Talmage Tales paperback

The Grateful Cat

Brother Talmage tells of an English student who came upon a mother cat in great distress over the danger her kittens were in. He rescued three mewing kitten and took them home with him.
The mother cat followed him and rubbed against his legs with grateful purrs and was happy to be reunited with the kittens in his home where they were safe.
She even brought him a mouse to show her gratitude for what he had done, which of course the student did not want or need, but he still appreciated the cat’s effort.
God doesn’t need our gifts any more than the student needed the mouse. But He loves to see our thankful hearts and the ways we try to show our love.

Let’s Talk About It:
Why do you think the cat brought a gift to the student?
How can we show our gratitude to Heavenly Father, even though He already has everything?
Try This:
Do a “thank-you hunt.” Find three people you can thank today — in person, with a note, or with a drawing.
Family Prayer:
Thank Heavenly Father for His blessings and ask for help noticing good things every day.



The Parable of the Grateful Cat

This version may be disturbing to sensitive readers
A certain English student of Natural History, as I have heard, once upon a time had the experience described below.
Mr. Romanes, in the course of his customary daily walk, came to a mill-pond. At the edge of the water he saw two boys with a basket. They were obviously engaged in a diverting occupation. As he came up to them, Mr. Romanes observed that the youths were well dressed and evidently somewhat refined and cultured. Inquiry elicited the fact that they were upper servants in a family of wealth and social quality. In the basket were three whining kittens; two others were drowning in the pond; and the mother cat was running about on the bank, rampant in her distress.
To the naturalist’s inquiry, the boys responded with a straightforward statement, respectfully addressed. They said their mistress had instructed them to drown the kittens, as she wanted no other cat than the old one about the house. The mother cat, as the boys explained, was the lady’s particular pet. Mr. Romanes assured the boys that he was a personal friend of their employer, and that he would be responsible for any apparent dereliction in their obedience to the orders of their mistress. He gave the boys a shilling apiece and took the three living kittens in charge. The two in the pond had already sunk to their doom.
The mother cat evinced more than the measure of intelligence usually attributed to the animal world. She recognized the man as the deliverer of her three children, who but for him would have been drowned. As he carried the kittens, she trotted along — sometimes following, sometimes alongside, occasionally rubbing against him with grateful yet mournful purrs. At his home, Mr. Romanes provided the kittens with comfortable quarters, and left the mother cat in joyful content. She seemed to have forgotten the death of the two in her joy over the rescue of the three.
Next day, the gentleman was seated in his parlor on the ground floor, in the midst of a notable company. Many people had gathered to do honor to the distinguished naturalist. The cat came in. In her mouth she carried a large, fat mouse, not dead, but still feebly struggling under the pains of torturous capture. She laid her panting and well-nigh expiring prey at the feet of the man who had saved her kittens.
What think you of the offering, and of the purpose that prompted the act? A live mouse, fleshy and fat! Within the cat’s power of possible estimation and judgment it was a superlative gift. To her limited understanding, no rational creature could feel otherwise than pleased over the present of a meaty mouse. Every sensible cat would be ravenously joyful with such an offering. Beings unable to appreciate a mouse for a meal were unknown to the cat.
Are not our offerings to the Lord — our tithes and our other free-will gifts — as thoroughly unnecessary to His needs as was the mouse to the scientist? But remember that the grateful and sacrificing nature of the cat was enlarged, and in a measure sanctified, by her offering.
Thanks be to God that He gages the offerings and sacrifices of His children by the standard of their physical ability and honest intent rather than by the gradation of His exalted station. Verily He is God with us; and He both understands and accepts our motives and righteous desires. Our need to serve God is incalculably greater than His need for our service.