The history of Tabby, a favourite cat : As related by herself to her kitten
"The history of Tabby, a favourite cat : As related by herself to her kitten" by E. Smyth is a children’s moral tale written in the early 19th century. The book follows a mother cat narrating her life to teach virtues such as humility, gratitude, self-control, and kindness toward animals. Tabby recounts her youth in a cottage, her pride and disobedience, and a perilous attempt to reach the big house that ends
with a fall into a cellar and a painful rescue by kind children, especially Henry and Phœbe. Settled with the Meade family, she sketches their characters—Eliza’s conceit, Henry’s compassion, Clara’s delicacy, Augustus’s rashness, and Phœbe’s tenderness—then confesses her worst lapse: killing Henry’s pet dormice. Shamed by his fairness, she reforms and later proves her virtue by resisting the pigeons while locked overnight in their loft, earning praise. She also endures cruelty from visiting boys who maim her, but Henry protects her thereafter. The tale closes with her affectionate counsel to her kitten and a quiet return indoors, underscoring repentance, gentleness, and just treatment of animals. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
The history of Tabby, a favourite cat : As related by herself to her kitten
Original Publication
London: Didier and Tebbett, 1809.
Credits
Carla Foust and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net ((This file was produced from images generously made available by the Toronto Public Library))
Reading Level
Reading ease score: 65.8 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
