http://www.georgewbush.com/youth/ernie/ernie.html
About a year and a half ago Texas Governor George W. Bush and his wife Laura were reading in their garden when Spot, their family dog began barking and clawing at a tree. Governor Bush went to investigate and spotted a tiny kitten clinging to the branches high up in the tree. He was all wet, bedraggled and probably quite hungry because he was meowing very loudly.
The kitten would not come down, no matter how much food the Governor put out for it. However in the morning, when the Governor walked over to the tree, the kitten changed its mind. Slowly the weary kitten climbed down.
He was cleaned and fed. And the Bush family named him Ernie after Ernest Hemingway’s famous cat, which had six toes. Ernie, the newest member of the Bush family also had six toes. Some days Ernie acts as if he is the Governor of the house.
The Governor often tells this story to youngsters and then makes a point.
"Do you know where Ernie was when I left home this morning?"
The children shake their heads.
"He was sleeping on my pillow," Bush says to a chorus of "Awwwws" from the enchanted children.
The lesson of this story, Governor Bush says, "is that sometimes you may find yourself up in a tree, wet and cold. But if you just hang in there and never give up, things will get better for you, just like they did for Ernie."
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About a year and a half ago Texas Governor George W. Bush and his wife Laura were reading in their garden when Spot, their family dog began barking and clawing at a tree. Governor Bush went to investigate and spotted a tiny kitten clinging to the branches high up in the tree. He was all wet, bedraggled and probably quite hungry because he was meowing very loudly.
The kitten would not come down, no matter how much food the Governor put out for it. However in the morning, when the Governor walked over to the tree, the kitten changed its mind. Slowly the weary kitten climbed down.
He was cleaned and fed. And the Bush family named him Ernie after Ernest Hemingway’s famous cat, which had six toes. Ernie, the newest member of the Bush family also had six toes. Some days Ernie acts as if he is the Governor of the house.
The Governor often tells this story to youngsters and then makes a point.
"Do you know where Ernie was when I left home this morning?"
The children shake their heads.
"He was sleeping on my pillow," Bush says to a chorus of "Awwwws" from the enchanted children.
The lesson of this story, Governor Bush says, "is that sometimes you may find yourself up in a tree, wet and cold. But if you just hang in there and never give up, things will get better for you, just like they did for Ernie."
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