第一封信
我亲爱的海伦：
你妈妈是这么叫你的，我知道。因为我跳到了写字桌上，看到了她给你的信。——她现在不在房间里。我肯定我也有权和她一样这么叫你，因为如果你是我自己生的小猫，长得和我一样，那我对你的爱也不会比现在更多。我在你的大腿上睡过多少好觉啊！你从自己的饭中给我省下了多少美味的肉啊！啊，只要我活着，就不会让任何一只老鼠染指你的任何一样东西。
从你昨天出发之后，我就觉得不开心，完全不知道我一只猫该做什么。我去了谷仓，觉得可以在干草垛上睡一觉，因为我认为，对于不开心的人来说，睡觉是最好的事情；但是老查雷没有在他的畜栏里跺脚踏步，我觉得实在太孤单了，真是受不了。于是我便去了花园，躺在大马士革玫瑰丛下面抓苍蝇玩。有一种苍蝇绕着花丛飞来飞去，它的味道比我吃过的任何一种苍蝇都好吃。你应该明白，我抓苍蝇和你抓苍蝇是存在很大的不同的。我注意过，你从来都不吃它们，我真好奇，为什么你总是对我这么好，却又会残忍地毫无缘由地屠杀可怜的苍蝇。我经常希望能有机会和你谈谈这件事。既然你亲爱的妈妈已经教会了我如何写字，那么我就可以跟你讲很多我过去无法让你理解的事情——我过去总是为此不开心。因为学不会英语，我非常沮丧，我觉得也没有人会费力气学习猫语，所以我们猫族就被局限住了，只能和别的猫交流，不然我们就能知道更多的东西。而且，安默斯特只有几只猫，我在这里非常孤独，如果没有希区柯克太太的猫和迪金森先生的猫，我应该已经忘了怎么说话了。你在家的时候，我一点儿都不在意，尽管我不能跟你说话，但是我能懂得你对我说的每一个字。我们一起玩红球玩得多开心啊。那个红球现在被收在了起居室的小缝纫桌底层的抽屉中。你妈妈把它放进去的时候，扭头对我说：“可怜的小猫，海伦回家之前，你没有什么好玩的了。”我觉得我应该大哭一场，但我转念一想，如果哭了也无济于事，再哭的话就十分愚蠢了，所以我假装左眼里面进了东西，抬起爪子揉眼睛。我很少为了什么事情哭泣，除非是为了打翻的牛奶。我必须得承认，我经常为了打翻的牛奶哭泣，而猫的牛奶总是被打翻。人们总是把给猫的牛奶放在又旧又破的容器里，随便一碰就会翻，然后又会把这装了奶的容器放到肯定会碍事的地方。有很多次，我那放在猫舍里的蓝色碟子都被乔赛亚给打翻了。你以为我吃了丰盛美味的牛奶早餐，可实际上我什么都没有吃到，只有些苍蝇，而苍蝇不过是些佐料而已。我很高兴能有机会告诉你这些事情，因为我知道，等你回到家，就会给我丰盛的大餐。
我希望你发现了我为你放在马车底部的马栗。我想不出别的能放在那里可以提醒你想到我的东西。我害怕你想不到那是我放的，如果你没想到的话，那实在太糟糕了，因为我吃了不少苦头才能带着那些栗子翻过马车的挡泥板，为了把能找到的最大的栗子叼过去，我一直大张着嘴，下巴都快僵掉了。
门廊上有三朵漂亮的蒲公英，不过，我觉得到你回家的时候，它们应该就不见了。有个人来你的花园里面鼓捣，尽管我一直都非常仔细地观察着他，却没有搞明白他在做什么。我担心他做的事情你不喜欢，如果搞清楚了是怎么回事，我会在下一封信中告诉你。再见。
爱你的小猫
Ⅰ
My Dear Helen，
That is what your mother calls you, I know, for I jumped up on writing table just now, and looked, while she was out of the room；and I am sure I have as much right to call you so as she has, for if you were my own little kitty, and looked just like me, I could not love you any more than I do. How many good naps I have had in your lap！And how many nice bits of meat you have saved for me out of your own dinner！Oh, I'll never let a rat, or a mouse, touch any thing of yours so long as I live.
I felt very unhappy after you drove off yesterday, and did not know what to do with myself. I went into the barn, and thought I would take a nap on the hay, for I do think going to sleep is one of the very best things for people who are unhappy；but it seemed so lonely without old Charlie stamping in his stall that I could not bear it, so I went into the garden, and lay down under the damask rose bush, and caught fies.There is a kind of fy round that bush which I like better than any other I ever ate.You ought to see that there is a very great difference between my catching flies and your doing it.I have noticed that you never eat them, and I have wondered that when you were always so kind to me you could be so cruel as to kill poor fies for nothing.I have often wished that I could speak to you about it：now that your dear mother has taught me to print, I shall be able to say a great many things to you which I have often been unhappy about because I could not make you understand.Iam entirely discouraged about learning to speak the English language, and I do not think anybody takes much trouble to learn ours；so we cats are confned entirely to the society of each other, which prevents our knowing so much as we might；and it is very lonely too, in a place where there are so few cats kept as in Amherst.If it were not for Mrs.Hitchcock's cat, and Judge Dickinson's, I should really forget how to use my tongue.When you are at home I do not mind it, for although I cannot talk to you, I understand every word that you say to me, and we have such good plays together with the red ball.That is put away now in the bottom drawer of the little workstand in the sitting-room.When your mother put it in, she turned round to me, and said，“Poor pussy, no more good plays for you till Helen comes home！”and I thought I should certainly cry.But I think it is very foolish to cry over what cannot be helped，so I pretended to have got something into my left eye, and rubbed it with my paw. It is very seldom that I cry over any thing, unless it is“spilt milk”.I must confess, I have often cried when that has happened：and it always is happening to cats'milk.They put it into old broken things that tip over at the least knock, and then they set them just where they are sure to be most in the way.Many's the time Josiah has knocked over that blue saucer of mine, in the shed, and when you have thought that I had had a nice breakfast of milk, I had nothing in the world but flies, which are not good for much more than just a little sort of relish.I am so glad of a chance to tell you about this, because I know when you come home you will get a better dish for me.
I hope you found the horse chestnuts which I put in the bottom of the carriage for you. I could not think of any thing else to put in, which would remind you of me：but Iam afraid you will never think that it was I who put them there, and it will be too bad if you don't, for I had a dreadful time climbing up over the dasher with them, and both my jaws are quite lame from stretching them so, to carry the biggest ones I could fnd.
There are three beautiful dandelions out on the terrace, but I don't suppose they will keep till you come home. A man has been doing something to your garden, but though I watched him very closely all the time, I could not make out what he was about.I am afraid it is something you will not like；but if I fnd out more about it, I will tell you in my next letter.Good bye.
Your affectionate Pussy.