American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-01-01

and shelter between the blackened edge.
of that astonishing slit in his head.
/ OF course his name was Rover.
| Z" He come from Pete Steel's folks
over to Rattan: they he'd more n they
wanted, Pete said. L come acrost hin
down street a-sellin' pea-brush. and this
here pup a-yaupin' along behind him.
so thinks me, that's jest the dog fol
uepsy. He's real young, and you eau
kind of eddicate him up, ye know, traiI
him up on chickens, so to speak; bend
the twig jest as the trees inclined tC
grow. as the copy-book ses."
"My land! l guess l sha'n't never
let him 60 the way he's inclined to! no,
onless it my way" answered Hepsy,
who was accustomed, indeed. to have
her way to an extent she hardly under
stood herself.
| However, she was hearted under
all her snap and sparkle, and Rover be-
, ing little touched with the wisdom his
foxy aspect betokened, soon found her
weak side. Like MANY another woman
- and most men, for that matter-she
could be coaxed into anything.
A few whiues and ways and affection
ate rubs of that sharp yellow head
against her gown beguiled her ont of
many dainty morsel his doggish soul
longed for, and as for chickens, he soon
sent terror into all their timid spirits:
not only did he keep them well OFT the
Tucker premises, but alacki he hunted
them into the enemy's country, and laid
about him SO sharply there that more
than one squawking and kicking fowl
strewed his path.
These outcries, of course, brought
out the BIissets in force, and Rover had
to run for dear life into the swamp.
where amid tangles of clethra, bilberry
and alder-bushes, woven in and out
with cat-brier aud elematis. he was safe
down, when he sneaked home the back
way, and ate his supper with the eager
ness of a dog. and heard many questions
as to his absence, which fortunately for
him he could not answer
Meanwhile, the BlisSets grew furious.
Rover had not been month in his new
home before a crested Poland hen had
her leg broken BY those sharp white
teeth, black Spanish ROSTERS back
was permanently twisted. and a big
Brahma lost the use OF one wing, while
at least a dozen of the short and yellow
legged barn-door breed--best of all for
eating. nameless though they be-were
choked or plucked or trampled on till
their usefulness was quite extinct.
Then came one luckless day when
Rover, in fit of terror at the gun old
Blisset, lying in wait for him, exploded
so near his ears that one of them was
singed, made his way straight for the
Tucker kitchen instead of the swamp,
his tail curled tight in between his legs,
his ears limp, and yowls of the most
pitiful and piercing description pro-
ceeded from the great mouth that was
adorned with chicken feathers like a
moustache.
Neighbor Blisset pursued him home,
saw the welcome he received, and burst
N with certain pungent remarks.
"Fhat's your dog, is it? Well you'd
better keep him to hum, Mis- Tucker,
Or I'll let drive through that ere yaller
snout O. his'n pretty quick next time. 1
amt a-goin' to hev all my hens killed by
that beast, now 1 tell ven
why didn't you keep your old hens
to hum, them They begun it. Hain't
we he'd to buy dog to keep 'em off
our garding? We shouldn't a had no
sass at all eff they KEEP at it!''
OF course this provoked retort, and a
sturdy neighborly quarrel set in then
and there, the first work of the yellow
dog. and destined to outlast his little
term of life.
Pa Tucker came home to find Hcpsy
crying with rage, and Rover. full of his
supper, doing before the stove. not
even rousing himself at the repeated
men ion of his name as the story of the
hens was told in full.
"WeIl, WELL" said Ephraim. when
the tale was done aye must look at
both sides of thing. Hepsy; tain
real agreeable, l expect, to have our
faowls killed jest as they're a-turnin'
into money, so to speak. l dono as l
blame Blisset for bein' riled
now"
"Well, dono as he'd oughter have
spoke the way he did. 1 ain a-goin to
be insulted by no Twin man as know
of. won't never speak to them Bis
sets no more; they'd ought to have KEEP
their old hens to home, and if you'd got
n mite of proper sperrit you d Jest go
over and tell 'em so; so therer'
"Sho, Hepsy! faint no use talkin'
about it now; he's riled and so be you;
let things settle a spell, and then we'll
kinder clear up. l guess Ill get
for that there dog; he'll bark
jest as good, but he can't bite things"
81 amt a-goin' to hev the poor cretur
with no muzzle, Ephraim
it's cruelty to dumb beasts"
''Well. well, well, kinder calm down
a mite, Hepsy; mabbe somethin' else'll
do jest as well. Come to think ont,
have heard or read somewhere or
mother that a-tyin' of dead hen
round a dogs neck will sort o. sicken
EN- of that work. l guess I'll get one
O. Blisset's faowls and try it on to-mor-
ror."
But Ephraim encountered storm al
Blisset's, and was at last
obliged to pay for all the chickens Ro-
yer had killed, or incur lawsuit. Be-
ing a wise man, he paid the demand
before it was carried to law, and went
home rather crestfallen, with the last
of Rover's victims in one hand, the 9TH
er thrust into his empty pocket.
''He s goi1' to be amazin' dear bar
gain, I'm afeard. Hepsy. I've he'd to
pay gut that five dollars I'd promised We
for new bunnet to make up for them
chickens.
.'My landr' gasped Hepsy, 'Inever'd
ha' done it in creation!'
''Well, it's done; twas fair enough;
heaps better'n goin' to law. now l tell
ye" said Ephraim, with severe decis-
ion, for though he was mild and slow
man ordinarily, there was in his char
acter a reserve of Obstinacy, or per-
haps it should be called firmness, that
Hepsy discovered early in her married |
life could not be evaded. She did not,
either, feel quite as tenderly toward |
Rover, when she thought of her three
year-old Sunday bonnet that must be
oil tho in,