The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-01-03
Mr.. S0mmerbeck's Dog.

"Il love my dog" said Mr.. Sommer-
beck. "iMan's faithful friend; always
devoted to his master; always vigilant
in his protection; untiring in his efforts
to please ; docile under discipline, for
giving in his disposition, kind and
faithful, man does not half appreciate
him nor understand him. I have bought
a dog, one that will in his i~nfantile days
be a source of unceasiug mirth to us all
by his innocent gambols, and, as age de-
velops his sterner qualities, will be a
faithful, vigilant guardian OF orr sleep,
ing hours. Let us love him and deal
with him gently and teuderly, and his
very life will be devoted to III service.
Come, Herzegovina, come come III and
get acquainted with your friends
He tied him to the back fence with a
piece Of the clothesline, and sought his
downy couch. He had been in bed
about ten minutes when q howl of most
unearthly import smote the ali, dying
away in a prolonged, shuddering gurgle
that lifted every hair on Mr.. Sommer-
beck's head, and emptied all the shrek
ing, fainting women in the house into
his room in n wailing, hysterical tor
rent. Again and again the howl came
swelling up through the closed windows,
as though it walled out Of the very walls
of the house, then one would come
a series of choking, gurgling gasps and
asthmatic groans that were too full OF
horror to listen to without s%hrieking.
He dressed and took the lantern and
revolver and went out. Guided by the
terrible sounds he came to where he had
tied the dog. No dog was visible, but
the rope that was stretched tight across
the top of the fence showed where he
was. The docile animal had Jumped
over the fence and the rope was just
long enough to let his hind legs touch
the ground. is long as he could stand,
the dog could howl till he hushed the
railroad whistles, and when his weaken
ing legs buckled and let him down, the
rope frightened and shut off his wind in
aseries of chokes and gasps and gurgles
that were too awful to think about.
Mr.. Sommerbeck climbed painfully over
the fence and tried to lift the dog back
into the yard, and as he pushed the
bowling animal over the fence, it paved
the top of his bald head until it looked
like a map of the Servian war. Mr..
Sommcrbeck wished the faithful dog at
the Centennial. Then it crawled its
hind legs down the neck of his night
shirt, and braced its fore paws against
the fence and pushed back, and walked
all over MI. Sommerbeck's upturned
face, bowling all the time. Finally Mr..
Sommerbeck pushed him oyer and heard
him drop with a heavy thump on the
ground. Then he tried to climb over
himself. It was a slow, painful task,
for Mr.. Sommerbeck is not a light
weight, nor is he so young as he once
was. At last he got one leg over the
top of the fence after many grunts, and
with a great groan Of satisfaction bal
anced himself on top. His sudden ap-
pearance seemed to fill the Dig with
terror, and in a fash, just as Mr.. SOM
merbeck dropped on the inside Of the
fence, the faithful dog went up like a
rocket and shot out of sight on the
other, and recommended his hideous
howls and gasps. Mr.. Sommerbeck felt
as thoughhe couldn't groan deep enough
nor fast enough as he prepared to scale
the dreadful fence. It was discouraging
work, but he got to the top at last,
lost his balance and went down on the
other side like a land slide, falling
plump on the faithful dog and killing it
so quick that the doomed animal never
whined a protest. Mr.. Sommerbeck
limped slowly down the alley and up the
street to the front gate. He got in the
house and went to bed, and 10 response
to the anxious inquiries of the women
as to what was the matter, he merely
told them to pull on the clothesline in
the morning and they would find out.