The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1846-09-19
Tale of a Tail-less Dog.

in Washington City, amused themselves
with making facetious remarks on the
by-passers. Presently there came a.
long a tall, raw boned Kentuckian, with
large rough dog at his heels, blind Of
one eye, and without the first symptom
Of tail. The wags were in extacies.
Here were two legitimate subjects for
fun. The tail-ess dog was irresistible.
ssNeighbor," said one Of the facetious
gentlemen, ewhat sort of an animal do
you call that? He seems to have come
from country where tails were scarce
s'Hush!" whispered the other, with
an air Of mystery, "don't you know
that that's disguised volunteer, in the
army of Occupation, detailed on spe.
cial duty"
"Gentlemen," said the tall Kentuck-
ian, haaling up, and leisurely taking his
seat in a vacant chair, "don't make fun
Of that thar dog, if you please" and
with face Of profound melancholy and
touching pathos, he added, sunless you
want to hurt his feelins."
s'Oh, Of course not, sir, if you dislike
it. But pray, how did he come to be
curtailed Of his fair proportions"
swell gentlemen, I'll tell you,'' said
the Kentuckian, replenishing the capa-
cious hollow of his cheek with quid
of tobacco. "That thar dog was the
greatest bar hunter in Kaintuck, few
years ago. used to take my rifle and
old Riptoarer, of an afternoon and think
nothing of killin' ten bars. One cold
day, in the middle of winter, bein' trou.
bled good deal with an old he bar
that used to carry off our pigs by the
dozen, started out with old Riptearer,
determined to kill the old rascal, or die
in the attempt. Well, arter we'd gone
about two miles through the woods, we
all Of sudding, come right smack on
the old bar, with his wife and three
cubs. | knowed | couldn't shoot 'em
all at once, and knowed if | killed Ell
ther of the old 'uns, t'other would make
at me, for could see they were mortal
hungry. So says I, RIP. what'll we.
do? Rip knowed what was sayin',
and without waitin' to hold any .coniab
about it, he guv growl and pitched
right in among 'em. With that, / let
fly at the she-bar, cos | knowed she
was the wust when the cubs was about.
Over she rolled, as dead as a mackerel.
Rip he hitched on to the .he-bar, and
they had most almighty tussel for a.
bout five minutes, when the bar begun
to roar enough like blue murder. lrun
up, then, and knocked his brains out
with the but eend of my rifle. The
cubs was so skeered and cold that l
killed them ir two minutes with my
knife. But Rip took on terrible about
my knockln' offth old bar on the head.
At fust | tho't he was going to tackle
on to me, and says "Trip, that's un-
grateful With that he sneaked off in
huff, but could easily see he was
terrible mad yet. Well, left the bars
all on the ground, concluding to call
back with the neighbors for 'em, as soon
as | could let EN- know. On the way
home, Rip KEEP ahead of me. Every
time he thought about how killed the
old bar, his tail would stand right up on
eend, he was so terrible mad. 1t was
getting on to night, and began to grow
freezin' cold. About half mile from
the house, Rip he come to halt, think
in he'd have another look back in the
direction of the bars. The scent of
them raised his dander wuss than ever.
His tail stoo right squar up, as stiff as
hoe handle. Just then It come on cold
er than ever, and poor Rips tail friz
exactly as 1t stood. wasi in bad fix.
had no fire to thaw it. While was
thinkin' what I'd do to get it down again
big buck deer sprung up and darted
over fence about fifty yards ahead
Rip didn't wait to be told whar to go,
but pitched helI-bent arter the deer. l
cracked away with my rifle, and just
raised the fuzz between his horns. As
soon as Rip got to the fence, he thought
he'd make short cut, so dashed rite
through, but his tail ,oas so brittle u
broke off beticeen the rails! Poor old
Rip was done for good. He never had
tail to show after that; it broke his
spirit as well as his tail; that's how he
came to loose it. And now, gentlemen,
| am getting alittle dry, and if you have
no objection, wen take horn"
1t is hardly necessary to say, the ia
cetious gentlemen stood treat; nor need
we add, that they sloped as speedily as
possible. We are told one OF themhas
been seriously indisposed ever since,
and the other talks ofgoing to Texas.
| IN. Y. Mirror.