Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-08-23

'MWA, WAPELLO CO
and stopped down to read q bit Of
crumpled paper l saw hanging loose
ly from tho collar. 1t bore these
words, written in shaken hand :
'This is the dog of a poor man who
Is bed-stricken he earns the bread of
his master. Good people do not keep
him from returning to his h0mc."
The dog thanked me for my offering
by wagging his tail, and then 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 brooches aud the
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 goodbye, and then
patted contentedly away at the same
jog-trot pace he had come.
He went up the street, and / fol-
lowed him, but when he had reached
Oxford street, lie quickened suddenly
and began to run hard, as if his day
was ended and he wanted to get
home. Evening had quite fallen By
this time, and felt it would be use
less to go after my four-footed mys-
tory on foot, SO l called cab, and
said: "Follow that dog" very much
to the drivers amazement.
1t isa long way from that part Of
Oxford street in which we were to
Tottenham Court Road, where the
small dog led me. But should have
understood the journey had it not
been made at such a furious pace. The
dog never once looked round. Twen-
ty times | thought he would be
crushed by passing vans or orscarriages ;
but somehow he got through it. He
had an extraordinary tact for finding
a passage between horses hoofs, and,
like true London dog, as lie was, he
showed intimate familiarity with all
the intricacies Of crossings. Still, it
was some reliefto me, both on his own
account and on mine, when saw him
branch off at last. was beginning to
fear that he would never stop, that he
had something of the Wandering
Jew in him. It seemed impossible
that, without taking any rest, without
even pausing for an instant to draw a
breath, such a 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 high
way, running amidst a tangled net
| work 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
been swept away, and where SHELF
| fish, sour fruit, and indigestible look
ing meat were sold by Yelling coster-
mongers. On the night in question,
when. went there in pursuit of the
dog, l foresaw that I should be led in
one OF those sickly nests of fever,
where poverty, disease, and misery
have their abodes set up i'm perman-
ence; and was not wrong. .t'
The dog, running faster than ever
now, as if he felt more afraid for his
basketamongstthese ravenous crowds
than he had done at the West End,
bolted suddenly up "A narrow side
street, where there was no room for a
cab to pass. I paid the driver and
jumped out. tt was filthy street,
but that was secondary matter.
Where the dog went / would go and
thus l lodged after him, first downs a
crooked alley, then through foul
court, and lastly up a passage where
it was pitch dark. Here l CROPPED
my way along damp wall, and
stumbled upon the first step Of a STAIR
case. Being a smoker, however, I
had some Vcrsuyians about me. I
struck one, lit a piece of twisted pa
per with 1t, and, by the moments
flame | thus obtained, deserted the
dog making his way up a creaky
flight of wooden stairs, battered in
places and rotten from mould. He
barked when he saw the light, and
growled uneasily. But I softened
my voice, and cried out, "Good dog
good dog - trying thereby to appcase
him. l suppose his instinct told him
that | was not an enemy, for he turn
cd round to sniff my trowsers, and
when l struck another Versuvian, he
consented 10 my accompanying him
without doing any thing else but
continue his smiling. We went up
three stories in this way, until we
reached the garret floor. There were
two doors face to face, and one of
them had latch with piece of string
tied to it. The string dangled with a
loop at its end to within few inches
of the ground. The dog raised one
of his fore-paws, pressed it on the
loop, and by this means opened the
door. We both walked in together.
There was q rushlight burning in
the neck of a ginger-beer bottle.
There was an empty saucepan in a
CRATE without the fire. Some tattered
clothes were hanging on the back OF
q broken chair, and some bits OF
plaster, fallen from cracked ceiling,
were encumbering the floor. On the
splintered deal table was plate with
a solitary bone on II, and next to it a
cup with the. handle gone. j turned
from the sight of these things to a
mattress laid in q corner of the room
The light was rendered so Pickering
by the gusts of wind that swept thfo
the window--tO which bits of paper
had been pasted for want of glass
that could not at first distinguish
very clearly where ! was, and what
saw. | could only hear the affection.
ate whining Of the dog, and vaguely
see him lcaping npon some one
against whom he was rubbing his
head, and whose face he was licking
with an exuberance of love. / heard
q voice too-but voice so husky and
broken that it rescmbled a whisper
repeat feebly, ".Good dog-good
Jim !" and then I saw a hand unite
the basket, and heard the sound OF
money poured out on the couch.
| "Good Jim good Jim!' went OF
the cracked voice; and il begar
A counting, Gone, two. Oh, good Jim
here's a shilling. I, One-and three
pence, one-and- d-ninepence, two shil
lings. Oh, good dog 1! three and .
penny, three and" But here follow
ed terrified shrek. t4..s.5
"Who's that p cried the man, GOV
ering the money with his sheet; and
he looked at me, liyid aud haggart
with the ague of fever. {9ss
"Don't be frightened,' said; I"
am come to do you no harm. lam
friend. l have followed your dos
home, and desire to help you if yol
are in need"
He seemed to be man about fifty
for his hair was not all gray, but th'
ghastly hOllowness Of his cheeks, til,
emaciated condition of his body, an(
above all, the CLEAN of disease In hi
burning eyes, made him older thar
q man of ninety, for they told NOR,
plainly than words could have toll
that he had already one foot within
his grave. eaff
My tone and my appearance seemed
to rcassure him but he continued Il
hide his money.
II am q poor man, sir, he gaspct
.l-"a very poor man. / have nothing
+ but what my dog earns me, and that