for short.
"Now watch me jump!" cried Jumping Jack. "Clear the shelf, if you
please. The Trumpeter has never seen any of my circus tricks!"
So the toys in the shop of Mr. Horatio Mugg got ready to have a jolly
night. Just as the China Cat had said, the toys had the power of making
believe. They could pretend to come to life, and talk among themselves,
and do things they never would think of doing in the daytime. This was
when no human eyes saw them.
"Attention now, everybody!" called the Jumping Jack, just like the
ringmaster in a circus. "First I will climb to the top of the highest
shelf, and then I will jump down."
"Won't you hurt yourself?" asked the Trumpeter.
"Oh, no, I'll land on a big rubber ball and bounce," the Jumping Jack
answered. "If you want to, Trumpeter," he added, "you can blow a blast
on your horn to start me off. It will be more exciting if you do that."
"All right," agreed the new toy.
Up climbed the Jumping Jack until he stood on the very highest shelf of
the store--the shelf where all the extra drums were kept out of the way.
"It makes me dizzy to look at him," said the Talking Doll, and she
covered her eyes with her hand.
"Yes, suppose he should fall," said the China Cat. "But he must show
off, I suppose. I'd rather have less exciting fun--such as a game of
tag."
"Hush!" begged the Trumpeter. "He is ready to jump, I think. Hello
there, Jack!" he called to the toy on the top shelf. "Are you ready?"
"All ready!" was the answer. "Blow your trumpet, and I'll jump!"
The Trumpeter raised his golden horn to his lips.
Toot! Toot! Tootity-toot-toot! came the blast.
"Here I come!" shouted the Jumping Jack.
"Oh, dear! Tell me when it is all over!" begged the Talking Doll,
putting both her hands over her eyes.
Down, down, down, came the Jumping Jack, past shelf after shelf of toys,
until he landed with a bounce on a rubber ball on the very lowest shelf,
where the Cat and the Doll stood.
Up in the air bounced the Jack again, for the ball was like the springs
of a bed. Then he came down upon the ball a second time and bounced up
once more, and this time he came down on the shelf.
"Ouch! Mew! Mew!" cried the China Cat.
"What's the matter? Did the Jumping Jack fall and break his leg like the
Nodding Donkey?" asked the Talking Doll. "Oh, I dare not look! Tell me
about it!"
"Of course he didn't break his leg!" said the Cat. "But he stepped on my
tail; that's what he did! Right on my tail! I hope it isn't broken," she
went on, as she looked carefully at the tip.
"Oh, I beg your pardon! I am so sorry!" exclaimed the Jumping Jack. "I
didn't mean to do that. The ball rolled, and I slipped."
"Well, there is no great harm done, I am glad to say," said the China
Cat, again carefully looking at the tip of her tail. "But if you had
landed a little harder you would have broken it, and then I should be a
damaged toy, and Mr. Mugg would have had to sell me for half price."
"But didn't I do a good jump?" asked the Jack of the Trumpeter.
"One of the finest I ever saw," was the answer. "But suppose we play
something more quiet."
"Let's have a dance!" proposed the Talking Doll. "The Trumpeter can play
for us. I love to dance!"
[Illustration: The Jumping Jack Danced With the China Cat.
_Page 12_]
"So do I," said a Soldier Captain, who was one of a number of wooden
soldiers in a box. "May I have a waltz with you, Miss Doll?"
"Yes," she answered. "Thank you, Captain."
And while the Trumpeter played, the toys danced. The Jumping Jack danced
with the China Cat, but she said his style was jerky. Then Tumbling Tom
danced with the white cat, but Tom kept falling down all the while so
that dance was, really, not a success.
"Let's play tag," said the Talking Doll after a while. "I am sure the
Trumpeter is tired of playing so many tunes for us."
"All right! Tag will be fun!" agreed the China Cat. "I'll be it.
Scatter now, so I shall have to run to tag you."
The toys spread themselves about the shelves of Mr. Mugg's shop, and the
China Cat, whose shiny coat was as white as snow, was just getting ready
to run after the Trumpeter when suddenly the toy pussy gave a loud mew.
"Take her away! Take her away! Don't let her come near me!" cried the
China Cat. "Oh, Captain!" she exclaimed to the wooden soldier, "don't
let her get near me! Take her away!" and the China Cat acted so
strangely that the other toys did not know what to think.
CHAPTER II
A NICE LITTLE GIRL
Everybody had been so happy and jolly in the toy shop, and there was so
much fun going on, that when the China Cat acted so oddly and mewed so
loudly, there was great excitement for a time.
"Don't tell me there is a fire!" cried a little Ballet Dancer, whose
skirts of tissue paper and tulle would be sure to flare up the first
thing in case of a blaze.
"No, there isn't a fire," said a toy Policeman. "If there was I should
turn in an alarm."
"But what is the matter?" asked the Talking Doll. "Did that crazy
Jumping Jack again step on the China Cat's tail?"
"Indeed I did not," answered the Jumping Jack.
And all this while the China Cat kept mewing.
"Take her away! Don't let her come near me! The black will rub off, I'm
sure, and I shall be ruined and damaged. Oh, take her away, Soldier
Captain!" and the China Cat, in her white coat, snuggled as close as she
could to the brave officer with his shiny sword.
"What is the matter? Who is black? Please tell me what to do so I can
help you," begged the Captain.
"Why, don't you see!" exclaimed the China Cat. "That black doll is
coming to play tag with us! She belongs on the other side of the store,
among the Hallowe'en novelties! If she rubs up against me she'll get me
all black, and I can't stand it to be dirty!"
All the other toys glanced toward the toy at which the China Cat pointed
with one paw. Walking along the edge of the shelf was a fuzzy-haired
black Doll, her face as shiny as the stove pipe. She was called a Topsy
Doll.
"Whut's de mattah heah?" asked Topsy, talking just as a colored doll
should talk. "Don't yo' all want fo' me to come an' play tag wif yo'?"
"We'd love to have you," said the Jumping Jack, who, being all sorts of
colors, did not mind one more. "But our China Cat is afraid some of your
black might rub off on her."
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed Topsy. "Dat suah am funny! Why, my black doesn't
come off! I spects maybe I's white inside, but de black on de outside
don't come off! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"Really, doesn't it? Won't you smut me all up?" asked the China Cat.
"No, I won't! Hones' to goodness I won't!" promised the Topsy Doll.
"Some folks do say I's terrible mischievous but I can't help it. I
growed up dat way, I reckon!"
With that Topsy bent over and pulled one of the ears of Tumbling Tom.
"Hey there! Stop it!" cried that toy, and he leaned over to tickle
Topsy, but he leaned too far and down he fell.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" laughed the black Doll. "Golly, I's mischievous; but mah
black won't rub off! Look!"
Topsy took up from the shelf a piece of the white paper Mr. Mugg used to
wrap up the toys when they were purchased. Topsy rubbed this piece of
paper on her black, shiny cheek as hard as she could rub it. Then she
held it out to the China Cat. The paper was as white as before.
"See!" cried Topsy. "Mah black won't rub off! Now can't I play tag wif
yo' all?"
"Oh, yes, let her; do!" begged the Talking Doll. "She's so cute!"
"Of course she may play if she will not smut me," said the China Cat.
"Please don't believe I'm fussy," she went on; "but I shall never be
sold if I do not keep myself white and clean. I thought at first that
Topsy had been down in the coal bin."
"No'm," answered that colored Doll. "I's awful mischievous, but I don't
play in no coal. No indeedy!"
"I'm glad of that," said the China Cat. "Now I'll be it, and see if I
can tag any of you. Look out! I'm coming!"
With that the white Cat began chasing about on the shelves, trying to
tag the other toys, who, you may be sure, kept well out of her reach.
"No fair tagging with your tail--that is so long!" called the Talking
Doll, as she dodged around the corner of the Jack in the Box, who could
not get loose to join the fun. "You must tag us with your paws."
"Yes, I'll do that," agreed the China Cat. "I'll only tag you with my
paws. And I think I'll tag you right now!" she called to the Topsy Doll.
"Oh, ho! Yo' all here has got to be mighty lively to tag me!" the black
toy laughed, and, just as the China Cat was about to touch her, Topsy
dodged to one side and the China Cat nearly slipped off the shelf.
"Oh, my dear! you must be careful," cried the Talking Doll. "Think what
would happen if you hit the floor!"
"Oh, I don't dare think of it!" mewed the China Cat, with a shudder. "I
should be broken to bits!"
So after that the Cat did not run quite so fast. Topsy was a very lively
little doll. She skipped here and there, and kept the other toys
laughing at her funny tricks and the queer way her kinky hair bobbed
about her head.
So the game went on, and at last the China Cat managed to touch the
Jumping Jack with her paw.
"Tag! You're it!" cried the China Cat. "Now it's your turn to do the
chasing, Mr. Jack!"
The game went on faster than ever, and such jolly fun as there was you
never would have dreamed could happen in a toy shop, unless you could
have seen it yourself. But of course that is not allowed. If you had so
much as peeked in with one eye, all the toys would have become as quiet
as a chocolate mouse.
At last they grew tired of such exciting fun. One after another had
taken a turn at being it for tag.
"I know what let's do," suggested the Soldier Captain, after they had
rested. "Let's have some riddles."
"Hi!" cried Topsy, "am riddles good to eat?"
"No, indeed," answered the Talking Doll. "Riddles are something you have
to guess."
"Den I mus' be a riddle!" said the colored Doll.
"What makes you think so?" asked the China Cat.
"'Cause some ob de toys in mah pa't of de store says as how I kept 'em
_guessin'_," was the answer. "Dey done say dey nebber know whut I'm
gwine to do nex'. I suah mus' be a riddle."
"Oh, no, that isn't a riddle," the Soldier Captain explained. "A riddle
is like a puzzle. For instance, I ask you what has four legs, and yet
can't walk?"
"Hu! Dey ain't _nothin'_ whut has fo' legs an' can't walk!" declared
Topsy. "Dat's silly! I's got only _two_ legs, but I can walk when nobody
looks at me. An' dat Noah's Ark Elephant, he's got _fo'_ legs, an' he
can walk. What is dat has fo' legs an' can't walk I axes yo', Mr.
Soldier Captain?"
"A table has four legs and yet it can't walk," laughed the wooden
officer. "That's a riddle, Topsy. Now see if you can tell one."
So the Topsy Doll and the other toys began to think of riddles, asking
them of one another. But, somehow or other, the China Cat was very still
and quiet. She did not enter into this fun as she had into the game of
tag.
"What's the matter?" asked the Jumping Jack, when he had guessed a funny
riddle about a little green hen. "Are you watching for mice, China Cat?
There are some little ones, made of cloth and wood over in the novelty
department where Topsy came from."
"No, I am not thinking of mice," answered the China Cat. "To tell you
the truth, Mr. Jumping Jack, I was thinking of the Nodding Donkey. He
came back here, you know, to have his leg fixed, and he spoke about how
happy he was with the little lame boy, who, I'm glad to know, is lame no
longer. I was just wondering if I would go to a nice home such as he
has."
"I suppose all us toys will be sold, one after another," said the
Jumping Jack. "But it is so nice here that I dread to think of going
away."
"Yes, it is nice in Mr. Mugg's store," the China Cat agreed. "But I
suppose we must do as we are told. Dear Nodding Donkey! How I should
like to see him again. I wonder--"
"Hush! Quiet, everybody! Back to your shelves!" suddenly cried Tumbling
Tom. "Morning is about to come and Mr. Mugg and his daughters will soon
be here. They must never catch us moving about!"
