The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-19
PROMISING PUPS.
lPNekA SgA.l

upon. That is the habit men get into, wAo own dogs ot promising pups to friends, and never delivering the goods
 Shakespeare, in his inspired writings, has said, "!t is mean man that will no, promise a pup" Maybe it was not Shakespeare who wrote 1t, but whoever Il it wAs, tae saying has become historical
 aud there are thousands of men who live up to it. and promise pups recklessly, with no thought of ever fulhlling the promise. There is probably no man who has been promised more pups, and ceived fewer of them, than the writer of this. II all the pups promised to hia in the last twenty years were in single file l the procession would reach ssoss. M:l=aa ] kee to San Francisco. and from there to Alaska, by water, as many of the pups promised have been water spanicls, II all these pups could have been made up into sausage, the free-lunch counters Of the world mi ga. De supplied. Same of the men who have promised pups to the writer have died and gone to their judg. ment with these untul6l.ed promises, and other sins, on their heads. Some are 'iv ing. and are yet addicted to pupS but though we yearn for pup, and suffer un- told agontes, no pup comes to cool the parched tongue, and wc are liable to go down the long vista of the future, pupless laundering down the ages with no pup. when so m any are due. or all men who have promised pups to us, there Is no one of them that has promised pups of ener, and had more pups with which to pay the promises. than George Clason. There is n that vas,th more apparent sincerity, more eclat, if you know what that is, than George can
 When the handsome fellow looks at you with hts honest eyes, and says, You shall have pup" you think that settles It. There IS something about George that makes you think he would not de- ecive man about pup. Bi. he is like l all the rest of them. He commenced promising us pups as long ago AS when he was brakeman on the s. Paul road before he owned any dogs He said he would steal pup While we were sui. fer,ng for pup at that time, and for all the yeafs he was brakeman, it cid not seem right to have him steal pup, just to accommodate friend and it was with pleasure that we saw the years pass. and George soul yet safe from the sin of theft of a pup. But when he became a conductor, and owned dogs of all kinds, aud began promising pups, we felt that
 there were men that were honest about promising pups. But years wore on, and passed away, and the pup did not mate rialiLe to any alarming extent For twelve years we never met that man. on the cars, in the marls of business, in church or So- ciety, that he did not promise ns pup
 Once at a grand ecepuon at which were gathered the beauty and chivalry Of a whole state, he led us from the dancing hall, through corridor. down to the bar of a great hotel. behind the screen, away from the maddening crowd, and re requested us to pin up rip in his pants. Alter the matter had been fixed up so that the sharpest-eyed dancer in all the world could not haze seen a rip in his apparel. hrs gratitude knew no bounds. He seemed to realize that he had not treated us ri sht, and a tear stole down his cheek is, not the whole length of his cheek, because one tear could no, go so far he sad, and there was certain remor in his voice th at meant business. as he said it, " Old boy, you have saved my life. You shall have a pup" What we had done for him was not with the hope of reward, but ii he felt grateful, aud would only keep a l single one of his thousands of promises, we felt that it would be no more than | right, and we parted friends. Years passed, and no pup came to brighten the | home ot the COD pductors benefactor, but ooe day he was promoted to be assistant superintendent, of division of the RFea, railroad, and it seemed as though the pup would be along on the next tTAiR. A | superintendent can keep his promise when a conductor hasnt got time. The | first time we saw Clason afer his promo tiop, he said, and th' re was far away look in his eye, as though he was trying to recall something Let's see didn promise yoo a pup2' We didn't want to say that he had promised a D ousand. be- cause a thousand pups we're more than l any gentlem an would need, and 90 the answer was simply, believe so." He took out memorandum and wrote some. thing down, aDd went away. aud we have ! watched the express off e ever since with no result. But the years that have passed since Clason first began to promise pups have left us b ,th gray and old, and now | a pup will not fIl the bill. Nothing but a ful-grown dog, we'll broken and way ranted free from feas, will hil the bill. and sn effort will be made, before resort
 ing b the courts, to see if ClAst cam ,t
 be made 10 put up or shut up. The mat ter will be brought before the board of directors of the St Paul road at the next
 annual meeting, and demand made tha, Clason be compelled 10 deliver, charges paid, such dog as he has be- reaved us of for almost ~eniy years. The directors will see the justice of the de- mand. They cannot help it They do not want their railroad to get into disre- pute. through a man who promises pups recklessly, and never pays them. That is one thing that ma kss railroad stocks fuctuate so If the directors will not compel that man to do his duty. there is but one recourse, and that is sui. for breach of promise. II we can get such