We have cats and kittens in so many of our homes that I think you have all seen kittens play. How they like to run after a string when some little boy or girl draws it over the floor! When Mamma is knitting or mending, the kittens like to play with the balls of yarn and the spools of thread. They play with the tassels of the table cover that hang near the floor; and with balls, marbles or anything that they can easily move with their pretty little paws.
In the picture, one kitten is playing with the string of the little girl’s slipper, while the other is watching it and looks as though it would like to play too, for kittens are very playful little creatures.
See how still the little girl stands and how careful she is not to hurt the kitten. She enjoys seeing it play. Sometimes children tease cats and hurt them, and think it is fun to hear them cry and to see them run away, but that is very, very wrong. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful.” When children tease cats and dogs, they are cruel, —not merciful, and God will punish cruelty. But He will show mercy to the merciful.
Dear children, never do to others what you would not want them to do to you, nor treat creatures in a way that you would not like to be treated yourself. Luke 6:3131And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. (Luke 6:31).
ML 09/06/1903