Marion Ames Taggart

Pussy-Cat Town Marion Ames Taggart

He was really very beautiful. High-born, too, -a pure Maltese! He had a short, saucy face; a square little nose, with which he was apt to pry into other people's business; and he saw everything with his bright eyes, and understood most things with his quick wit. But he had almost no patience at all, and he was as full of pranks as a monkey-indeed, that's what gave him his name. A boy? Mercy, no! Whoever heard of a pure Maltese boy? A cat, of course, but such a beauty! He was as quick as he could be, and ran very fast, and jumped like a flash-flashes do jump, so that's all right. Did you never see a flash of lightning jump from one cloud to another? Well, this Maltese kitten was so quick that his little master called him Bandersnatch-out of "Through the Looking-Glass", you know, where the White King says: "You might as well try to catch a Bandersnatch," or, in another place: "You might as well try to stop a Bandersnatch." So that is where quick little Ban-Ban got his first name. And the second Ban was short for Bandarlog, the name of the monkey people in the Jungle Book, because he was so much more like a monkey than a quiet, purry, furry, mild-mannered kitten