The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-09-03

Another day passed. Allegro, worn
out with hunger, slept. When morn
ing came his eyes glittered, all his hair
chain.
Still the old woman gave him moth
ing to eat. The brute became furious,
and barked hoarsely. Another night
passed.
Early in the morning, Mother Save
rini went to her nearest neighbor and
begged for some wisps of straw. Then
she took some old clothes that had
formerly belonged to her husband and
stuffed them with the straw so as to
initiate the form of human body.
Planting pole firmly in the ground
in front of Allegro's kennel she fasten-
ed the mannikin upon it so that ii
seemed to stand. Then she made
head for it out of some old rags fasten-
ed into a ball.
The astonished dog stared at this
man of straw and stopped bowling, al
though tortured with hunger.
Then the old woman went to the
butchers shop, and bought long,
black sausage, which she took home
with her. She kindled wood fire in
the yard, near tho kennel, and began
to cook the sausage. Allegro, wild
with expectation, mad with the odor of
the meat. that entered his very entrails
leaped and howled, and foamed at the
mouth.
Then the mother made a cravat for
the straw man out of the smoking sau-
sage. She tied it very tightly around
the neck of tho mannikin. as if to
squeeze it into the pole. When this
was done she unclaimed the dog.
With one tremendous bound the dog
reached the throat of the mannikin, and
with his paws pressed, against the
shoulders began to tear. He fell back
with piece in his mouth, devoured it,
-leaped again, driving his teeth
through the strings. tore away another
morsel.-and leaped again. and tore
away furiously. He rent away the
head with frenzied bites; he tore the
neck into ribbons.
Silent and motionless, the old woman
watched him, while her eyes blazed.
Then she chained up the dog again;
made him fast for two days more, and
recommended the strange lesson.
For three whole months she accus-
toned him to this sort of struggle
for food, to repasts obtained only by
the strength of his fangs. Then she
ceased to chain him; for she had him
so well trained that he would leap at
the mannikin the moment she gave him
q sign.
She had trained him even to rend it,
to devour it, when there was no meat
attached to it. As his reward she al
ways gave him q big piece of fried sau-
sage.
Whenever Allegro looked at the
mannikin his whole body would quiver
with excitement, and he would turn his
eyes to the face of his mistress, wait for
her to hiss the words "At him!' with
finger pointing.
When she thought the time had come
old Mother Saverini went to confession
and communicated one Sunday morn
ing with ecstatic fervor. Then she
dressed herself i'll mans clothes, dis
guised herself as an old ragged beggar,
and made 4 bargain with Sandman
fisherman to take both her and the dog
across the strait.
She had an immense piece of fried
sausage in a canvas bag. Every once
in while she made Allegro smell it, so
as to excite him. The dog had eaten
nothing for two days.
lhey entered into Longo-Sardo. The
old Corsican woman walked with a
limping gait. She stopped at butch
er's shop and asked where Nicolo Raw
olati lived. He had gone back to his
old trade-carpentering He worked
all alone at the rear of his shop.
The old woman pushed opGn the
door, and called him:
'.Hey! Nicolor'
He turned his head; she instantly let
loose her dog, and cried out:
'.At him!-at him!-tear him, tear
him!"
The maddened animal bounded for.
ward and caught him by the throat.
The man struggled to throw off the
brute, fell ON his back, ,-writhed, beat
the ground with his feet for a moment.
Then he lay very still, while Allegro
buried his muzzle deeper and deeper in
his throat, tearing the flesh away in
great shreds-
Two neighbors, sitting on their door
steps, said they remembered distinctly
to have seen an old beggar leaving the
house, accompanied by great, gaunt,
black dog, which, as it walked along,
kept eating something ng-something
brown, which its master was giving it.
The same evening the old woman re.
turned home. That night she SLEPT
well. Translation from Contes d1 Jou,
ct da la Nutt in AetO Orleans Times.
Democrat.