Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1886-07-29
CRAWLING MICHIGAN, THURSDAY JULY 29 1886

silken ears, and eyes that spoke with silent
eloquence. His tail was handsome enough
to have made the rest of the dog jealous.
There was no trace of guile in his face, yet
that dog was capable Of the basest ingrati-
tude.
But anticipate.
1 got home with the dog about eleven
o'clock that night. My wife had retired
before we reached the house. She is not in
the habit Of rising to greet me, under ordi-
nary circumstances, but as soon as she be-
came aware of the dogs presence she got
| up. In fact she devoted the greater part OF
the night 10 welcoming him into the family
circle. The head-clerk had shown me how
the dog could sit up, carry things back and
| forth, shut door, walk on his hind legs,
| lie down and roll over, say his prayers,
| shake hands, and perform other common
| dog tricks; but before he had been in the
house half an hour my wife discovered
that the dog had far greater accomplish
ments. Among other things she found that
| he could, at the word of command, look
cross eyed; that he could perform the pc
culiar trick of taking his long silken ears
| in his teeth and, without other assistance,
| tying them behind his head, and that (this
particularly pleased my wife) he would
beat time with his tail to such popular
tunes as "Peek- a Boo" "Sweet Violets, "
the same barking the accompaniment to
them.
/ had nearly neglected TO mention the
time of the dogs arrival. 1t was one of
the coldest Saturday nights last winter.
This may seem a trivial, even an irrelevant,
point. Such was by no means the case.
The state of the weather played most i'm
portant part in future developments.
After continuing to welcome the dog un-
| til late hour, my wife made n bed for him
of my ulster and such soft material as was
near at hand. She then came to bed, first
putting an extra scuttle of coal in the base
burner to prevent him from taking cold.
Early the next morning she was astir. So
was the dog. He had become somewhat at
home by this time, and never saw my wife
more pleased over any visitor in the house,
not excepting her own mother. Breakfast
was unusually late that morning, but as it
was Sunday, and as l have made it rule
never to find fault around the house any
| way since my wife once went into Mysteries
Dovausv L was III nuIIy a.. .--~si, ala
not complain. Besides, saw my wife was
enjoying the dogs company, and did not
feel like casting q shadow over her un-
usually good spirits. The dog, as said,
took her attentions kindly. He seemed
perfectly contented, and my wife remarked
that for q strange dog he was extremely
sociable. This pleased her, for she said
she had noticed that most dogs in q new
family were inclined to be bashful and
difiident; but she thought this dog would
be willing to stay with us right along. l
began to think so, too, he made himself
so entirely at home. The way in which he
brushed bisque vase off the escritoire with
his tail, overturned my wife's waste basket,
and helped himself to n bone from the
| table while we were at breakfast, would
have convinced a total stranger that he had
been member of the family for years.
After breakfast l suggested that the dog
might not be accustomed TO continual con-
finement in the house, and that perhaps
it would be well to let him have little ex-
SiGeaff Size feared he might get his feet wet and
and contract pneumonia. lpointed out the
gg599h q4bGd Of fa uSSher Pr yinS N 'eT
also told her that the cocker spaniel was
fond of water in any form, and especially
of snow. This seemed to convince her. She
opened the door and called to the dog, but
he evinced no desire to leave Il comfortable
bed which he had made for himself of my
best coat on an ottoman.
My wife Mt once insinuated that l evil
IDENTIFY was not so familiar as l might be
with the habits of that breed of dog. After
she had closed the door, however, the dog
changed his mind. / made no reply TO my
wifes caustic insinuation, and she permit
ted him to go.
AS he passed out she bestowed kindly
word upon him, and cautioned him not to
stay long enough to catch cold. The dog
seemed to understand perfectly. He hesi-
D. Nl.,N ol,ol1 1,,lo hon
seldom have seen such an expression, even
upon the face of human being, and never
upon dogs face. / shall never forget
that look. His great, eloquent eyes beamed
with affection and gratitude. They said,
as plainly as words could have said "Oh,
no! never fear. / can never thank YOU
enough; q whole life of love and devotion
could not repay your kindness. will be
back in fifteen minutes"
Yet, as / have before limited, that dog
was capable of the basest ineratitude. His
smile was the smile of deceit. His affec-
ton was, like Prince Lorenzo's gayety, all
upon the exterior.
That dog never returned.
At the end of fifteen minutes my wife
began to worry. When half an hour had
elapsed she became nervous. When an
hour had passed she was greatly agitated,
and she remarked that it was all because of
my suggestion to let the dog out in the first
place. She said she believed / made that
suggestion on purpose, and that she knew
when she let him out he would never come
back. She said she had felt certain of it..
/ assured her l had no sinister motive in
the matter, and inquired, in my always
mild way, why she had let the dog out at
all if she knew he would not return. She
seemed hurt by this query. She said it was
adding brutality to meanness. l did not
discuss the matter further.
There are two windows in The front sit
ting-room that face upon the street. After
my wife had made sure the dog was not in
the back yard she stationed herself at one
of these windows to watch for him. Anx-
ious to remove her suspicious as to the sin
cerity of my feeling toward the dog, took
up position mt the other window. / at
tempted mt first TO cheer her by encouraging
remarks and hopeful reflections upon the
dogs absence, but she would not he COM
forted, and 1 desisted We silently sat
and watched. One of the bitterest storms
of winter was raging out of doors. But
for the bowling of the wind as il madly
tossed the snow, or the barking of dog in
the distance, the solemn silence of our
vigil was unbroken. Every time a dog
barked, up went my wife's window. and out
went her head. OF course l initiated her
example. l never before had noticed that
our neighborhood contained greater num-
Der of dogs than any other quarter Of town
Il do not even now believe that it does
yet il seemed to that day. 1t seemed to be
populated principally with dogs. / never
saw so many dogs in the street in one day
in my life as passed our house that cold
Sunday; and the barking dogs in the dis