Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-05-29
A PROFESSIONAL DOG sTEALER
BY PAYN.

Ny aunt Adela. in addition q am happy to
say to much other and more valuable prop
erty, possesses a little dog called "Carlo." It
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 un-
doubleday be to lose it. "Love me, love my
dog" is her motto. However, to my tale, or
rather to Carlos, which is quite straight It
used to be curly until a certain catastrophe
happened to it last November; it was run
over by on enormous dray and, 80 to speak,
ironed out. Thank heaven, l had nothing to
do with that! Elizabeth, my aunt's maid, an
old-fashioned person, who, having been Tin
the family" for a quarter Of a century, was
thought worthy OF the sacred trust, was TAX
ing him out for a ramble. Newly washed
and woolly white, he was attached to her lit
was supposed firmly by a silken string, and
him in extreme cases, which caused her to
resemble a shepherdcss with her lamb; but
all these precautions proved useless. He
escaped from her custody with the terrible
result I 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 &C.
counts by showing him a one for an eight;
and my aunt's distress of mind was indescrib-
able. The winter, she said, had indeed set in
with severity for her. "Never again." abe
averred, ''should that little angel 60 out Of
her sight into the wicked, cruel world; and
henceforth, forbidden the back garden,
Carlo passed his out door time on the draw
ing room balcony.
From there, at first, "h;s sober wishes never
learned to stray his thoughts were entirely
nCc,1nioI 1,rCn h3o toll 1v1.i0h <1c,,uI, lo,k ~
sight for it was too stiff and painful to be
wagged into view, was never absent from
bis memory. He knew 1t was there; and the
problem that occupied his mind was, why
had it become invisible2 Presently, as it re-
covered tone, though never shape, he caught
phosis puzzled him even more than its disap-
p~earance had done. He remembered the
operation, no doubt; but probably ascribed
it to some phenomenal Intervention Of ma
ture-the fall of a mountain, or even Of q
comet.
After a while, when it ceased to remind
him of it's existence, he forgot all about his
tail and concentrated his intelligence upon
schemes Of escape from his balcony. For
weeks he watched at the little gate that
opened upon the steps which led into the gar
den; u after about 5000 observations
about the number Of times it was shut in his
face-came to the conclusion that it was 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
1t was a 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 it was
the beauties Of nature that attracted him;
the icicles on the trees, the snow wreaths o.
the evergreens, etc. but Carlo was not such
a fool as that. 1 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 aunt's balcony from
that Of her %neighbor, and emancipated him.
self at the first trial. The drawing room
door was open, m in two minutes Carlo had
scuttled through the house and into the
street.
Aunt Adela was In despair. She always
used to express o whitening scorn for adver-
tisements, 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 thu
faith" in them. She seemed to think o.
nothing else; Advertise, advertise, adver
ttse,"' was her one cry. I ventured to re
mark that that business was, with q few ex
captions, conducted on the ready money sys
tenn; upon which she flung me her purse ant
burst into tears.
There was only t~hree-and-six pence In It
which does not 60 far In the way of world
wide circulation, but I invested it judiciousl!
in q most respectable print, and within fou
and twenty hours it produced a dog ~stealer
the home-of peripatetic preachers and mis-
sionary matrons, opened its doors to such q
visitor. On cannot say his dress wa I'm
, reasonable, but it was certainly peculiar
He wore q fluffy overcoat with pockets larg
y 2 numerous enough to hold q whole pac|
tscarlos. vslyetsen dittos, an Immense ~