The Arizona sentinel., 1885-10-17
THE BOARDING-HOUSE DOG.
His AgOnizing Attributes and How One of
the Specie Was Removed from Party
of Suffering Castaways.

|
the Specie Was Removed from Party
| of Suffering Castaways.
In few brief hours the summer will
of been passed. Or, 1 should say, it
will of had passed. Alas, the cares of
this here busy world have so corroded
my impulsive pen that fear sometimes
Harvarrt College would of been ashamed
of her forgetful child # he had of re
ned to the halls Of mis- alamo mater
and of laid such ungramr atjcal offer
! ings upo1 ler altars. However, I did
not sit down to boast of my learning. 7
have got it; let the world Judge what l
done with it, although it has not yet
saw what L can do with the rest OF it.
| Away, brief scandal.
l have set my heart upon crime to
which, ere the golden rod heralds the
coming of the hosts of autumn, 1 shall
set my read write hand. am a sum-
mer boarder, and my deeds shall, of
right, be summary as those of the bor-
derers of an older thyme, where deeds
of fright are even yet contagious to the
summer boarder.
Do you know Mister Browns Dog?
He is one of our boarders. The dog,
not Mister Brown. Of course, Mister
Brown boards with us, too, but he does
not count. save as an adi iunct TO Mister
Browns Dog. In your own unhappy
life it has sometimes been your sad lot
to be stranded upon the desolate shores
of the summer boarding house, where
one of the guess was a man and his
Dog? Then you know how much
greater is the Dog than the man or
woman who belongs to Him. And you
know also, the smaller the dog, the
Greater the Nuisance.
Well-ah me, if could but keep down
these fierce revengeful thoughts that
burn and blister in my stormy heart
Mister Brown and his Dog were like all
other boarding house dogs and their
men. They were Siamese twins. We
never heard of one. nor did we ever
mention one without the other. The
Dog had no name. He was always
called Mr.. Browns Dog. And Mister
Brown was merely known on account
of his relation to the Dog. All the
boarders became acquainted with each
other through the medium of
Mr.. Browns Dog. We opened
breakfast with fruit and Mister
Browns Dog. ''Did you hear
Mister Browns dog last night, Miss
Sillibub?" mot very much; our rooms
are on the other side of the house you
know" And as the cats and visiting
dogs chased Mister Browns Dog
around and around the house all night
long, l inferred that the Sillibubs must
have taken rooms on the weather vane,
and there was chronic whirlwind up
on the roof. When | speak of the cats
chasing MIR. Browns Dog, l make =
calm, simple, unvarnished statement of
fact. Mister Browns Dog was about
the size and general physique of year
ling calf, but he was passionately timid.
The unmuzzled dogs of the street made
life a burden to him, and often. when
he was running away from kitten or
hen, or some prowling ra der of that
kind, we could hear him wishing that
he could trade off his useless tail for
pair of wings. And so at night. when
Mister Brown was not on hand to pro-
tect Mister Browns Dog. l think the
the house where he would moan and
mutter and shiver.
Somehow, we never could start any
conversation at the boarding house,
that did not eventually drift into Mister
Browns Dog. At our meals the Dog
intruded himself, wailing outside the
window until his own provender was
brought out to him. And when the
boarders arose Phoenix-like (from their
hashes), and sought the piazza, Mister
Browns Dog was brought around and
we all talked to Him and about Him,
to the entire exclusion of Mister brown
and ourselves. But that seemed per-
fectly right.
things that happened? You know what
the clearinghouse dog is. He not only
has his day, but he has our days. And
he even divides the nights, which be-
long of right to the cats. I think l
could learn to love cat. Along toward
the end of the siege when | had had
nothing to eat for six weeks.
Toward the close of the summer,
Mister Browns Dog became troubled in
his mind. He had sucked an egg, or
fought kitten, or barked at a COW,
or something. Some deed of reckless
daring or measureless wickednesS Law
heavily upon his mind, for he began to
howl, low and mournfully, during the
day. Or, maybe he was only pining for
the gayety of the great city. Anyhov.
he howled during the day. No boarder
so daring that he can complain abou
it. We affect to enjoy it, and We ex-
press our hypocritical sorrow for Poor
Mr.. Browns Dog" The ''poor" re-
ferring, of cours, wholly to the Dog. |
But l can stand it no longer and He
must die.
You see, now, with such a crime
burning in my guilty soul, why life is
dark and joyless to me. To kill
common dog is nothing, but boarding
house Dog, whose board is paid for, |
who is the greatest central thought of |
all the boarders, whose life is interviewer |
with the lives of the human beings who |
circle around him in their various orbits, |
to take the life of such a Dog is to
strike at the heart of perfect though |
complex human system. Therefore,
when | kill Mister Browns Dog, Mister
Brown lies stark and bleeding at nv
feet.
Ihave sat up all night under the pity
ing stars. Sleep has not kissed my
eyes, but the problem is solved and my
heart is lighter, happier. When came
down to breakfast the other castawavs
saw the change in my manner and they
ctOnpod talkinn about M;ctar Pro-nie |