The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-22

sariiy vindictlye. Meanwhile the dog
grew more ferocious looking every day.
One night my mother woke my father
up With: Thomas, there's burglar down
Stare, I'm positive l distinctly heard the
Kitchen door open.'
J, Oh, we'll. the dogs got him by now,
then, murmured my father, who had
heard nothing and was sleepy.
Thomas. replied my mother, severely,
I'm not going to lie here while a fellow
creature is being murdered by a savage
| beast. IT you don't go down and save that
Exams life, will
40, bother said my father, preparing
| to get up. You're always fancying you
hear noises believe that's all you women
| come TO bed for-to sit up and listen for
burglars Just to satisfy her, however,
he pulled on his trousers aud socks and
! went down.
| well, sure enough, my mother was
| right this time. There was burglar in
| the house. The pantry window stood
| open, and a light was shining in the
| kitchen. My father crept softly forward
and peeped through the partly open door.
| There sat the burglar, eating cold beef
| and pickles, and there. beside him, on the
| floor, gazing up into his face with blood
curding smile of affection, sat that idiot
| of dog wagging his tail.
MY father was so taken aback that he
| forgot to keep silent.
"'Well. I'm - and he used word
| that l should not care to repeat to you
| fellows.
"The burglar. bearing him, made dash,
and got clear off by the window; and the
| dog seemed vexed with my father for
| having driven him awav.
Next morning we took the dog back to
| the trainer from whom we had bought it.
".What do you think 1 wanted this dog
| for?' asked my father, trying to speak
| calmly.
We'll replied the trainer, you said
you wanted good house dog.
Exactly So answered the dad. Il
didn't ask for burglars companion, did
L? / didn't say / wanted a dog who'd
chum on with a burglar the first time ne
ever came in the house. and sit with him
while he had his supper, in case he might
feel lonesome. did I?' And my father re-
counted the incidents of the previous
night.
ssThe man agreed that there was cause
for complaint. I'll tell you what it is,
sir, he said. 1T was my boy Jim as
trained this ere dog, and l guess the
young beggar's taught i'm more about
tackling rats than burglars. You leave
i'm with me for week, sir; I'll put that
all right
1--WE did so, and at the end of the time
the trainer brought him back again.
"'Youll find i'm game enough now,
an intellectual dwag, but I think I've
knocked the right idea into i'm
my father thought he'd like to test the
matter, so we hired a man for a shilling to
break in through the kitchen window
while the trainer held the dog by a chain.
The dog remained perfectly quiet until
the man was fairly inside Then he made
one savage spring at him, and if the chain
had not been stout the fellow would have
earned his shilling dearly.
"The dad was satisfied now that he
could go to bed in peace; and the matters
alarm for the safety of the local burglars
was proportionately increased.
Months passed uneventtully bv and
then another burglar sampled our house.
This time there could be no doubt that the
dog was doing something for his living.
The din in the basement was terrific. The
house shook with the conclusion of fall
ing bodies.
"My father snatched up his revolver and
rushed down stairs, and | followed him.
The kitchen was in confusion. Tables and
chairs were overturned, and on the floor
lay a man gurgling for help. The dog was
standing over him. choking him.
THE pater held his revolver to the
mans ear, while l, by superhuman effort,
dragged our preserver away and chained
him up to the sink, after which l lit the
gas.
Then we perceived that the gentleman
on the floor was police constable.
- Good heavens y exclaimed. my father,
dropping the revolver, however did you
come hereP
.'Ow did / come 'ere?' retorted the
man, sitting up and speaking in tone of
bitter, but not unnatural Indignation.
Why, in the course of my duty, that's
'ow come ere. see burglar getting
| in through the window, so | Just follows
my gentleman, and slips in after i'm
Did you catch him? asked my father.
"'Did catch imp almost shrieked the
man. 'Ow could catch i'm with that
| blasted dog OF your 'olding me down by
the throat while e lights is pipe and
walks out by the back door?n
THAT dog was for sale the next day.
| The mater, who had grown to like him,
because he let the baby pull his tail,
wanted US to keep him. The mistake, she
| said, was not the poor animals fault Two
| men broke into the house almost at the
| same time. The dog could not go for both
| of them. He did his best and went for
| one That his selection should have fallen
| upon the policeman instead of upon the
| burglar was unfortunate. But still it was
| thing that might have happened to any
| dog.
MY father, however, had become
| prejudiced against the dog, and that same
| week he inserted an advertisement in the
! Field, in which the animal was recon-
| mended as an investment likely to prove
| useful 10 any eDterprislng member of the
| criminal classes"
| MacShaugnassy having had his innings,
| Jephson took 4 turn. and told us pathetic
| story about poor mongrel that was run
| over in the Strand one day and its leg
| broken. A medical student. who was
passing at the time, picked it up and car
| ried ii To the Charing Cross hospital, where
| Its leg was set and where IT was kept and
| tended until he was quite himself again.
| when it was sent home.
| The poor thing had quite understood
what was being done tor 1t, and had been
| the most grateful patient they had ever
| had in the hospital. The whole staff were
| quite sorry when he went.
One morning. a week or two later, the
house surgeon, looking out of the window,
saw the dog coming down the street.
| When Ii came near he noticed that it had
| a penny in its mouth. A cats meat bar
| row was standing by the curb. and for a
| moment. as he passed il, the dog hesitated
But his nobier nature asserted itself,
| ana, walking straight up 10 the hospital
| ratings he stood upon his hind legs and
dropped his penny into the contribution
| box
Jephson nearly cried as he told the
story. He said it showed such a beautiful
trait in the dogs character. The animal
| was q poor, outcast. Vagrant thing, that
had perhaps never possessed penny be-
fore in all its life. and might never have
another. He said that dogs penny seemed
to him 10 be greater gift than the big
| gest check that the wealthy patron ever
| signed
Tie added that It was a true story, he
knew, because he had it from the house
surgeon himself
Ii sounded ike house surgeons story.