Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1878-12-19
A LITTLE BROWN DOG.

Ao was d pOOI llllle 1ellOW> efTauu Joy
in the large grocery of Rice, Cloves &
Co. Il don't mean the brown dog, but
Harry JackloW), and he earned just two
dollars week.
Sixty cents of this went for care fare
he lived so far from the store that he was
obliged to ride to and from it-and the
rest to his mother, who, with that and
the eight dollars week she received
from the cloak factory where sne worked,
supported herself, her children-Harry,
twelve years of age, Eddie, seven, and
Jennie, two--and Mr.. Jacklow.
Mr.. Jacklow was her husband, aud the
less SAID about him tho better. III
merely state that he could sit in rock
ing chair and smoke and think longer
than ally man I ever knew.
But besides this two dollars q week,
Horny, who was br1ght-eyed, willing,
whistiing young chap, sometimes got
two or five cent piece, or, more rarely,
dime, from his employers customers
when, the grocers' wagons being over
loaded or the customers in u great hurry,
he carried hume their purchase for them.
And it was this money he had been saw
ing ever since the list of January, for the
purpose of having good time on the
next holiday.
On Christmas day they had real nice
time at his house. His "boss" had given
him two dollars, and the superintendent
Of the place where his mother worked
had given her one and somebody (they
had never found out who) had sent them
a large turkey, and the dressmaker down
stairs had put box of tools in Eddie's
stOcking-dear me! what am / saying?
she couldn't bave done that; meant to
say she had given Ned a box of tools, and
Jennie doll, in the name OF Santa Claus
and Harry had presented his mamma
with q new coffee-pot, and his mamma
presented him with wooden comforter
and pair OF wooden gloves, and Mr..
Jacklow had bought himself new pipe;
and when Harry saw how happy they all
were, he quickly made up his mind to
give them party on the. very next holi-
day, which would be the Fourth Of July.
1t was the Sd of July when my story
commences, and Harry had kept his res
olution OF saving every penny oatside of
his wages. He had had to pass many a
heap of rosy apples without glancing at
them, run away from many peanut stands,
force himself not to look into the tempt
ing windows of the candy stores, and go
by on the other side when he knew him
self near q well known bakery, to do so:
but he had done so, ard now his reward
was near.
The house in which he lived was an
Old-fashioned one in an uptown street.
A quarter of century ago it had been
a small farm house, surrounded by mead
ows, but now it had large tenement
house on each side, and whole row of
brick buildings in front of it. But one
splendid old oak tree still stood before
the door-"Bully to tack pin-wheels on"
said HAIRY to himself, and there was any
number Of children around to cry "Oh!"
and "Ah " as the fireworks went off. I
have always noticed that when boy is
setting off fireworks, the more ah-ing and
oh ing there is, the brighter the fireworks
look to that boy. Well, Harry had laid
out the supper in his mind as follows:
leo cream, a whole quart, twelve cent
sponge cake, five sticks of molassas candy
pitcher of lemonade, apple pie, half a
pound of cheese and some baked potatoes
MIR. Jacklow liked baked potatoes.
And he meant to get his mother and the
rest of them out OF the room ,send them
down to vi it the dress maker, who at the
last moment was to be let into the secret),
set the table himself, and then, when all
was ready, call them up again. Wouldn't
it be fun to look at their faces when they
saw the ice cream, and the sponge cake,
and the molassas candy, and the lemonade,
and the apple pie, and the cheese, and
the baked potatoes! 1t would be almost
as good as the circus. Harry had been
there once, and had never forgotten how
delightful it was. And then after the
supper was over, and they thought the
entertainment at an end, wouldn't it be
fun again. to see their faces when he in
vited them down on the front stoop to see
the pyrotechnic Qook in your dictionaries)
display!
So Harry had been saving, and saving,
and saving, until he found himself on the
evening Of the 3rd Of July with one dol,
lar and eighty-two cents in his right
hand trousers pocket. Times had been
hard, very hard, since the new year be-
gan, and people had looked very sharply
after their small change, or it is likely he
would have had double that amount.
''But," he said to himself, dollar will
get the feast and the rest will buy at
least dozen nice fire works."
He got home from the store that even
ing too late and too tired to 60 out for
the things he wanted, but the next morn
ing no was up before the sun rose-and
the SUE rises pretty early during the sum-
mer months-and dressed and out in the
street as the first sunbeams told the east.
tern sky morning had come. The streets
were almost deserted, and no fire-crack-
ers or pistols-shots yet broke the silence.
But before ne had walked block SOME
cannons doomed in the distance, and
peal Of bells nearer by began ringing
"Yankee Doodle" very merriiy. Whistl-
ing, and jingling the coins in his peck.
cts in tune and time with the music of
the bells, and wishing the. stores where
he meant to bay 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, 7 If found to be
friendless at the end of that time, the
poor things are put in large tank pre-
pared for that purpose and drowned.
Harry heard the imprisoned dogs bark
ing andyelping; and stopping moment
to- listen to them with a pitying look on
his face for, like all kind hearted 1,oys,
he dssrly loved animals he saw sitting
upon the doorstep, a very pretty little
girl. Il She wore faded calico dress and
a blue checked agingham 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 soft brown, and her hair,