Aunt Fanny (Frances Barrow). Daisy’s Death. Buffalo: Breed & Lent, ca. 1866-1872.
Frances Barrow (1822-1894) authored some thirty books in the “Aunt Laura” and “Aunt Fanny” series, published in miniature format by Breed, Butler & Co. and its successor, Breed & Lent. Daisy’s Death is about Daisy, an older cat who has kittens, although she is struggling through a serious sickness. Her mistress is a girl named Fanny, who helps to find homes for Daisy’s kittens before Daisy is put out of her misery by being drowned in a sack by a hired man. Although death is a prevalent topic in nineteenth-century children’s books, this is a rare example of pet euthanasia.
