Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-07-23
THE STORY OF A DOG.
BY NJ. STRATTON BEERS.

shiverlng with cold; 1t sat snug up
in the corner of the porch, looking
the picture Of desolation and woe of
utter hopelessness and despair; per-
feet emblem of wrctchedness and
hunger, of want and misery.
This was what Uriah Click made
out us he hesitated, with one foot on
the lower step leading up to the
porch and peeped through the mists
of the gray morning, whose light was
still dim and uncertain, and lent him
but feeble assistance in his endeavor
to make out the dark figure i'll the
corner. He had just come in from
his faithful watch back and forth, to
and fro before the great building of
Smallwood, Ogden Il Co.'s dry goods
store, for he was what they call a
"night watch," and night after night
he kept up his ceaseless vigil in front
of the shadowy old pile Of granite
and mortar, faithful to his employers
interests, and then went home in the
early morning to sleep until he felt
himself refreshed.
Uriah Click was afraid of dogs;
had always been afraid of them since
he could remember, and long before
that, as his mother could testify had
she been sworn by the court. In
fact, the only real tegror that he ever
encountered on his night watohes
was when some stray dos, lost by his
master, would come sncaking toward
him in the vain hope of finding Il
friend; and now Uriah stood looking
at the huge animal on his own porch
with a feeling of indccision as to
whether it was best to go around the
house and enter the back door or to
put an end to what evidently was u
miserable existence, at the best, with
the fine silver-plated revolver on
which his hand had rested from the
moment the shrinking figure had
caught his attention.
The dog whined. 1t was whine
that excited pity in Uriah's heart
Then he held up one Of his fore paws,
and the light, which was growing
stronger every moment, showed the
man that blood was trickling from it
to the floor; that there were tracks of
blood all over the porch floor.
"Poor fellow! I'll not kill you!
I'll 90 round to the kitchen and wake
the little woman to let me in."
lie raped at the door with his
cane, or club, it was rather, SO short
and heavy and lead-loaped; then
waited to hear the quick stepping of
his wife as she came down the stairs
to the well-known rap of her hus
band.
"Why, Uriah! What made you
come to this door; did you forget
your key. Gracious! Where did you
find that monster of a dog:"
Uriah sprang into the kitchen and
would have shut the kitchen door, i'll
the fright that came over him at the
glimpse he caught of the limping an
imal, which had followed him round
to the kitchen door so noiselessly
that he had not noticed him, had it
not been that IIettie, his wife, not
sharing the inborn fear of dogs, had
caught sight Of the bleeding foot.
ooh. 'Riah, do tell me what is the
matter with him. and the sympa-
thetlc woman knelt down on the
doorstep and took the huge paw in
her hand.
/ 'sDon't! Hettie, for Gods sake,
don't. lie may bite you. | found
on the porch, and came round here
because | was afraid to pass him; he
is some stray brute"
"Oh, look here! there is a great
cut and a piece-yes, a piece OF thick
glass in it. Do take il out, Uriah."
The dog was licking IIettie's hand
and his bleeding foot by turns, and
whining, half to express the pain in
his foot and half the gratitude he felt
for the sympathy shown him.
"Ah. kick the dog out, Uettie. l
can't take the glass out; besides, If
we do, he'll hang round here until
/ shall have to kill him to get rid of
him; blast the whole race OF dogs,
anyway. / wish they were all sunk
III the bottom of the Dead Sea. |
won't harbor one of the nuisances
about my place for an hour"
1t was a half howl the dog made
now, and the look in his great brown
eyes as he turned them full toward
Uriah Click was more human than
canine, and wakened in Uriah's heart
feeling toward one dog in particular
and before his words had fairly pass
ed out of his mouth he had forgotten
he had even thought them, and he
found himself endeavoring, in his
kindcst, tenderest way, to extract the
piece of glass which still remained
in the dogs foot.
In trice the glass lay out on the
ground, and Hcttie had spread a rug
in one corner OF the kitchen, and cs-
corted the ''poor, dear old fellow to
it in her most enticing and hospitable
manner; then she had kept Uriah all
alone with him while she ran up
stairs to get her bottle Of arnica;
some of the latter she poured Oh a
cloth and then carefully wrapped the
wounded foot.
1t took the buXom, CHEEKY little
Nine Click longer than usual that
morning to get the ham fried and the
omelet made, with the odorous coffee
and bit of grated turnip for Il relish;
for ever and anon she was obliged to
stop and pat the great black head
and express her sympathy for his suf-
fering with many q tender,' caressing
word, which are always abundant
in the vocabulary of a tender-hearted
woman. Then her hands would re-
quirc washing before she could re-
turn to her breakfast getting; thus it
was that over an hour had passed be-
fore the meal was ready, and Uriah
began to get tidgety; his night walks
gave him Il grand appetite always for
his breakfasts; and, noticing that it
was the dog that made the time so
unusually long, his old aversion to all
dogs III general came back and caus
ed him to say, rather impaticntly:
-"IIettie, don't waste any more time
or sympathy on that brute. | shall
empty the contents of my revolver