The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-30
SWEET NANCY.

They said If we wanted the goat why
didn't we come and get it? 1t was nice
goat and in every way a most desirable
addition to any family. &c. in the evening
l said to the boy did he want the goat, and
he said you bet!' and Goodness! Let's
hurry up and go before some other fellow
got it, and what would the gang say?
and Gee! Couldn't L drink my coffee when
1 got home? He didn't want any old sup
per. Lets get hustle on and go after
the goat!''
One Of the little fellows who lived with
the goat had said: "Our goat is named
Billy, and he gives milk. he does," and,
arguing from this, the boy thought there
might be revenue in the transaction and
pointed out the beauty of economy Che
turns thrifty on occasion.) The milk would
feed the cats and the dog-a most remark
able dog, grown old in child service VINO
Immediately goes lame when he is pitied
and holds up one perfectly we'll little paw.
Yes, and may be the neighbors would buy
milk, too. Well. and wouldn't ever hurry
up? women are the slowest - and Geo.
whizz! We'd miss that car sure, and some
other kid would get the goat. Mercy
And so, with sore misgivings, l let the boy
lead me forth like lamb to the slaughter
nessl not to wait for that old car 1t
wouldn't be here for the longest. What
did they put goats in the almanac for? Oh,
let's walk. But we waited.
And then it was thus Was it in this
house the little fellows. lived or in this?
What made goats be called that in the very
first for? And what if some other fellow
had got it. Gee, fellow couldn't never
have nothin'l And my faith in prayer has
vanished for the other fellow did not get it.
The boy got it. The little fellows met us
at the door with, "Oh, I say, did you come
for the goat? Well, the other fellow, he's
goin' to take him, cause we thought you
didn't want her." The spokesman said that
and the echo corroborated. But the mother
of the little fellows said the boy should
have it, and not the other fellow, whereat
he grew visibly younger.
The preliminaries being arranged, we
started homeward. There was a suspicious
lack of sorrow in the farewell to Nancy.
But oh, yes, it was a most exemplary goat
We had to walk, though it is miles and
miles from the little fellows home to ours
but the boy is too young to go so far alone.
The harness was broken, so Nancy walked
docilely with a halter about her neck, and
listened complacently TO little bursts of adj
pretty, and my what would the other fol-
lows sayi Bet they wish they had her
That was when we started. Afterward-I
wonder III there is really a compensatory
law-I was glad it was night / am mostly
glad when ii is night Sometimes / wonder
whatever would the world do without its
night, but just to go on, without any be-
tween places of rest, toiling and striving
and chaperoning Lady NancieS. When we
got to the big street with its pleasant homes
and the light streaming out, / gladdei
still that ii was night. / wondered in which
houses lived the beautiful ladies whom l
had met a few days previously at place
where they reaA papers, and the boy
says: Have cake and pink lemonade and
things" l wondered what those beautiful,
they could see the boy and the goat and
me. / put me last, not from surplus mod
esty, but because that was the order of
the parade. The boy, pulling and tugging
by this time Che doesn't swear. thank good
ness), and also sweet Nancy pulling and
tugging, and she who followed gently slim
ulating Nancy'S laggard legs with switch.
And then there was the comforting thought
that perhaps the beautiful ladies had no
enade with goats, and they We're missing
heap out of life anyway. And it couldn't
be helped now. Again was glad it was
night. There was another night, and a kid
that wouldn't goa moonlight night and
rats and dogs and things. I have told
about it until my face has grown black
and my tongue has cleaved to the roof of
we expostulated with Nancy. said It was
getting late, ana come on now, ike q pretty
goat, and then the boy suggested she was
tired, poor thing, and oh, let's sit down and
rest. We said to Sweet Nancy that it was
a nice family she was going to- literary
family. and if she got tired of poems and
things, why, there We're always the editors
little offerings If she didn't object to cold
diet. After time, oh, cycle of time we
came to the avenue with its glare of electric
lights and its audibly smiling pedestrians
and its urchin with his derisive 'ma-a-a''
which Nancy answered f9rlornly. Grit gets
one through most things The boy pulled
and Sweet Nancy pulled. ard I. who fol-
lowed, switched And then the misery of his
position overwhelmed the boy and he cried
He looked at me hopelessly and whimpered:
THE old thing" 1t is not | who am an
..old thing And he would have the goat,
he was reminded And then the car came
and, exhausted I boarded it and left the
boy and the goat to work out their own
salvation. Later oh, much later with
Sweet Nancy peacefully nibbling on the
front lawn and an admiriug group of "the