Such a scramble as there was! The China Cat, the Talking Doll, the
Trumpeter, the Policeman, the Fireman, the Jumping Jack, Tumbling Tom
and Jack Box all made haste to get on the shelves where they belonged.
The Topsy Doll, with her kinky hair, darted toward the novelty
department.
"I's glad yo' all let me play wif yo'," she said in her queer talk. "An'
I didn't get any black on yo'; did I, Miss China Cat?"
"No, indeed. You were very nice," was the answer. "Come and play with us
again."
Then it was time for the toys to be very still and quiet, for the door
of the store opened, and in came Mr. Mugg.
"Ah, this is going to be a lovely day!" said the jolly toy-shop man. "I
shall do a good business to-day!"
A little later in came his daughters, Geraldine and Angelina. They began
dusting and setting the store to rights for the day's business.
"Oh, my dear! look at this," said Angelina to her sister.
"What is the matter?" asked Geraldine, pausing with a feather duster
under her arm.
"Why, the lovely white China Cat has a speck of dirt on her back," said
Angelina. "I must have forgotten to dust her yesterday."
"Oh, my!" thought the China Cat, who heard what was said, though she
could not turn around to lick off the speck with her red tongue, "some
black must have come off Topsy after all."
"Oh, no, it isn't dirt," said Angelina, as she took the Cat down to look
more closely at her. "It's just a little speck of black feather from my
duster. It must have just got on."
"Oh, I'm so glad of that!" thought the white Cat. "I wouldn't want to
think that Topsy's black rubbed off."
Soon the store was in readiness for customers, and among the first to
enter that morning was a little girl. She was with a lady, who was the
little girl's aunt.
"Now, Jennie," said the aunt, as Mr. Mugg came forward to wait on them,
"what present would you like? You may pick out anything you please."
"Oh, Aunt Clara! How lovely of you!" cried Jennie Moore, for that was
her name. "Let me see now. What would I like best?"
While Jennie was looking along the shelves of toys her aunt said in a
low tone to Mr. Mugg:
"Jennie has been such a good girl, helping her mother who was ill, that
I promised her any toy she wished."
"That is very kind of you, I am sure," said Mr. Mugg, rubbing his hands
and looking over the tops of his glasses. "We have many toys here for
good little girls, and for good boys, too. Not long ago I sold a Nodding
Donkey to a lame boy, and, would you believe me; that boy isn't lame at
all now," and Mr. Mugg laughed, and Aunt Clara laughed also.
But Jennie was looking along the shelves of toys. The China Cat looked
down, and when she saw what a nice little girl Jennie was, so neat and
clean, the China Cat thought to herself:
"If I have to be taken away and belong to some child, I think I should
like to go to Jennie's house. I'm sure she would be kind to me and love
me, and I would love her."
Jennie seemed to be thinking the same thing about the China Cat, for
suddenly she reached up and took down the white toy.
"Here, Aunt Clara, this is what I would like," said Jennie.
She walked toward her aunt and Mr. Mugg with the China Cat in her hand,
but, just before she reached them, Jennie tripped over a velocipede on
the floor, and seemed about to fall.
"Oh, Jennie, don't drop that China Cat, whatever you do!" cried her
aunt.
CHAPTER III
"FIRE! FIRE!"
Had Jennie Moore stumbled and dropped the China Cat to the floor of the
toy shop that would have been the end of this book. For if the Cat had
fallen she surely would have been broken to bits. And, though Mr. Mugg
might have been able to glue the pieces together again, the China Cat
never would have been like herself, and there would be no story about
her.
But, as it happened, there was a soft footstool just in front of the
velocipede over which Jennie stumbled, and the little girl fell down on
that, still holding the China Cat in her hands. Not once did Jennie let
go of the toy she had taken off the shelf.
"Oh, my dear little girl! I hope you did not hurt yourself!" cried Mr.
Horatio Mugg, as he sprang forward to raise Jennie from the footstool,
across which she had fallen.