Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-06-22
HERO.

merry been an island; but the Gov.
ernment had built % dike-locally
called the "cut-of"-at the head of
the slough, which turned the water
into the main channel; and the rich.
low ground between them and the
shore road was where they planted
their garden.
There were three of them, John
Lane, his wife and their Fred, not
counting Hero but Hero was SO large
and clumsy that he might havo been
counted for q dozen. Whenever
he came into the house the
dishes on the table were in imminent
danger from the majestic sweep of his
huge, bushy tail; and as this so wor.
ried .Fred's mother-fo dishes were
costly and hard to get Fred kept him
out of doors most of the time, except
on cold nights in the winter. Then
Hero was allowed to come into the
house, but was promptly made to go
under Fre6's bed, in order, as Mr..
Lane would say, that there might be
room enough left to turn in.
MIR. Lane was n raftsmap, and had
worked for years around the old saw
mill that stood on the river bank n
mile above their little home. As the
mill ran only when the river was open
and free of ice, it was very difficult to
make his scanty earnings last through
the winter. 1t was Fred's work dur
ing the summer months to gather the
driftwood which hoated down from
the mill. His father had built mar.
row staging for him, which extended
out over the water; and by means of
a long pole, having a sharp iron hook
on the end, he could catch hold of
and secure any pieces that foated
near him.
Hero would sit on the bank and
gravely watch the proceedings until
one day when Fred missed his marx
and fine, large block escaped him,
the dog gravely rose, plunged into the
water and brought the block back to
the pile.
When Fred had recounted this feat,
his father built the staging wide
enough for two; and thereafter Hero
sedately stationed himself beside his
little master. Whenever q large block
drifted past beyond Fred's reach, he
pointed it out to Hero, who would
swim for it and drag it ashore in his
huge mouth, with an air of: "There,
now | did that oil myself" and then
grnyely return again to his seat at the
end of the narrow staging. In this
way the pile grew rapidly, and before
the mill shut down they had more than
enough for the winter.
AS Fred piledsthe last of it against
the house he laughingiy said to his
mother; II think old Hero has earned
the right to stay in the house all he
wants to, and to sing as loud as he
pleases when Daddy plays his fiddle
II it hadn't been for Hero, that pile
would have been about half as large. "
Hero looked rs if he fully understood
it all, and, as Fred's mother said, j.,
"really smiled"
The winter was unusually long and
severe, and it was quite late in the
spring before the ice moved out. Then
the heavy rains set in, and for two
weeks there was almost q continual
downpour. The river rose alarmingly,
and then seemed to settle triae; still
it worried Mr.. Lane, for he said the
house was too old to bear the strain
should the water reach the foundation.
Fred had great sport sending Hero
out for all sorts of things that foated
by; and then one morning, to his sor-
row. he saw his staging swept away.
The river again rose rapidly, and