Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-01-02

This programme Grace carried out for
two weeks At noon, when the other school
children ate their dinners and had good
time, she walked back to the old house where
Prince lodged, saw him devour the sweet
bread and butter, the tender meats and
dainty cake which had been prepared for
her, and then went back to school dinnerless
Her unusual appetite at tea was remarked
upon, md as her dinner basket came home
empty every evening it was supposed that
school and hard study were benefting her
healta.
One unlucky day soulless little girl dis
covered her in her benevolent work and told
Mrs. Merton, who Immediately issued proc
lamation that no more dinner should be car
ried away to feed dogs. She argued that if
Grace could come within square of home
to give away her dinner she could come all
the way home and eat her dinner there.
After some entreaty and fearful eloquence
in behalf of the vagabond dog Grace was per-
mitted to carry refuse scraps to him This
worked very well until the cook complained
that she could keep no cold meats from meal
to meal, Grace regarding everything she
could find as srefuse," and carrying it to the
shaggy starveling
The freedom of the pantry was then denied
her. Still the dog was on her hands, and his
appetite was better than his circumstances.
He slept well, but Grace did not His faith
in her kindness and ability was without the
shadow of doubt, but the child knew very
well that faith alone would not ward off
starvation
She could not appeal to her father and
mother for further help, as they had often
told her that whatever philanthropic work
she undertook on her own account she must
carry through by her own exertions.
She thought of her money-a possession
she attached but little value to and rarely
remembered. She counted it-eighty- three
cents in all. How long would that amount
maintain dog-a dog like Prince, whose
gestronomic talents were of the highest
orders She had no idea, but she consulted a
butcher, a big, bluff, kind old fellow, who
knew her we'll
SWELL said he, "a dog could eat eighty
three cents up at a meal if you bought
good meat for him; or he could rub along
quite awhile if We kind o 'lowanced him.
Struck with the old mans wisdom, Grace
made him this proposition: II will leave the
eighty cents with you and will call
every day for scraps until it has run out
Please make it go as far as you can"
The laxative butcher inquired into the
case and as soon as he understood it offered
- h.
scraps which otherwise would be thrown
away.
Grace regarded this offer of help as a spe-
cial boon of fate, and went her way relieved
of a terrible burden. Poor Princes board
was certain
Poor Princel Never was creature moro
pitiahly misnamed. The irony of nomencla-
ture found rare expression in him. Prince
only of the vast kingdom of Poverty Heir
to the sorrowful estates Of Pauperdomi Most
unprincely in person and demeanor was he
Every movement of his unhandsome body,
the expression of hopeless misery that sat
perpetually on his aged countenance, and
the forlorn droop of his tail, all bespoke that
ignoble melancholy that comes from chronic
and insurmountable poverty. He was at the
foot of the ladder, with no prospect Of ever
getting up single round, and worse than
that, with no hope.
Misfortunes travel in groups As soon as
you have disposed of one, you are likely to
meet his twin brother THE days when the
skies are clear are the days on which the
avalanches fall" That evening, as Grace
was coming from school, freer from anxiety
than she had been since she had assumed the
care of Prince, she met him on the river
bridge. He was shrunken to less than his
usual size; his eyes were more watery than
ever; his mouth fabbier; his tail dropping
like plume in rainstorm; his whole per-
son an appeal. Grace's heart stood still What
was the mattera Some dire misfortune had
again laid its heavy hand on the unlucky
beast.
No mother could have suffered greater
torture in seeing her children hungry ami
destitute than did this child on seeing this
poor old brute a pauper. She cried out
against the meanness of the world that be-
grudged poor Prince food and shelter, and
great tears fell on the shaggy back of the
canine beggar. She petted him and tried to
comfort him with many an endearing name,
which must have made his old heart glad,
though he still looked woe-worn and melan-
choly, and she still sobbed in heart-broken
way at every caress.
Together the two sad hearts went over the
bridge and down the long street bordered
with pretty houses, through whose windows
the freight glanced, making the raw
autumn air seam even colder than II was, bv
contrast The child felt the first throb of
Indignation and rebellion against the world
that she had ever known. For the first time
she realized the selfshness Of human kind
All the people who lived in those houses were
warm and comfortable, and, as she well
knew, daily wasted food enough to keep half
dozen dogs in opulence, yet they would all
laugh at the very idea Of supporting a dog
like poor Prince.