St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-04-24
ST. cyohnsburp Galedonian.
st. Johnspury. VT. Friday, April "a. 1874.
flor Mr Children.
For the Caledonian.
What a Boy Saw.

yOu have IL task before you, try and dc
it first as quickly, and as nicely as yor
can-Or in other words, with ''neatnes
and dispatch" Perhaps you will tel
ME that all grown people do not dc
work III this way, and admit it; il
fact if certain man had done the .jot
he had to do with .'neatness and dis.
patch,' should never have taken NJ
my pen to write about it. | mean the
man who killed the little dog at rail
road bridge the other day-and that
was what the boy saw that made him
feel so badly.
think killing dogs must be quite q
pastime with this man. because he had
one more than year ago. which had
been il playmate for his children. but
when the first of April drew near,
suppose because he did not wish to pay
taxes on him, he put Il rope round the
poor creatures neck and hung it up to
beam in the barn. Well after this he
got another dog, just the tiniest bit of
fellow, no bigger than a kitten-and
this has been in the family since, Il pet
and plaything for the children. and no
doubt they loved it very much.
But again the first of April drew near,
and this dog must he disposed of. So
and carrying him out Il little way.
smashed his head few times on the
rails. and threw him over into the
water.
Now the poor dog, although terribly
hurt by this cruel treatment was not
killed, or made insenSible. for he kept
up Il most piteous bowling and crying
all the while. And after he was thrown
into the water. he had strength enough
left TO crawl out upon piece of ice,
and there his cries of pain were distress
ing to hear. All You who are acquaint-
ed with dogs will understand this very
readily. And no doubt you will think
the man FASTENED down as quickly as
possible to put an end to the poor dog )
srtferingS. But no. he did no such
thing He watched IL little while. to
make sure that he had not strength
enough To get ont upon the bank and
escape, and seeing he had not, hut must
linger there and die, he turned about
and walked coolly away. just us coolly
as old Evans might have walked away
after he had slaughtered one of his
many victims. And all the while the
piteous wailing Of that poor dog was
sounding in his ears The boy who SAW
it. knows this, for he followed after to
make sure who the man was. and he
lance, and it almost broke his heart,
poor fellow.
love this boy for his tender hearted
ness, and hope he will always keep it.
If he could look on such Il sight and
enjoy it, | should have no hope that he
would grow up to be any thing better
than Il murderer, even though his hands
might not commit the deed.
In contrast to this, will tell you just
one other little incident which came
under my observation not long ago.
We were invited to Il ''Sugaring off, at
farm house not far away. and while
there. | noticed nice old cat, hopping
about on three legs. Upon inquiring,
learned that about three years ago this
eat had the misfortune to get his leg
caught III a trap and although it was
splintered and bandaged, and poulticed,
until the swelling and soreness were all
gone, yet it forever hung useless. and
poor kitty could il no wise catch rat or
mouse any more. Well. what did the
fImily do then-takc the poor creature
down to railroad bridge and smash his
head, and throw him half dead into the
rivera BY no means. They have kept
him, and he fares sumptuously every
day. When rats and mice became so
plenty they could not stand it any
longer. they got another cat, and IL
smart one it was, too, that made havoc
III mOusedom right away. Now this
cat has two beautiful little kittens, and
is as proud of them as can be. You
ought to go there and see them play
You would have nice time, assure
you for besides these four cats there is
a splendid large dog. that according to
Freddie's story knows everything. Then
there are four children, with father and
mother, and Il dear old grandmother
making as happy family as you often
see. You may know they are good
people, because they are so kind to
dumb animals.
Now, boys. just one word before |
close; don't ever he cruel But there.
why should | say it, know you never
are. None of the boys who read this
would stoop to so mean thing. And yet
there are boys in the wide world. wicked
enough to torture dumb creatures, but
they had better never practice this
cruelty before me. | will not say what
| would do; but the boys themselves
would find out very soon if | should
catch them at it.
AN UNFORTUNATE MAN.-Chubb is
Z II. 1 4