Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-11-15
The Old Coach Dog.


mo"
Eyes, he spoke it just as plainly al
/ do now. taught him to say thai
word when ! was young man, and
used to 60 hunting in the woods
around the marshes. He said Silas,
and no word ever fell on my ears thai
has given me such cause for gratitude
as that. He was an old coach dog
i drove the stage between Boston and
the cape before i went West. He
used to lie under the leather boot to
guard the mail bags"
1t was Thanksgiving Eve. My good
grandfather had asked that we should
all relate the incident of our lives
that had given us the greatest cause
for thankfulness. Each had related
some remarkable incident, except
Uncle Silas, the stage driver and
prospector. / glanced towards him
as the freight fell on his kindly face,
and asked him the same question.
His answer startled the company,
though the events to which he re-
ferred were not new to me. l had
heard him relate many times at husk-
ings and on long winter evenings his
story Of the speaking coach dog, or,
as he was accustomed to name it,
''The Window in the Woods" others
called it 1.-THE Phantom Inn." The
story in part was told in old newspa-
pers and on red settles forty years
ago.
"Silas," said I, ''tell us the story
of the dog that said 'Silasp 1t will
be new to the company"
1.-THE story of the Window in the
Woods9' Maybe, they do not care
to hear it. Some folks do, and then
some folks don't-some folks say it
makes 'em lie awake when the shut
tiers bang"
The company eagerly demanded
the tale.
1t was a strange room. In one
corner were bushel baskets heaped
with corn. Uncle Silas shelled corn
as he said form company" on other
than holiday or Sunday evenings.
Over the corn baskets were strings
Of dried apples, pumpkins and red
peppers. Near the fireplace were
rennets for cheese, and under the
rafters were candle poles. The fire.
place revealed great foresticks, APP
pie tree wood, which made an espec-
tally hot fire, and was used on
Thanksgiving ewes and at special
times. Apples in rows were toasting
on the hot hearth. The family con-
sisted Of an old couple, named White,
and their sons and sons wives and
children from towns near Boston,
and a few invited guests.
There had been q nut-cracking
after Thanksgiving dinner, followed
by a merry-making, at which an old
New England drollery had been sung
to Silas' fiddle. This old song was
called "Uncle Jeddediah," and rep
resented the happy arrival Of guests
from Boston, and the chorus was
sung amid most lively bobbing of
heads.
Oh, won't we have merry time?
Oh, won't we have merry time?
Polly. put the kettle on
And we'll all take tea
Uncle Silas caught up his chair
and lifted it in the jumping way of
the old Colonial times to a place
nearer the fire. A shutter banged
and he cast his eyes mysteriously
towards the window. The room grew
very still.
1.-THE clouds are scudding over the
MOON" he began. 1.-The wind is ris-
ing-I can hear it in the tops of the
trees. Many's the time / have gone
down to Greenharbor In the old stage
coach on nights like this, and leaped
from the seat and snatched the mail
bag from the boot, and when I said
'Silas,' there would creep out OF the
boot that old coach dog.
THAT dog was given to me by a
sailor who was about to go to sea
from the old North River. He was a
pup then. / never knew dog that
seemed to think so much of his mas
ter as that dog did of me. His eyes
were never of me. l taught him o
number of tricks. such as to stapd
up on his hind legs and beg, which
he did by utteriug sharp, pitiful
cry. While begging one day he made
a sound like 'Silas.' / repeated it,
and he uttered it again. After that
l would hold back from him his food
until he had made that sound. Say
Silas,' / would say, and after time
he would utter the word, or what
sounded like it. In time he would
rise on his hind legs, shake his fore
paws and say 'Silas' whenever he
wanted food. I was very proud to
have him call me by name, and / had
him do it whenever met my friends.
He became kind OF neighborhood
wonder, and was called the talking
dog.
The old stage coaches had great
leather boots that covered the driver
legs, and in cold and stormy days
could be raised so high as to protect
nearly the whole body. Many time
have / driven my horses, protected
from the rain or snow by the boot.
Under the boot / carried the mail
bags, and such packages as we to-day
send by express. The mail coach was
sometimes robbed, when the boot
was known to carry valuables. /
carried my own money in large
wallet, in a side pocket Of great
gray coat, and money for others in
the same way. drove the stage for
ten years, but / was never molested
or robbed. And in those ten years
my dog Silas always slept at my feet