Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-07-05
by BRICK POMEROY.

| Durn the dorc There goes Il three by five
pane Of glass out of the door, and there goes the
cussedest and wussedest piece OF eXc1table canine
we saw! Four years ago, the day after a
chap on the cars had the upper end OF his snute
punched for calling a traitor, Pc. Hatcher gave
us that red and brindle batch Of dog, then done
up small like, but looking so bull dogg1sh that we
were afraid of his picture for a week Pc said
he was an Alabama bull dog, imported from New
Jersey III basket, sample OF the handsome
! of that country. But he was pretty p1lrp. His
tail was no longer than wicked mans prayer,
and was full stunning And those ears
They looked like the small corner OF plug tobac-
! co. And such eyes ! And such eyebrows When
he was but child, o-called, some monster must
have slung him first against stone wall, for his
eyelids looked like Ben Buffers, sort O shaned of
something His jaws were pretty jaws. They
were so severe in their angles-there was SO much
jaw III proportion to the purp that we wanted to
call him Swisshelm, but he wasn't that kind of a
| pet But he was nigh onto all jaw
| We kept him four weeks in the sanctum. and
all that time hired niger to watch him. He'd
to call him John Brown. And he kept the niger
mighty busy watching him, till at last the Mig
ger, being such u smart, mimicky, educational
cuss, got SO much worse than the dog, that we
| kept the dog to watch the niger. Egad wasn't
| it full team !? Strange how niggc1@ will learn
| things.
And he was the hungriest dog We ever saw. A
pennyworth of beef didn't last him as long us a
! IL
fore election. He had fine voice for beef And
what the dog would not eat the niger would !
And the dog grew large and pOnderons about the
| jaws He used to cat papers, books, mats, vests,
old hats, gloves, patent leather boots window cur
taills and SIGH. He ate such stuff for desert That
dog ate full caf-bound set of Harpers Weekly
one day, just on account of the calf. And he ate
ten copies of the Chicago Tribune one day, but
the lies i'll them papers made him so dog goned
sick all that week that he would have died if the
niger in 'em hadn't emeticked em out, and SO he
| got we'll! But he never pined himself to shadow
laundering after Republican newspapers any more
And he kept on stealing. We always thought them
| Republican newspapers aided i'll the development
of that complaint, for he was sure to steal all the
nigger earned for
| He'd walk out on a rainy day, for his health,
and always come back with something he had
found Once it was lady's veil Then it was a
half Il ham, with butchers knife sticking in it
What he wanted to bring the knife with him for
is more than we know unless he had to cut and
run. One day he came in with baby's cradle
There was some blood on the edge Of it, and all
and yelling "boy LOST" John Brown didn't go
out for two or three days, Once he came in with
a wooden leg in his teeth. That nj ht wooden
legged soldier missing, but, cripple soldiers
were of no account, he didn't try to keep shy q
bit. He brought us the leg, no doubt thinking it
the kind of club we like for the La Crosse Demo-
crat. And he used to find money! He'd go into
store and snatch greenbacks cut OF q cash draw
Just as handy One Gay ne came IN with a
contribution box he'd stolen from the entry way
of close communion church. "
He carried the box behind the end of the side
board. broke it open-and looked sick John
Brown never stole contribution box again. and
after that, when we'd point to that box and SMILE
he'd drop his TAIL what there was of it, and look
Just like Ben Butler does when having his picture
taken And he'd steal halters, brides, saddles
and such stuff. And as he grew older, he'd actu-
ally unhiteh a horse and lead him across the line
Into 70 hon onv0 Nn would aa1I ont
'John Brown he'd go for horse sure And so
we had to change his name. What to call the cuss
we didn't know. But as he had chawed up so
many books, and was always meddling with what
was none of his business and grew to be sort of
dogmatic, and radical about his bloody jaws, we
left off calling him John Brown, and called him
Charles Sumner For a while he seemed to like
| it. He was an ambitious dorg, and to keep his
name good, meddled with much that was none
lof his business that at last he got a dog goned
Gaming which so affected his back bone that we
had to send for Anna Dickinson After she
strengthened up his spinal vertebrse, he howled
and ranted around So we had to change his name
again
So we called him General Curtis And that
seemed to please him nightly. He'd stand on
his hind legs, poke the hair out of his eyes, and
when he went out doors, strut about as though he
was going to fight a Pea Ridge battle And what
NOTICE he'd take of mules He became enamored
of mules, and often would lead them to the out
skirts of the city and hide them in the bushes
And he grew into such taste for cotton. Never
was a dorg so fond of cotton Twan't safe for
half the ladies when out promenading i'll full cos
tune, to meet that dorg in the street. In fact he
had such love for cotton that twan't safe to let
him walk on the street, nor stay in the sanctlm
nor go to any place. So called him General
Siegel. That bothered him . He had tough
time Of it. Gracious, how he'd twist his jaws and
bark And he loved to get into dog fight, too
He'd whip any dog in the city. But it took him
so long to get into a fight that he was useless
You see when wanted him to fight one dog,
we'd set him on another, and then he'd back into
the tother one, and then fight his way out But
it took long to learn his STYLE and then TWAIN t
always convenient to get up two fights, so we
changed his name again.
He grew beautiful each day. In fact, he was
handsome cuss And folks took so much notice
of him, he forgot he was nothing but poor dog,
and he acted so that we thought best to call him
Gen. Butler.
You never saw such Il change come over any
dog. He grew cunninger and cunninger every
day. He'd 60 to the butcher shops, rub his paws
on the carcass of dead beef, and come home to
make us believe that he'd been fighting And as
he growled SO when he came and never had any
cuts or wounds on him we thought he was getting
to be terrible brave But at last we found him
out. And how that dog would strut! And he
grew mean. He'll drive small dogs away from
their bone and 60 to chasing kittens to some point
out of harms way. And he'd snap and snarl at
women-always insulting them. And lie had
half d dozen pups he'd picked up around the city,
as mean but not as smart as he, and these pups |
would chase poor girls into some corner where |
Ben Butler would scold at bark at, and then after
rubin his dirty nose over them, leave them with
some wound upon them. But when he heard |
gum, Lord bless you, how he'd run and hold his |
tall close between his legs chad lots OF trouble