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

tOflBluaLI
NEW YEARS STORY OF FACT WITH BUT
LITTLE FANCY.
One reason why everybody loved Grace
Merton was because she had such a good
heart. She wasn't bit selfish. She never
saw a ragged and uncared for child, a
wretched beggar, or a hungry animal, that
she did not express commiseration and in
stantly set about doing something to make
the object of her pity more comfortable
Yet she was only child herself.
She lived in one of the county seats" of
northern Indiana, where in summer the level
roads are SO deep with white sand that horses
walk as though walking in snow drifts, and
in winter the coffee-colored rivers are so
smooth and solid that no other skating Kinks
are needed At the time I write of Grace
was nine years old, very pretty and very
much liked. She had bright face, big gray
eyes, that had a habit of growing very misty
when anything moved her to pity, dark
brown hair, and, as everybody said, ''the
sweetest manners in the world.n
The Jewetts, who were poor-superla-
lively poor and very indolent-lived near
enough to the Mertons for Grace to know
them well. Like most of their shiftless class,
they divided their poverty with dog, the
most miserable, NANCY, haggard-looking dog
that ever owned an empty stomach. They
were the kind of people who move often, and
always for the worse.
One day they moved away-took them
selves and their indulgence in the same direc-
ton the star of empire is said to lakeland
left the dog homeless. He was not much
worse off than he had been before, excep;
hat he had no shelter and was lonely. He
was SAT, shrinking, taciturn dog, utterly
without any wholesome doggish ways, and
he was old He knew he was an illfavored
brute, hideous to look upon, and the knowl-
edge embittered his thoughts and took away
his assurance ANY one could SEQ at a
glance that he was dog that had alway1
been under the harrow He had the air of
creature the world cuts, the same air that
shabby, disreputable persons get after a
long intimacy with misery When he saw
stranger looking at him he shrank to
about half his normal size, and skunk away
His eyes had look of hopeless sadness in
them not often seen in creatures below the
human species.
This dog had had too much harsh expert
ence to make any appeals for charity. He
knew the world as well as he knew hunger.
| After his owners departed he lurked
around their miserable house in ghost-like
way for day or two, sleeping in corner
of the tumble-down shed at the rear at
pioht md cfttipn r,ourpf,,ll,- or, tho ~,
| front step i'll the day time. He resembled an
old human pauper who has outlived kindred
and sympathy. At last hunger got tho
| whip hand of him. and he went out to try
| his luck He was as wise as he was miser-
able, and he went to Grace Merton.
Prettily dressed, in dark, rich red, and
very happy, she was raking the leav IS of
early autumn from the croquet ground, sing
ing softly to herself. The dog stopped on
the sidewalk and looked at her through The
| iron fence. She was very busy and very
much interested, and she did not see him 1t
was new picture of Beauty and the Beast "
The child, in her beautiful bright clothing,
with her sunny face, represented opulence,
comfort, joy, all the rich possessions of life
to the starving creature that watched her
silently. Looking up suddenly, she saw two
| red, fearful eyes staring at her beseechingly
through the fence Accompanying the eyes
were a flabby, woe-begone mouth, two
dropping ears and shapeless, shrunken,
shaggy black body.
Grace was the only human being who could
value the soul of that wretched dog as high
as the soul of a king.
''Oh, it's Prince, dear old Princen she
cried Poor old fellow Did they leave
you all alone" And running to the gate, she
called him to her, petted, fiattered and actu-
ally caressed the bleary, disreputable-lookinG
creature. Then she fed him. though the task
was an almost endless one, his capacity, after
his long fast, being something phenomenal.
The dog began to believe in humanity oncs
more. His recent hard skepticism faded out
| of his mind like dream before the revivify-
ing power of Grace's sympathy and minis
trations. His future lay in the child's
hands, and she accepted the responsibility at
! once
She went to his old quarters with him and
| fixed him a comfortable bed out of scraps OF
carpet and old newspapers, talking to him all
the time telling him how sorry she was for
him. and what good good old doggy" he
was, and how she wished she had house OF
her very own that she might make him $50
comfortable"
Meantime the degenerate Prince stood lis
/ tening in an attitude of humble gratitude.
He was past the days of extravaganza delight
and exuberant joy. She explained to him
that his daily bread would be provided He
understood and gave up all idea of personal
exertion at once. After urging him to be
cheerful and promising to see him often she
left him.
The question of how to maintain him puz
| zled Grace She had been taught that when
she dispensed charity she alone must pay the
cost; that it would not be creditable to give
away other peoples food and property She
revolved the problem over and over in hel
mind on her way home without seeing any
solution She sat down ON the wide front
balcony of her home with the heaviest heart
she had ever carried 1t never occurred te
her to ask help in her project She had beer
taught self-reliance, and she remembered
having been told more than once that she
must not think she could bring home all the
stray dogs and cats that excited her compass
sion Her mothers fine house could not be
turned into a hospital for unfortunate
animals.
She saw light at last She was in the
habit of carrying her dinner to school, as the
school house was on the other side of the
town across the river. She would manage
to get as large dinner as possible, carry ii
to poor Prince, and do without herself She
decided on this plan, not thinking for a mo
| ment that she would be doing wrong to
pursue it. She thought she had right to
do as she pleased with her own dinner. She
had very clearly defined opinion that her
! mother would object, SO she said nothing of
her prote1e to any one.