The record-union., 1899-07-21
MIR. NUTS DOG NED.

Mr.. and Mrs. Mutt have a small farm,
a lot of children and a nice dog.
Mr.. Mutt works the farm himself,
and his two big boys, Tom and Harry
help him. Mrs. Mutt and Mary, the
eldest girl. do the milking and churn-
ing; the next daughter, Nell, feeds the
chickens, and the three younger chill
dren, George, Lucy and Kate, hunt
school hours.
Mr.. Nuts dog, Ned. watches and
takes care of the whole family in his
vigilant dogs way.
Ned is brown cocker spaniel, and
the most cheerful, wiggling, waggling
dog in the world. He follows Mr.. Mutt
wherever he goes, blowing, planting
hoeing or harvesting, follows the boys
to pasture with the COWS, watches
Mary at the milking, and runs all over
the place, barking and finding when
the others hunt for eggs. He runs to
the postofi1ce, fetches the evening pa,
per, escorts the children to school, and
then hurries home to help Mrs. Mutt to
churn; or else, on off days, sits in the
sun, on the hill, f1icking his tail and
snapping at flies. waiting for school to
be over when he can race off to meet
his friends. In these resting moments
he is Joined by small. young, speckled
hen, who never leaves him, if she can
help it.
OF course the Mutt children love Ned
dearly and cannot say enough in his
praise. They think he might learn to
read, he is SO clever, and they know
that he can count.
This Is how they found it out and
also the way he won the friendship OF
the little, young. speckled hen
The little, young, speckled hens
mother, the old, big, speckled hen, had
a way of stealing her nest and hiding
the eggs and therefore had to be watch
ed. Once upon time Mrs. Mutt and
Mary missed her for many days, and
even the children failed to find her.
One day they heard a great cluck-
cluck- -clucking in the yard, and who
should come marching along, with head
high in the air and feet hardly touch.
ing the ground, for pride, but Mrs.
Speckle Hen; and huddled around her,
tripping and tumbling over grass, a
weeney,-- fluffy brood of chicks with
pink feet And legs, beady eyes and vel.
low down for feathers.
The children fairly danced when they
saw her. they were so glad. They
screamed at the top of their voices,
Mother, mother come and see, here is
Old Speckle with ten chicks!"
Mrs. Mutt and Mr.. Mutt, Tom and
Harry, Mary and Nell. came hurrying
out to see the runaway hen come home
with brood. