River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-01-09

ponto was enamOred of certain
~ ooden bali about the size OF billiard
ball In moment Of weakness | had
purchased this one day and brought
II home. Pont1 Immediately seized II,
rolled il toward me. and said: Throw
That over there in the rose bushes. l
VIII find it. You see IL don't so
said. 50 done The ball ,vas thrown.
aad Ponto found il. But lie became
rather irksome with his desire To re-
trieve the bait because his favorite re
tlark To ne became. Play ball. lie
hal a fashion of coming into lny study
with brisk air. Waggir z his tail, with
the bail held In lis Tuputh. Then. piac-
ing his fOrepaws on the table, he would
pat the precious oall in the middle of
the papers. letters and books and say.
There is my ball. Now toss il out of
the window, and will 90 and get IT,
That will be very much more amusing
than wasting your time on all these
stupid papers and books" / would fire.
,1uentlv feign To hurl the ball from the
window. and, like a fash, POntO would
disappear. few minute would pass
before Ponto would reappear with the
torepaws al the window ana remark:
say you. you man with the papers,
don't find anything here. The ball
isn't i'm the garden. You must have
kept it Then he " ould come in al the
roor. 20 shifting around under the fur
niture and in the partly opened desk
drawers, and then, with the air of a
man who smites his forehead and dis
covers something. he would look in
az iringiy at you and say: Il will
wager hat IL is on the table" lie was
right with his intelligent eye he had
followed your glance. If you attempted
then To conceal the ball. there was an
rud to the work. lie burst into ex.ray-
tgant gayety, jumped after the bail.
followed your least movements and
would not quit you, laughing ener-
petically with his tail.
POnto made me sometimes think that
he was one of those men turned into
dogs. Of whom We read in the fairy
stories. His eyes We're deep, tender and
human. and at times they seemed TO
say: What would you2 l am only a
fOur-foOted beast, but l have a human
heart-a better one than that of many
men. ! am beast. and have suffered
much. / suffer still. because / cannot
express myself in speech and tell YOU
IN those things YOU call words. my fidel-
itv and devotion. Yes. an, yours. and
love you ike dog. Whatever belongs
TO YOU IA secure. Just let anybody
touch -. aad YOU will see"
Eat IsIrto and 1 fell out one day. II
was very unfortunate affair. Only
those. people. who. like myself. believe
bIindly in dogs. will understand me. This
Is what happened: The cook had killed
two CHECKERS. and had gone into the adj
ioinin. pantry to get basket to put the
feathers i'm rs she plucked them. When
she returned To the kitchen she uttered
q shriek-one of the two chickens was
gone. Yet she had been absent but "A
few minutes.
"Nh!" said the cook, refiectively. ''evi-
IDENTIFY some beggar has passed by here
and has taken one of the chickens
through the window"
She looked out of the door in order
to find the suppOsititious beggar, but
there was nobody there. Then for a
moment she thought il must be the dog.
hut she was at once seized with re-
morse.
What. Suspect Ponto? Never! He
would not steal. Why, he would watch
over a leg of mutton al day without