The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-02-22

pipe uttered a cry of surprise. The two
Others and the coachman raised their heads,
and, upon seeing this strange sight, left
their work and clustered up to look. A
few more people attracted by the noise came
and Joined US. We soon formed ring.
1t seemed to please the dog to see US all
around him, for he gravely wagged his tail
once to and fro, and tried to put more spir-
it into his exercise. He walked fves times
round on his hinder legs, looking fxedly
before him like soldier on duty, and doing
his best, poor dog II could see that II to
make US laugh. For my part, seeing the
others remain speechless in their astonish-
ment, laughed aloud to encourage him
but, shall say the truth felt more ready
to cry. There was something inexpressibly
sad in the serious expression of this lonely
dog, performing by himself few tricks that
some absent master had taught him. and do
ing so of his own accord, with some secret
end in view that he himself only could know
OF. After taking moments rest he set to
work again, but this time on his four-feet
pretending to stand on his head. And
what a poor, intelligent head it was, as al
most shaving the ground, it looked appeal
lngly at US all, and seemed to say: please
do not play any pranks with me. for really
am not doing this for fun" When he had
walked round on his head until he was wea-
ry, he lay down in the midst of the ring
and made believe to be dead He went
through all the commissions of a dying dog,
breathing heavily, painting, suffering his low
er jaw to fall, and then turning over motion
lpSa A nd ha 1il +h;. Al
honest-faced women, who had been looking
on without laughing exclaimed, Poor
beast y and drew her hand across her eyes.
The rain continued to fall, but not one of
US thought of moving, only the dog, when he
had LAIN dead a minute, got up and shook
himself to show us all that the performance
was ended. He had displayed the extent of
what he knew, and now came forward to re-
ceive his fee. He stood upon his hind legs
again, and, walking to each of US separately,
assumed the posture that is popularity known
as begging" i was the first to whom he
came. He gazed at me inquiringly with his
soft eyes wide opened, and followed my hand
to my waistcoat pocket. The bas-
ket round his neck was round one, with a
lid to it tied down with string, and a little
slit IN the lid through which to put in money.
l dropped in shilling, and stopped down to
read bit of crumpled paper saw hanging
loosely from the collar. 1t bore these words,
written in shaky hand: "Ths is the dog
of poor man who is bed stricken; he earns
the bread Of his master. Good people, do
not keep him from returning to his home"
The dog thanked me for my offering by wag-
ging his tail, andsathen passed on to my
neighbor. Human nature must be kinder
than people think, for there was not one of
the spectators-not even he with the breech-
es and clay pipe, whose face had impressed
me unfavorably but gave the dog something.
As for him, when he had gone his round, he
barked two or three times to say good-by.
and then pattered contentedly away at the
same jog-trot pace he had,come.
lie went up the street, and | followed
him; but when We had reached Oxford
Street, he quickened suddenly, and began to
run hard, as if his day were ended and he
wanted to get home. Evening had quite
fallen by this time, and / felt it would be
useless to go after my four-legged mystery
on foot, so called a cab, and said, Follow
that dog" very much to the drivers amaze
ment.
1t is long way from the part of Oxford
Street IN which We were to Tottenham Court
Road, where the small dog led me- But I
should have understood the journey had it
not been made at such furious pace. The
dog never once looked around Twenty
times l thought he would be crushed by the
passing vans and carriages but somehow he
got through it. He had an extraordinary
tact for finding a passage between horses
hoofs, and, like a true London dog as he
was, he showed intimate familiarity with all
the intricacies of crossings. Still, it was
some relief to me, both on his own account
and on mine, when 1 saw him branch off at
last. | was beginning to fear that he would
never stop, that he had something of the
Jew in him. 1t seemed impos-
sible that, without taking any rest, without
even pausing for an instant to draw breath.
such very lean dog should keep on going
so long. Tottenham Court Road this was
about eighteen months ago. used to be a
sort of fair at nighttime 1t is a lengthy
highway, running through tangled network
of sorry streets, the population of which,
from dusk until the hour when the public
houses close, used to spread hungry and idle
amongst the countless booths which had
then not yet been swept away, and where
shellfish, sour fruit, and indigestible looking
meat were sold by yelling costermongers.
On the night in question, when went there
in pursuit of the dog, foresaw that should
be led to one of those sickly nests of fever,
where poverty, disease, and misery have their
abodes set up in permanence and was not
wrong.
The dog, running faster than ever now. as
if he felt more afraid for his basket amongst
these ravenous crowds than he had done at
the West End, bolted suddenly up a narrow
street, where there was no room for cab
to pass. paid the driver. and jumped out.
1t was filthy street, but that was second
airy matter. Where the dog went | would
go and thus l lodged after him, first down
a crooked alley, then through a foul court,
and lastly up a passage where it was pitch
dark. Here groped my way along damp
wall, and stumbled upon the first step of a
staircase. Being a smoker, however, L had
some yesuvlans about me. / struck one, lit
a piece of twisted paper with it, and by the
moments fame thus obtained, deserted the
dog making his way up creaky flight of
wooden steps, battered in places and rotting
from mould. He barked when he saw the
light, and growled uneasily. But softened
my voice, and cried out, Good dog good
dog" trying thereby to appease him. l
suppose his instinct told him that / was not
an enemy, for he turned round to sniff my
trousers, and when | struck a second vesu-
Wan he consented to my accompanying him
without doing anything else but shifting
We went up three stories in this way, until
we reached the garnet floor. There were two
doors face to face and one of them had
latch with a niaca of sfrinn tod To Il Tho