The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-09-04
He cot home from the store that eve

lIt you lOluc hICA euC otOLO oudt OfC-
ming too late and too tired to 60 out for
the things he wanted but the next
! morning he was up before the sur rose
and the sun rises pretty early during
the summer months,~snd dressed and
| out in the street as the first supbsams
told the eastern sky morning mad come.
The streets were almost deserted, and no
fire. cyackere or pistol-shots yet broke the
silence. But before he had walked a
block some cannons doomed in the dis
lance, and a peal Of bells nearer by be-
gan ringing "Yankee Doodle very
merrily. Whistling, and jinglng the
coins in his pockets in tune and time
with the music of the bells, and wishing
the stores where he meant to buy the
materials for his party would open, he
sauntered slowly along until he reached
the dog pound-a place where all stray
dogs are taken in hot weather and kept a
day or two, so that their owners may, if
they choose, seek and reclaim them. If
found to be friendless at the end of that
time, the poor things are put in a large
tank prepared for that purpose, and
drowned.
Harry heard the imprisoned dogs
barking and yelping; and stopping a
moment to listen to them with a plying
look on his ~face-for, like all kind
hearted boys, he dearly loved animals
he saw, sitting upon the doorstep. q
very pretty little girl. She wore a faded
calico dress and a blue checked gingham
apron; the apron she held gathered up
in her hand, as though it held something
of value, and her head and feet were
bare. Her large eyes were of a soft
brown, and her hair, Of the same color,
hung in struggling curls about her face.
There wasn't another creature. man,
women or child, with the exception of a
milk man on the next block, in sight,
and Harry looked at her with surprise.
At last he said, with a smile, ct thought
I got up carly, but you must have got up
much earlier than I did" :,
"I've been here all night" said the
child. in o sweet, patient voice.
"Here all night p repeated Harry,
with a long whistle. "Good gracious |
what d you do that for ?"
"'Cause / want to go in the very min:
ute the door opens. My Prince with
q sob-"is in there"
"Your dos? Z" asked Harry.
"Yes. He's the dearest little brown
dog in all the world, and I love him best
of every thing 'cept granny, and I love
him Just the same as her when she
scolds, and my mamma brought him
home one day just before she went to
heaven, and I've had him ever since, and
he's the best dog that ever lived, and
never did anything wrong in his life
'cept once, when he stole a piece Of
boiled corned beef somebody d set out
in the back arey to cool, and he wouldn't
have done that 'cepthe knew how hungry
granny and me was;" and the tears roll
ed down her cheeks.
ooh! I'm so sorryl Don't cry" said
Harry. "Here, take my handkerchief
and wipe your eyes,"
s'They'll kill him." commenced the
child again, eff I can't coax them to let
him out. and I don't want him to go to
heaven that way. I'd rather we'd both
20 together; and he could run on in
front, and then mamma d say, why,
here's Prince-Nellie must be coming"
"Are you sure he's in there2" asked
Harry. ..,,,svm.
"Oh yes.''is important matte: r. -.
yesterday afternoon, most nigh" t
was poking chips in the stove to make
the kettle boil, and I heard him calling
like he was in some trouble, and I run
out, and two awful men had him in a
cart, and Jimmy O'Neil said they was
going to take him to the pound. So I
run after the cart without putting MY
hat on, and soon it went so fast I couldn't
see it, and then I asked every body
where the pound was. I'membered the
name by thinking Of a pound OF brown
sugar; and at last I got here, and it We
shut up, and so I staid here ell night;
and do you think they'll open it soon?"
"What are you going to do when they
do open it?" asked Harry.
$50 in and beg the dog man to give
Prince back. He's such a little dog
they won't miss him."
"But he won't give Prince back unless
you pay two dollars" said Harry.
81 haven't any money-not a cent"
said the child; "but I've brought these"
rising and holding out her apron, which
held q tiny china doll, a headless cat of
the same material, a string of glass
beads, two pink motto papers, and a
round white shell. "These were all give
to me Christmas" she said; "and I've
kept them good, all 'cept the cat, and
her heads in my pocket, and he can
stick it on somehow, and the candies out
Of the mottoes-I ate one and gave the
other to granny-and the man may have
them every one if he will letpocr Princey
CO."
"I'm afraid he won't take them," said
Harry, shaking his head.
"He won't? Oh, dear | what shall I
do ?" cried the child. "My dear little
dog my dear, dear little dog !"
"Don't! don'tl" begged Harry, the
tears starting in his W eyes. "You
shall have Prince. ! have a dollar and
e%ighty-two cents, ana I'll borrow the
other eighteen cents from my mother"
The little girls face lit up with joy;
she thrust the toys into his hands.
''Take them, you good, good boy |" she
said, ''and Illtell my mamma about you
when I say my prayers tonight"
Harry put them back in her apron.
"You keep them till I come back" he
said: II won't be gone but a little
while;" and away he ran to his home.
There he found his mother making the
fire, and his father smelling the coffee
she had measured out ready for boiling.
"Mother," said he, twill you lend me
eighteen cents2"
IT intendelto give you ten," she said,
''for your Fourth of July. But why do
you want it so early in the morning2"
"Please, nanny" coaxed Harry,
''make it eighteen, and I'll pay it back
to you soon; and may I have a slice Of
bread and butter for a poor little girl9
III tell you all about it by-and-by?
81 can't make it eighteen" said his
mother; II haven't another cent. Take
the ten if you want it. It's in my peck
et-book in the top bureau drawer, and
the breads on the table. Don't bother
me any more-I'm in a hurry"
Harry helped himself, and then he
ran away to where Nellie patiently
awaited him, a smile Of perfect trust
npon her lips.