The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-26
A DOG NAMED DIMPLE

bring herself up after her own pattern
without tho slightest regard to tho cutting
Of the cloth. Nature had meant her for 9
kitten girl or dove girl, anything that
was made up of curves and softness, while
she preferred to be composition of angles.
Therefore, in place Of dancing, flirting
and enjoying life after the manner Of a
girl with big blue, oonfding eyes, whose
dimplcs and freckles seemed made for kiss
ing, she propped up book to read as she
swallowed her hasty meals, apart from the
| family II possible, studied from morning
| till night, frightened the men by her cru
dition, despised pets, played tennis simply
for exercise, rode bicycle SO as to get
| quickly from one place to another and
made all girlkind feel themselves mere
puppets and dolls
But now had the mighty fallen. Eu-
genia had purchased a dog and given it
the name of-Dimple. No wonder that,
not daring to jeer, VIC were silent.
However, when the dog arrived, we were
obliged to admit that he justified his
name. OF all the dear, rolly poly little dog
babies that ever saw Dimple was the
most fascinating, and the very first wag Of
his tail excused Eugenia's backsliding.
Not that she realized her lapse from the
intellectual. She held and petted and ca
ressed the small object as If 1t had been
her daily occupation ever since tho day Of
her leaving sohool-that time at which
girls are apt to develop their weaknesses
and was sublimely unconscious Of our
smiles and gibes Eugenia, flushed and
intent, her pretty, yellow hair twisting it.
self into Thousands Of tiny rings, her brows
knitted, one hand smoothing the fur of the
four footed baby, the other busily engaged
In writing out her paper on medieval po-
itical economy, was sight for the gods
when Dimple grows up" aunty had
foolishly said one day, apropos of nothing,
and Eugenia had turned upon her with
lofty scorn and informed her that the en-
gaging morsel, at that moment busy in
the demolition of one Of my newest and
longest evening gloves, "would never grow
any more" the man from whom she
bought him having assured her that he had
quite completed that part Of his education.
Which doubling, we were nevertheless 81
lent.
Two or three days after this mistake Of
aunty's, Dan came out to dinner and deep
~ annoyed Eugenia by picking up the soft
mass of fur by his neck and remarking
when this fellow gets over being a
puppy, it'll le quite dog Eugenia.
"He is NOT puppy, Dan, no Is full
grown" our cousin responded icily, and
then added with some asperity, IT have
no sort Of tolerance for puppies-of any
kind"
My brother threw back his handsome
head and laughed low, but heartily.
MAY inquire the age of your full
grown dog, my cousin?'
He was six months old when I bought
him two months ago."
Eight months oldl You dear little
goose If he is one-h half that shall be as
tonished. He was probably just weaned
when you got him, and these mastiffs"-
HE isn't mastiff."
''Indeed! And what Is hep
"A Sicilian poodle"
"O-o-hr'
The peal of laughter which greeted this
digniflod response was quite too much for
Eugenia. She picked up her dog and de-
parted, red with Indignation, leaving Dan,
the only person In the world who ever
dared to tease her, to apologize to aunty,
DO by her forgiven, and, fear, encouraged
to repeat his offense.
From that time We noticed that Eugenia
was more or less uneasy. Once I caught
her holding aunty's yard measure suspi.
ciously near Dimple, but she dropped it at
once upon my approach. After few
weeks there was NO use Disgusting the
fact. That full grown dog was rapidly in
creasing in size-indeed, he seemed to en-.
dryrt c1y I,p,, r,,I ,lvx,
full size bigger than when he went to
sleep.
1t began with his legs, which so extend
ed themselves that, had you seen him in q
collection of freaks, you would have sus-
pected him of being on stills; then the lit
tie round body, so absurdly mounted on its
thin supports, began to swell out.
Eugenia grew very grave. She would
sit for hours over her books glancing fur.
lively from time to time at Dimple, DOING
by her side-for he had grown much too
large for her lap-as If they had never been
introduced. One day she forgot to go to
her lecture at the proper hour, so busy was
she trying to induce Dimple to crowd him
self into the sumptuous basket which had
been purchased for his babyhood. So care
worn did she become, indeed, that we nev-
er alluded to the dog s growth. He was fed
and how he did eat; he was watered to
the extent Of several gallons day; he was
housed at night, in kennel, alasl for no |
scorned the larger basket that had been
quietly provided, but no one ever spoke Of
his size.
As the months rolled on the singular |
happiness Of Dimples name became posi-
lively embarrassing, for though aunty and |
l could have laughed over it and made it |
perfect godsend in the way of spur to |
languishing conversation, Eugenia, feeling
that she had been duped, regarded it as SO
keen modification that we avoided the
subject with terror
What has become of your pretty little
puppy, Miss Eugenia?" asked one unwary
swain, and, rs If in answer, the door was
pushed open and in stalked great, lean,
long legged, big bodied, solemn dog, wag-
cling his tail slowly. He walked up to
laid his head on her Knee then
turned and winked at the questioner. Oh,
yes, he did; he winked deliberately, then
raised one huge paw and put 1t down on
shoulder with an air of patron
tzing proprietorship that was positively
It was too much for my cous-
in. She fled precipitately, but not in time
to avoid the astonished exclamation:
"You don't mean to say that-monster
is Dimple2' Il
That moment settled Eugenias fate.
The masculine nature had asserted itself,
and Dimple-that absurd name-had prac-
tically said mildly, but firmly: "Come,
have had enough of this nom
sense. You bought me, you took me for
better, for worse If you meant to have q
plaything and have found master, SO
much the better-or-worse-for you. One
thing you may underestimate do not mean
to be ignored any longer" And he wasn't
From that public claiming Of her inten-
tion dated her subjugation.
Eugenia would shut herself up in her
room to study. Dimple would come to
her door and knock with his tail. Eugenia
would take no notice Of him. Then DIM
pie would scratch, not gentle, pleading
little scratch, but deep, determined goug-
Ing of aunty's pretty woodwork. Then
Dimple would howl, such howl-long