Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1886-01-28

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up, and with many cordial gestures o
his hospitable tail, trotted down tn,
steps and over the lawn to the corne
OF the fence where the little stranger
was.
"Me love 90" said the little stranger
patting Fido's honest brown back; "m,
love 90, little goggie!'
Fido knew that, for there were ca
! resses in every stroke of the dimplet
hands. Fido loved the little boy, too
yes. all at once he loved the little boy
and he licked the dimpled hands ant
gave three short, quick banks, ant
wagged his tail Historically. So ther
and there began the friendship of Fid(
and the little boy.
Presently Fido crawled under thu
fence into the next yard, and then the
little boy sat down on the grass and
Fido put his fore paws in the little
boys lap and cooked up his ears and
looked up into the little boys face, as
much as to say: 1--WE shall be great
friends, shall we not, little boy?"
''Me love co." said the little boy;
''me wan to tiss 90, little goggie"'
And the little boy did kiss Fido-yes,
right on Fido's cold n ose; and Fido
liked to have the little boy kiss him.
for it reminded him of another little
boy who used to kiss him, but who was
now SO big that he was almost ashamed
to play with Fido any more.
sis 90 sit. little goggiep" asked the
little boy, opening his blue eyes to their
utmost capacity and looking very pite-
Gus. 100 nose be so told, 90 mus be
sit, little goggier'
But no, Fido was not sick, even
though his nose soas cold. Oh, no; he
romped and played all that morning in
the cool, green grass with the little
boy, and the red-headed wocdpecker,
clinging to the bark on the hickory
tree, laughed at their merry antics till
her sides ached and her beautiful head
turned fairly livid. Then, at last, the
little boys mamma came out of the
house and told him he had played long
enOugh-and neither the red-headed
woodpccker nor Fido saw him again
that day.
But the next morning the little boy
toddlcd down to the fence corner bright
and early and called: Google! google!
goggie"' SO loudly that Fido heard
him in the woodshed, where he was
holding morning chat with Mrs
Tabby. Fido FASTENED to answer the
call-the way he sprung out of the
woodshed and down the gravel walk
and around the corner of the house was
a marvel.
Mamma says 90 dot f'eas. title
google said the little boy. 'IIas 90
dot feas?''
Fido looked crestfallen, for could
Fido have spoken he would have con-
fesscd that he indeed Was afflicted with
fieas-not with very many ieas, but
just enough to interrupt his slumber
and his mcditations at the most mop
perfume moments. And the little boys
guileless impeachment set Fido to
feeling creepy-crawly all of sudden,
and without any further ado Fido
turned deity in his tracks, twisted his
head back toward his tail, and by
means of several well directed bites
and piungeS gave the malicious
bedouins Whereabouts located timely
warning to behave themselves. The
little boy thought this performance
very funny and he laughed heartily.
But Fido looked ores tfallcn.
Oh, what play and happiness they
had that day; how the green grass
kissed their feet and how the smell of
clover came with the springtimc
breezes from the meadow yonder. The
red-headed wood-peckcr heard them at
play, and she clambered out OF the
hollow maple and lodged hithcr and
thither as if she, too, shared their mer-
riment. Yes, and the yellow thistle
bird, whose nest was in the blooming
lilac bush, came and perChed in the
pear tree and sang little song about
the dear little eggs in her cunning
home. And there was flower i'm the
sweet, modest flower
that no human eyes but the little boys
had ever seen-and she sang little
song, too, a song about the kind old
mother earth and the pretty sunbeams,
the gentle rain and the droning bees.
Why, the little boy had never known
half SO beautiful, and Fldo-
he, too, was delighted beyond all tell
ing. If the whole truth must be told,
Fido had such an exciting and Devil
lering romp that day that when night
came and he lay asleep on the kitchen
floor he dreamed he was t,lmbling in
.he green grass with the little boy, and
ne tossed and parked and whined so in
his sleep that the hired man had to get
up in the night and put him out of
doors.
Down in the pasture at the end of the
ane lived an old woodchuck. Last
year the freshet had driven him from
lis childhood's home in the cornfeld
~ the brook. and now he resided in a
snug hole in the pasture. During their
'ambles one day Fido and his little boy
riend had come to the pasture and
ound the old woodchuck sitting upright
It the entrance to his hole.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you, old
Mr.. Woodchuck," said Fido. Il have
90 much respect for your gray hairs"
"Thank you," said the woodchuck,
''but I'm not afraid of |
my bench-leggcd flee that ever walked.
t was only last week that l whipped |
Deacon SINNERS yellow mastiff, and l
'alc late l can trounce you, you ridicu
Gus little brown cur"
The little boy did not hear this bad |
mage. When he saw the woodchuck |
perched at the entrance to his |
lole he was simply delighted.
"Oh, see!' cried the little boy, |
stretching out his fat arms anu running
oward the woodchuck; ''oh see-nuz-
Ter little google! Tum here, little Cog
.ie-me love oo!'
But the old woodchuck was shy |
and no. knowing what guile |
he little boys cordial greeting might |
mask, the old woodchuck discreetly |