Dixie Kitten

by Eva March Tappan

'Dixie kitten was a slender little cat with the softest, silkiest black fur imaginable; that is, you would think it was black when you first glanced at it; but if you looked a little more closely, you would see that here and there were gleams of tawny yellow. Three of her paws were black and one was yellow. Her eyes were yellow, too, in the daytime, with only a narrow line of black down the centre; but at night they were black and shining, and surrounded by a ring of golden yellow. But whether it was day or night and whether they were yellow or black, there was little going on around them that they did not see. Her whiskers, all except two, were jet black, [2] but those two were snowy white. When she lifted her pretty chin, you could see under it a soft yellow “vest front, and at the top of the vest front a bit of the whitest, glossiest fur that was ever seen. It was so very pure and dainty that when the sunlight fell upon it, you would almost fancy that it was a bit of filmy white lace.'

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2012

About the author

Eva March Tappan was a teacher and American author born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, the only child of Reverend Edmund March Tappan and Lucretia Logée. Eva graduated from Vassar College in 1875. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and an editor of the Vassar Miscellany. After leaving Vassar she began teaching at Wheaton College where she taught Latin and German from 1875 until 1880. From 1884–94 she was the Associate Principal at the Raymond Academy in Camden, New Jersey. She received graduate degrees in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Tappan was the head of the English department at the English High School at Worcester, Massachusetts. She began her literary career writing about famous characters in history and developed an interest in writing children books. Tappan never married.

Reviews

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dixie Kitten is one of those short books I like to pick up and read when I cannot fall asleep, which is how I came to read it.

In this children’s book published September 1910, Dixie Kitten is “a slender little cat with the softest, silkiest black fur imaginable. . . . [with] gleams of tawny yellow. . . . Her whiskers, all except two, were jet black, but those two were snowy white. . . . Three of her paws were black and one was yellow.”

This short story begins with the birth of the kitten and her growing-up months, with Mothercat feeding Dixie Kitten, cuddling her, and swatting her when she misbehaved. The kitten grows into a cat, and without revealing most of this story, Dixie has various adventures.

There is a dog or two in this story, which I liked, and although the story hints at dogs and cats not getting along, I know that some do, and very well – such as my two dogs and my cat. Best buddies, they are.

Dixie Kitten is a cute story that is good for kids and adults alike, for it is nice escapism to a more serene world. Moreoever, Eva March Tappan wrote with such ease and smoothness that I can imagine her telling this story instead of me reading it. I found that I havethe same thoughts on her writing style when I read another book of hers, The Little Book of the Flag.



🟤 Gutenberg Project.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dixie Kitten opens with the declaration, "This is a true story about a real cat and it ends happily," which sums it up nicely. It's a little cutesy -- the humans get names like "Master," "Mistress," "Lady" and "Somebody Else" -- but not intolerably so. I should try more books by this author.

[Librarian Jessie (BibliophileRoses) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute fluffy story about the livelihood of a cat named Dixie. Fairly short, and represents it's time period.