There was no hypothesis by which she could claim them as
her own. Kittens are not hereditary in the family of fowls, and she knew
it. It was an usurpation without any pretext of justification. What
would become of us if such a precedent could be extended to the genus
_Mammalia?_ Hundreds of rapacious old maids would be seizing all sorts
and all sizes of babies from agonized mothers, and asserting for
themselves the hallowed duties of maternity. Our infant days would have
been days of ceaseless motion. We should have been shuttle-cocked from
maiden to mother and from mother to maiden after a fashion calculated to
defeat the wise purposes of ipecac and paregoric, and to frighten our
natural curls into a state of painful perpendicularity. The mere
presentment of such a possibility, carries its refutation, and puts the
aggressions of this Sacramento hen in the category of outrages which all
society is banded to suppress. If you must laugh, O generation of
scoffers, make your jokes and gibes the instrument of protecting the
altars of all such feline households as may be thus assailed.
* * * * *
Flag and Rag.
What is the difference between a railroad danger signal and a lost
pocket-handkerchief?
The one is a red flag, the other is a fled rag.
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