The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-11-18
A WHITE RIVAL.
How a Bull Pup Came Near Spoil.
ing a Romance.

bly, strong and muscular, but neithe
in beauty nor in intelligence was h,
anything out of the ordinary of ma
ture's handiworll.
have heard her rave about his eyes
they were the color of coffee berries
and moderately large, but their ex
sheepish. He was disgracefully selfish
too, and was under the impression tha
his acquaintance could do nothing
better than attend to his meals and ac
company him in his walks. He was also
abominably inquisitive and peculiarly
clumsy.
And in spite OF all this, she loved him
the most beautiful girl in the world
| loved him, and lavished caresses upon
him that any man with eyes in his
head would have given kingdom to
| receive.
| His accomplishments were few. He
pretended to catch rabbits, and was
reputed ''ratter" on the strength OF
having once barlSed at a rat in a cage;
the servants had, with much difficulty,
taught him stupid trick of running
off with paper parcels in order to get
at the sweets or biscuits hidden inside;
and an infinite amount of shouting,
hallooing, and waving of arms would
occasionally induce him to jump over a
| walking stick held two inches above
| the ground.
In short, he was a most ordinary
white bull terrier pup, with pink
nose, surmounted by black spot like
blot of ink from pen.
Nevertheless, l owe him a debt of
gratitude for being the cause OF my
first introduction to Ella harrington.
1t was on an August bank holiday
the one blazing hot day of damp and
dismal English summer. All the morn
ing had sought to avoid my kind, and
at length. by four o'clock in the after
noon, | had discovered delightful
bracllen-covered dell by the dry bed of
bsysolS in Richmond park, where, but
for the distant shouts of the gay and
h'less cyclist, nothing disturbed the
pastoral beauty of the scene.
Here | stretched myself out, with my
arms under my head and my hat tilted
over my eyes, and fell to dreaming
and to wondering when, if ever. l, a
bank clerk at two hundred year,
should so distinguish myself by the
literary efforts which wholly occupied
all my spare time as to be wholly inde-
pendent of the bank, except as a place
of safety for my superfluous thousands.
II only l could write brilliant novel
the novel of the season! But Ameri-
can authors had declared that the
stories of the world have all been told,
and the serial papers preferred ro.
mances written by young ladies as
being more sentimental and soothing,
and the libraries would have nothing
to do with the work of an unknown
man, and
A feminine shrek broke in upon my
despondent musings, and the idea of a
lovely woman in distress brought me
TO my feet.
She was lovely; of that there was no
possible doubt. Tall and slender, with
light brown hair and big appealing,
dark blue eyes, eyelashes curling up
wards and red mouth dropping down
wards dolefully.
She was angry, flushed and fright
ened, as was small, stumpy girl evil
IDENTIFY her maid, who accompanied her
She clasped her gloved hands implor-
ingly, and looked at me with tears in
her eyes.
my dog" she painted. "My dog,
Bull! Pray save him. Some 'Arries
are numbering him.
Then she ran through the bracken
and ran after her to the spot where
five little east-end roughs and a viii
lainous mongrel with one ear bitten
through were wrealsing vengeance
upon white bull terrier.
My six feet of authority, armed with
stout stick, speedily dispersed the
dogs assailants. They retreated in con-
fusion, employing language SO bad as
to be fortunately unintelligible to my
damsel in distress, who was by this
time kneeling beside her precious dog,
hugging him effusively and trying to
wipe away the blood from an injured
leg
The dog really had been good deal
knocked about, although / have no
doubt he richly deserved it; he now,
feeling himself an object of sympathet-
ic interest, sat down and refused to
hApSC
| knew something about dogs, and
speedily bound up his paw with my
own handkerchief and that of his
mistress, which was simply marked
Ella"
Our faces were very close together
over the dogs leg, and one of her tears
splashcd on to the back of my hand.
Ella blushed. laughed and apologized.
! never saw Il loyelier blush or heard a
sweeter laugh in my life.
Seeing that the beast was resolved
not to walk, carried him. He was a
tremendous weight, and fdgeted
abominably. But with ella beside me.
and her sweet. white hand. from which
she had withdrawn the glove, con-
stantly stroling the brute s neck, trod
on enchanted ground. The maid
brought up the rear, giggling a good
deal, but. as she constantly dragged be-
hind to stare at soldiers, her presence
did not in any way hamper us
The accident took place near the
White Lodge, and we had to pass out
BY the Star and Garter gates Long bc-