The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-01-17


suspicious. On the contrary, it con-
iirmed them. Katherine" said I
soiemnly to the cook, lit is Ponto.
Alas, 1T Is Ponto."
What l had seen in Ponto's eyes was
terrible. / swear to you, reader, that
am most serious. / had distinctly
seen there an almost human lie.
1t is rather difficult to explain my
| meaning. Ponto wished to assume an
| appearance of sincerity in his glance,
anu he did not succeed, because that
Is impossible, even to q man. 1t is
said by profound philosophers that in
men the power of lying is confined to
speech; that the power of throwing
falsehood into glance is possessed only
| by women.
Ponto exhausted himself in vain eff
forts to lie with his eyes. But this
unsuccessful falsehooi was even more
discriminating that an avowal.
l looked fixedly at Ponto. Here,
Ponto,' said l. take this" and l Of
fered him the second chicken, which
Katherine had just finished plucking.
Ponto looked at me reflectively.
Hum" he said, you evidently sus-
pect me. Why do you give me a
chicken today? You never gave me a
whole chicken before" He took the
chicken in his mouth and immediate
~ deposited it on the floor at my feet,
and. looking up in my eyes. he said:
You must think am fool"
lnstinctively said 20 myself: Thief!
Scoundrel! You have betrayed me. You
are perfldious dog. Your honest ca
nine existence of loyalty has now come
to an end, and you have been as false
as If you were only mcn." But pat
ting him on the back, added aloud:
Good Ponto, honest Ponto, nice Ponto."
The assimilation was rather too
deep for Ponto. Urged on by the sa-
worry smell Of the chicken, he took it
between his jaws and started to go.
But before he reached the door he turn
ed several times and looked at me care
fully in order to see if he could fathom
my thoughts. AS soon as he had left
the kitchen l closed The door and be-
gan spying upon him through the blinds
Of the window. He vent q few PAGES
as If intending to devour his prey, and
then stopped, placed the chicken on
the ground and thought deeply for a
long time. Several times he looked at
the kitchen door with his false and
treacherous eyes. Then, giving up all
attempts to seek an explanation salts
factory to his mind, ne contented him
self with the fact that he nad the chick
en-, picked 1t up and departed. AS he
disappeared in the distance / could see
that his sometime timid tail, which had
hesitated throughout our entire CONVEX
sation, had again became bold and firm.
Ponto's tail said: Bah! l have both
chickens. Nobody saw me take the first.
Hurrah"
I stealthily followed him from afar,
and l surprised him in the act of hastily
scratching a hole in the ground with
his powerful forepaws. The chicken
that I had given him was lying on the
ground and in the hole he was digging
lay the other chicken. / was heart
broken. My friend Ponto retained the
instincts Of his remote ancestors. the
foxes and the wolves, and buried his
provisions. But, alas! being a domesti-
Gated animal, and having become the
companion Of mankind, he had learned
TO lie.
Under the eyes of the treacherous and
now shame-faced Ponto / made up
little package of the longer feathers
of the two chickens, and deposited this
little feather duster en- my working
table. Whenever thereafter | was en-
gagged at work and Ponto came bring
ing his ball and said. with a light and
easy air, Come, come! Lay aside that
rubbish and let us play ball" l in
variably lifted the little feather duster.
Then Ponto would drop his treacher-
GUS head. His tail would sink between
his legs and adhere to his quivering
body, while the ball would fall from
his nervelcss jaws. AS he looked at
me he would say, is it possible that
you are so ruthless, so unforgiving? Do
you never pardon?"
Weeks passed, and l had not vet par-
doned ponto. But nc was indicating
able in his attempts to win me over.
So one morning when he came to me
again, and when | seize, the poor
little feather buster and DOR Ponto wac
about TO withdraw / said to him:
Look. Ponto,' quoth l. Look upon
this for the last time. Thus perishes
the only token OF your fault" and l
hurled the feather buster into the fire.
Ponto carefully watched the feather
buster burn Then, without any hys-
teric manifestations Of Joy, without
leaps or skips, but nobly, simply, with
dignity, he came and proffered his paw.
The crime was forgotten. We were
friends again.
Ponto was glad that he had been for
given. but he was not nearly SO glad
as | that had forgiven him.