The Red Cloud chief., 1878-11-28
The STORY u . Tesd...The Queer Pet es
aWniiamsport sifl.

some 81 the little ones ~ our"UOus.-
hold ask for more stories. so I will
tell them about my pets when I was n
little girl eight years old. He was tn.
largest toad ] ever ssw. and I named
him Bob This IL the way I han.
pened TO get such q queer pet. Our
man was at work In the garden and Nc.
cidcntslly cut the toad with his hoe.
He was abou, Ia kill him 10 put him
out of his miscry-as II was a very
deep bal cut on the ileshy part Of his
hind leg-wben my father. who stood
by. picked the poor thing up. and call.
ing tn me-. put II carefully In my apron
and told me 10 take IL carefully into
the hous. and attend u Its leg. |
knew just what "a do, for INV good
mother kept n box II rags where We
children could always find them: and
n bottle Of bloodroot stepped In brandy,
which II very good for cuts and bruis-
~. named my funny pet Bob the
very first thing NJ ] could talk 10 him,
and try tn make him know was anx.
ious To cure him. pressed the edges
of the cut carefully together. after Hrs.
washing u In warm water, and bound
u up snugly In soft linen rags. as I had
10 often seen my mother do for our
numerous wounds; then I wet IL well
with bloodroot. and although ! know II
smArtcd very much. Bob held quite
still and kept looking at me with his
bright eyes. as much M To saw, thank
you was never afraid to handle
toads as most little girls and boys are.
for father had taught me how useful
they arr to destroy insects In the gar
den. and when ! went out walking I
brought home all ! could see lin my
apron) and put them among the melon
and cucumber vines. was shown
how 10 handle them 10 as not To hurt
them, and ] knew they could not hurt
mo, so ! held poor Bob very carefully
In my lap while ] built him n little
house under u bush. where he would
not be disturbed. first made him a
soft bed Of nice. cool grass. and laid
him on IL; and then ] got some flies
and other insects to feed him and
watched and attended To him every
day. changed the rag on his leg oc-
casionally and kept II wet all the time
with blood root. lie kept very quiet. |
and ! saw the cut WAS healing nicely
After had had him about three weeks
went n day ~ usual. when 10, the
door OF Bob's house lay Hat on the
grass and there was no toad there! I
hunted about for him for u long time
In vain. until finally I spied something
white moving along IN the ground. and
running To II found Bob trying 10 hop
with the rag partly OF his ley dragging
behind him. took Il Off then, as the
cut WAS pretty well healed. although
there WAS n very bad scar that would
always remain, AZ we could never mis-
take any other big toad for him. He
hoped with u funny little limp that nj.
ways made us all laugh. He was very
tame and never went far away from the
house. When | was sitting by the
kitchen door l would call Bob" and
he would come aud sit just ~ close To
mo ~ he could get. l never handled
him much as IL hurt him; but I used
to think he understood all I said to
him. He would 90 In to the kitchen on
hot afternoons and catch flies. When
cold weather came he disappeared
my steriously, and we never could find
out where Bob spent his winters.
Early In the spring he came out Of his
hiding'place ~ brisk a. ever. left
him and all my other pets, with many
five years aftcrward. and went
away To school. While | WAS gone my
parents moved to another place. and o.
II WAS in cold weather they could not
Bob, as he was not to bc found. |
so. ! never saw or heard of him again,
much tn my sorrow. for | was very
fond Of him, and | think he loved me in |
poor, dumb way.