Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-01-08
ONLY A WOUNDED DOG.
The Influence of a Humane Woman on a
Rough and Cruel Crowd.

It was nothing but yelping street cur,
whose leg had been run over by passing
wagon, but it mad a voice pathetic and
shrill enough to wake the dead.
''Get out" yelled man close to whom
it passed, and he raised his cane to chas-
tise it for offending his ears with such
unearthly howls; but the poor brute only
ki-y-i.d' the louder.
Scat" cried bootblack, swinging his
kit around post after the cur. Tie a
can to its tail!'' he yelled to some boys, on
second thought, and off they scurried
afterssthe caudal ornament, only pausing
long enough to shy a stone, which pro-
duced new and more discordant series
of yelps
why doesn' t some one call the police
to shoot him?" Indignantly demanded a
well-dressed lady, stopping her ears to
shut out the sounds. Its shame to al
low such things!'
And still the dogs cries of pain rang
shrilly down the street.
eff some one only had sense enough to
give him dog button, that would soon
quiet him, " suggested knowing-ooking
man with leather case In his hand.
The drivers cracked their whips at him
from their seats, clerks ran out and wildly
gesticulated at him to make him stop, but
still the cur imped and yelped along the
gutter; none of these things seemed worth
a cent SO far as stopping his noise was
concerned.
Then everybody stood still and stared at
a very unusual scene. A lady, we'll dress
ed and refined in manner and look, mo-
toned the street boys nearest her to stop
yelling, and stepped quickly up toward
the dog with a soft white hand outstretch-
ed, and some soothing, soft,spoken words.
The poor, frightened thing stopped, curled
its tail between its legs and cringed down
nearer the curbstone as if expecting an
other blow. She spoke to it again, calling
it poor doggie" and various pet names
until it turned its wistful eyes in mute
pleading, and allowed her to put her han d
on it. Then she stroked it softly and re-
assured it further, while boy ran to a
near drug store for something. She satur-
ated her handkerchief with it and bound
up the dogs leg. In moment the brute
was perfectly passive, and had ceased
even to whine. She turned it over to the
kind-hearted Irish janitor Of the big
Equitable building, who had taken in the
situation and brought out box partly
! filed with excelsior.
But before he could take it into the base
ment the knowing man with leather
case had changed his mind about dog
buttons" and, saying that he was doc
tor offered his servicea to set the broken
bone; the lady who had talked of shooting
the cur politely rendered her own handker-
chief to brush the dust from the hands of
the dogs friend, the boy came back with
out the tin can, and gathering around,
proposed to ''chlp in and buy some
bologna for the patient: and every one
went away saying: We'll, | declare, she
must be very fond of dogs. and quite used
TO their way, to be able to do just the right
thing SO ceyerly."
She had never kept a dog in her life,
and was just the least bit afraid of them,
but she was the possessor of heart sensitive
to the sutferings of the meanest of God s
creatures as to her own, and her little act
of thoughtful humanity had stirred the
better natures of those whose thoughtless-
ness only would have made them inhu-
| man.