The Outcasts

In attic high and grim and scant, A ragged creature lonoly sat. His face was lined by pain and want - At once he cried "Begane! avaunt!" As o'er tüe threshold crept a cat. "Stay, stranger, do not drive me henee! I pray theelist my tale of woe; I am too poor to give offense, And, lacking now in every sense, I scarce fear either word or blow. It was not always thus; before They drove me fonh the streets to roam I always found an open door- Alas, wben we grow old and poor That we should be without a home ! " The chlldren loved to stroke my back, When I was sleek and round and fat- Make fly the sparks and list them crack, Theyoalled me pretty puss. Alack! lm now but a neglected cat ! "Once when a bell the children found- A tiny, tinkling bell- they tied It with a pretty ribbon round My neck, and at its merry sound They laughcd and laughed until they criO& "To-day, whene'ermy form they spy, With ready hand they fling the bat And lam foreed for lif e to fly ; lve lost a foot- an ear- an eye; There is no pity for a cat. "My teeth are gone, my claws are dulled, I o:n not hope to take a rat; The hair from off my back is pulled- My fare from backyard garbage culled - Alas ! I am a sorry cat." "Poor creature, you have come at last To one who fcelsyour woe; like you, By all the heartloss world outcast, I dream of an embittered past That proved all íalse I once thought tnie ' Come, ma'med and ragged as you are, Take haif my crust; 't is hard and dry And all I have- but you shall share : And while I live, so you shall fare 'Till one or both of us shall die I"