Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-12-31

bread and buttter, the tender meats and
dainty cake which had been prepared for
her, and then went back to school dinnerless.
Her unusual appetite at tea was remarked
upon, and as her dinner-basket came home
empty every evening it was supposed that
school and hard study were benefting her
health.
One unlucky day a soulless little girl dis
covered her in her benevolent work and told
Mrs Mertcn, who Immediately issued a proc
lamation that no more dinner should be car
ried away to feed dogs. She argued that if
Grace could come within square of home
to give away her dinner she could come all
the way home and eat her dinner there
After some entreaty and fearful eloquence
inbehaf of the vagabond dog Grace was per-
mitted to carry refuse scraps to him This
worked very well until the cook complained
that she could keep no cold meats from meal
to meal, Grace regarding everything she
could find as refuse" and carrying it to the
shaggy starveling.
The freedom of the pantry was then denied
her. Still the dog was on her hands, and his
appetite was better than his circumstances.
He slept well, but Grace did not His faith
in her kindness and ability was without the
shadow of doubt, but the child knew very
well that faith alone would not ward of
starvation.
She could not appeal to her father and
mother for further help, as they had often
told her that whatever philanthropic work
she undertook on her own account she must
carry through by her own exertionS
She thought of her money-a possession
she attached but little value to and rarely
remembered She counted it-eighty-three
cents in all How long would that amount
maintain a dog-a dog like Prince, whose
yastronomic talents were of the highest
order! She had no idea, but she consulted a
butcher, big, bluff, kind old fellow, who
knew her well
"Well," said he, ga dog could eat eighty
three cents up at a meal if you bought
good meat for him; or he could rub along
quite awhile if ye kind O. 'lowanced him"
Struck with the old mans wisdom, Grace
made him this proposition: 81 will leave the
eighty-three cents with you and will call
every day for scraps until it has run out.
Please make it go as far as you can"
The talkative butcher inquired into the
case, and as soon as he understood it offered
to contribute to the dogs support by saving
scraps which otherwise would be thrown
away.
Grace regarded this offer of help as spe-
cial boon of fate, and went her way relieved
of a terrible burden Poor Princes board
was certain.
Poor Princel Never was a creature more
pitiably misnamed The irony of nomencla-
ture found rare expression in him Prince
only of the vast kingdom of Poverty! Heir
to the sorrowful estates of Pauperdoml Most
unprincely in person and demeanor was he.
Every movement of his unhandsome body,
the expression of hopeless misery that sat
perpetually on his aged countenance, and
the forlorn droop of his tail, all bespoke that
ignoble melancholy that comes from chronic
and insurmountable poverty. He was at the
foot of the ladder with no prospect of ever
getting up a single round, and, worse than
that with no hope.
Misfortunes travel in groupA As soon as
you have disposed of one, you are likely to
meet his twin brother ''Tbe days when the
-
avalanches fall" That evening, as Grace
was coming from school, freer from anxiety
than she had been since she had assumed the
care of Prince, she met him on the river
bridge. He was shrunken to less than his
usual size; his eyes were more watery than
ever; his mouth fabbier; his tail dropping
like plume in a rainstorm; his whole per-
son an appeal Grace's heart stood still. What
was the mattera Some dire misfortune had
again laid its heavy hand on the unlucky
beast.
No mother could have suffered greater
torture in seeing her children hungry and
destitute than did this child on seeing this
poor old brute a pauper. She cried out
against the meanness of the world that be-
grudged poor Prince food and shelter, and
great tears fell on the shaggy back Of the
canine beggar. She petted him and tried to
comfort him with many an endearing name,
which must have made his old heart glad,
though he still looked woe-worn and melan-
choly, and she still sobbed in heart-broken
way at every caress
Together the two sad hearts went over the
bridge and down the long street bordered
with pretty houses, through whose windows
the freight glanced, making the raw
autumn air seem even colder than it was, by
contrast. The child felt the first throb of
indignation and rebellion against the world
that she had ever known. For the first time
she realized the selfshness of human kind.
All the people who lived in those houses were
warm and comfortable, and, as she well
knew, daily wasted food enough to keep half
dozen dogs in opulence, yet they would all
laugh at the very idea Of supporting a dog
like poor Prince