Perhaps you have read or heard of tramp kittens. Sometimes they are called little beggars. No doubt you have seen such kittens along the roads or on the streets. Sometimes they will go for miles in search of food and home. In cities and towns they will go from house to house or to the stores in search of scraps of food to eat. Many times these kittens are afraid of boys and girls because they have been abused and often driven away with rocks and clubs but they would like to be treated kindly.
Tiger was one of these tramp kittens in his young days. He had been cast out from his home as an undesirable kitten. Days and nights he wandered around in the town in which he had been left but no one seemed to care for a homeless kitten. Sometimes he was able to find enough to eat but many nights he slept in an alley, cold and hungry.
One morning this tramp kitten was sitting on the back porch of a drug store very hungry. His little body was wasting away. While sitting in the warm sunshine on the porch he went to sleep but was soon awakened by someone opening the back door. Instead of being kicked off the porch with a warning not to return he was surprised to hear kind words and to feel a warm hand stroking his dirty fur.
The kind words and tender strokes came from a young boy whose name was Frank and whose father owned the store. In a few minutes Frank had a little bed arranged by the stove in the store and the tramp kitten was soon fast asleep. A little later he was awakened by Frank who had brought scraps of meat from the meat shop and this the hungry kitten enjoyed very much.
When Frank’s father came in that morning he was led back to the stove where the kitten was sleeping and asked if it might live in the store. The father consented and by noon the little boy and the little beggar kitten had made friends for life.
“I am going to name him Tiger,” said Frank that evening as he was telling his mother of the new found friend.
“Why name him Tiger, Frank?” asked his mother.
“Because he looks like a Tiger,” answered Frank. “His body has stripes all over it just like the pictures of Tigers in my books.”
As the months rolled by Tiger became more and more at home in the store. His little master fed him every day and soon he was fat and sleek. He grew very fast and became the pet of the store force. He was taught many tricks and it seemed that he always tried to do what he was told.
By Frank’s continual training Tiger became a little circus performer. Frank would clasp both hands and then hold out his arms in front of him forming a circle through which Tiger would jump back and forth.
Another thing which attracted much attention from the employees and customers was that Tiger would try to get into any kind of box left open or set out for him. He never forgot this and after becoming a full grown cat he would try to get into little boxes. Sometimes Frank or one of the clerks would give him a small paste board box and tell him to lie down in it. He would turn ’round and ’round in it until the sides were mashed and then he would lie down on the flat piece of the box. Sometimes they would give him a very small pill box and he would try to get into it. He would walk all around it and at last would lie down on top of it.
As the years went by Tiger became the pet of all who knew him. His master grew to be a young man but the close friendship with the kitten always existed. Tiger never failed to receive good meals and kind treatment.
One evening while Tiger was lying in the alley one of the clerks called him but he would not answer. The man almost had to whip him to get him back into the store. This was very unusual. The clerk noticed the changed attitude and spoke to others about it.
During the night the fire alarm was given and news soon spread that the drug store was burning. Frank thought first of Tiger and of his desire to remain outside the store that evening. The firemen arrived too late to enter the building although it was not entirely destroyed. The next day Tiger was found on top of the office desk near a rear window. He had suffocated in the smoke but the flames had not touched his body. Such was the end of life for the obedient and faithful Tiger.
