Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-02-08

comparatively to his station. He had
made himself small fortune by the in
telligence of his dog, and his sudden
illness, instead of reducing him to pow
erty, had, on the contrary, only added
to his means. The dog earned more
alone than he had ever earned with his
master. Each morning at the break of
day he went out with his empty. basket,
and every night at sunset he returned
with it half full. / learned this from
the miser's neighbors honest people,
though poor, who pretended to believe
| III the fevered wretch's tales of want, in
order that he might not have cause to
dread them, and so refuse their neces-
sary services.
There is great deal of this innate
unsuspected delicacy in the hearts of
! the working .roev. These rn--elr anu
uncouth, but kindly natures, tended the
graceless miser in his sickness. They
bought his food for him, they washed
his linen, and they asked for no pay
ment for anything they did. As for the
unhappy mans gold, it was at their
mercy; but the thought of touching it
never seemed to cross their mind.
"Only," said one, with naive accent,
=" 1 think, sir, twill be better when he's
laid in the ground. His money might
be good, then, to some as would make
use of it."
"And the dog?" I murmured, refec-
lively.
"The dogs his friend, sir" was the
neighbor's answer, "and he won't live
long when his masters gone"
And these words were prophecy. [
sent for a doctor, for nurse, and for
nourishing food, to battle against death;
but our efforts were useless. The miser
lived a week, and upon each of the
seven days the dog went out according
to his habit, with his basket roundahis
neck, and remained out for ten or twelve
hours, till dusk. Sometimes / followed
him from morning till evening seeing
which, and remembering my face as
that which stood daily by his masters S
bedside, he wagged his tail at my ap-
proach, and consented to walk at my
heels. One night the miser died, and on
the morrow Jim did not go out. He
had missed his master the night before,
and guessed that they had put him in
the long black box that stood in the
middle of the room. When the men
came to carry away this long black box,
the dog went after them and cried. He
followed the coffin to the cemetery,
where he and We're the only spectators
besides the curate, the sexton, and the
undertaker's men. When the earth was
thrown in, he looked at me plaintively
to know what it meant, and when the
burial was over, he wished to remain
near the open tomb, waiting till his
master should rise. Il took him home
with me, but he would not eat, and next
morning at sunrise he howled for his
basket 1t was no use keeping him, So
T tied the basket round his neck, and
sent him out.
That evening, foreseeing what would
happen, Iwent to the cemetery. The
dog arrived at nightfall, with his basket
full of pence, and [ turned them all ont
upon the grave. "Come home, Jim, y
I said, with the tears rising to nay eyes
but he whined mournfully, and tried to
scratch up the earth. Twice more lie
went out like this all day, and Brought
back money for his master; but on the
third evening, finding that the pence on
the grave remained untouched, he suf-
fered me, without resistance, to take of
his collar, and laid down at his full
length near the miser's last sleeping
place. -.
The next morning he did not go OIL
his rounds, for he was dead