Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-05-06
THE END.
A PROFESSIONAL DOG sTEALER.
777'77777777777777777777
BY JAMES PAWN,

My aunt Adela, in addition q am happy TO
say TO much other and more valuable prop
erty, possesses little dog called Carlo 1t
is not true, as some assert, that to admire
this animal is a passport to her favor-al-
though to show any dislike to him would I'M
doubtedly be TO lose it. Love me, love nv
dog" is her motto. However, to my tale. or
rather to Carlos, which is quite straight 1t
used to be curly until certain catastrophe
happened to it last November; it was run
over by an enormous dray and, so to speak,
ironed out Thank heaven, had nothing to
do with that! Elizabeth, my aunt's maid, an
old-fashioned person, who, having been lin
the family for quarter of a century. was
thought worthy of the sacred trust was tax
ing him out for ramble Newly washed
and woolly white, he was attached to her Dit
was supposed firmly by q silken string. and
she had hook to her umbrella to restrain
him i'll extreme cases, which caused her to
resemble a shepherdeSs with her lamb: but
all these precautions proved useless. He
escaped from her custody with the terrible
result | have described
To conceal from her mistress the fact of
Carlos tail having become straight was. of
course, impossible; you might as well have
tried to deceive a vigilant auditor of ac
counts by showing him one for an eight:
and my aunts distress of mind was indescrib
able. The winter she said had indeed set in
with severity for her. ''Never again." she
averred should that little angel 60 out of
her sight into the wicked, cruel world.n ana
henceforih, forbidden the back garden.
Carlo passed his out door time on the draw
ing room balcony
From there, at first, CHS sober wishes never
t,aI 10 !. H.
occupied upon his tail, which though lost to
sight tfor it was too stiff and painful to be
wagged into view, was never absent from
his memory He knew it was there: and the
problem that occupied his mind was, why
had 1t become invisible3 Presently. as it re-
covered tone, though never shape, he caught
sight of 1t, and then its marvellous metanor-
phosis puzzled him even more than its disap-
pearance had done. He remembered the
operation, no doubt; but probably ascribed
1t to some phenomenal intervention of ma,
ture-the fail of n mountain, or even of a
comet
After a while, when it ceased to remind
him of its existence, he forgot all about his
tail and concentrated his intelligence upon
schemes of escape from his balcony Foi.
weeks he watched at the little gate thai;
opened upon the steps which led into the gar
den; and after about 5000 observations.
about the number of times it was shut in his
lbcS-t1iile 10 Lne conclusion that 1t not
intended for canine egress. He then turned
his attention to the front railing. and squeez-
ing with great difficulty through its bars
would stand for hours with his head out for
it was very tight fit, and not, therefore
worth his while to withdraw it in a hurry)
and contemplate the drop of eighteen feet or
so. Aunt Adela would have it that 1t was
the beauties of nature that attracted him;
the icicles on the trees, the snow wreaths on
the evergreens, etc. but Carlo was not such
fool as that. / repeat, and indeed, the
event proved it, he was calculating the
drop. Failing to make this less by looking at
it, the astute animal tried the left-hand rail
ing which separated my aunts balcony from
that of her neighbor, and emancipated him
self at the first trial The drawing room
door was open, and in two minutes Carlo had
scuttled through the house and into the
street
Aunt Adela was in despair She always
used to express whitening scorn for adver-
tlsements, and wonder how ''any one in their
sober senses could think of being influenced
by them But now she became what the
Salvation army term a prisoner to the
faith in them She seemed to think of
nothing else; Advertise, advertise. adver-
use, was her one cry. | ventured to re-
mark that that business was, with few ex-
ceptions, conducted on the ready money svs-
tenn; upon which she flung me her purse and
burst into tears.
There was only three-and-six pence in it.
which does not go far in the way of world
wide circulation, but invested it iudiciously
In most respectable print, and within four
and twenty hours it produced dog ssealer
Never had Acacia villa, the haunt-indeed
the home-of peripatetic preachers and mis-
slonary matrons opened its doors to such
visitor. One cannot say his dress was un-
seasonable, but it was certainly peculiar
He wore fluffy overcoat with pockets large
and numerous enough to hold whole pack
of Carlos, velveteen dittos, an immense red
wooden scarf and a sealskin cap
Nevertheless his card, with s'Mr. William
Blodgers, dog fancier, Whitechapel,n upon
it, procured him an interview with Aunt
Adela at once The herald that brought
tidings of her lost darling was welcome in
any shape.
had the honor to be present at the inter-
view.
Aunt Adela wept tears which might have
been pearls so far as cost was concerned, for
/ am convinced that Mr.. Blodgers increased
his price for every one of them
Had he the little dawgs' Gracious good
nessl lhe was much more emphatic in his