The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-05

there, entered Immediately upon an
acquaintance with her which was dcs-
tined to ripen into ne'er-to- be-for-
gotten friendship.
For three months she fingered with
them, growing each day more lova'le
and lengthening what had at first
been talked of as temporary stay
into a visit which should end sometime
in the dim future, nobody cared to say
when:
When repeated advertising brought
no response, it was at last 6ecreed that
adore her as they might, two dogs
were one too many in a city house.
Soft-eyed, confiding little Dot, must
accordingly be sent off to a friend in
Brattleboro, Vermont whose affec-
ton for the whole canine tribe would
assure for her cordial welcome and
a permanent abode. Straining her eyes
sorrowfully through a Slated box for
last look at the friends who had
made her sojourn among them a happy
epoch in her little life, she departed,
all unknowing that ahead of her lay
greater joys than her dog-min could
possibly comprehend
AS the world knows, Brattleboro is
the American home of Rudyard
Kipling, where he was, at the time
of this story, living at the farm
of his brother-in-law, Mr.. Bales
tier, pending the completion of his own
residence. Little Dot had not been
many weeks with her new master
before unbounded admiration for her
on the part of Kipling and his brother
in-law caused him to graciously pres
ent her to them, and she was then
transferred to the Balestier farm as her
future home.
Here she won her way into the hearts
of the author and his family even as
she had done among her Worcester
friends, and not long time passed
before she was as firmly established
at the farm as the family horses and
the dogs with longer pedigrees than
her own. She found here another baby
to engross her attention, and the Kip
ling child and his nurse came to look
to her as a constant attendant upon
their daily airings. She slept in the
same stable with "Rud and Rick"
"Muldoon'' and the Deacon" since
made famous as characters in "A
Walking Delegate
She danced joyfully about their feet
as they gambolled in the back pas
ture." She trotted behind the buggy
which Marcus Aurelius Antoninus"
drew sedately along the country roads
Perchance, she heard the Walking
Delegate" expound his theories on
and even had views Of
her own upon the subject. Be that as it
may, she waxed strong and beautiful,
and when another spring made the
world glad again, she became the
mother of a litter of puppies, lovely lit
tie miniatures of herself
The advent of her children, however,
to cast a gloom upon her
spirits, to arouse within her fond little
heart a suspicion that all mankind
were seeking to harm her offspring.
With Jealous eyes she guarded them, 80
in her vigilance that no hand
was ever allowed to touch them. Did
she, perhaps, harbor a mistaken sus
picion that the world renowned author
and his family were less worthy of her
love and confidence than her long-lOst
friends in Massachusetts? So it would
appear, for one day came the Worces-
ter newspaper man, his wife and small
daughter to visit in Brattleboro, and
with the interest of old association they
sought out Dot at the Balestier farm.
The first sound of the familiar child
voice calling across the fields aroused
in loyal little Dot the lurking memory
Of a by-gOne day, and she was away
like shot to leap about her old friends
with frantic whines and caresses, and
finally with proud head, to lead them to
her basket Of treasures, which she now
suffered TO be lifted and fondled with
out a protest.
But her joy was short-lived. Her Wis
itors soon departed, and one by one her
puppies began to disappear 1t meant
nothing to her that two of them travel
Cd across the ocean with Mr.. Kipling's
father the one to find home in Eng
and, the other to journey to PARKWAY
India. She missed her children and that
was all she cared. She took to wander
ing dejectedly about the place calling
for her lost babes Soon the
also left Brattleboro and Dot
was more lonesome and restless than
ever. Shortly afterwards she. too, APP
)arently decided to swell the list of
departures and betook herself to parts
Unknown.
All search proved unavailing, and it
was quite by accident that her dead
Jody was discovered long after buried
n a haymow.
How or when she met her death has
been purely a matter of conjecture. 1t
seems not amiss to suppose that grief
or her children preyed upon her till
she wandered away to die of a broken
leart.
R@=..=-s===s-=z
Furs carefully packed away and
stored during the summer months for
a very moderate sum at Boston Store. |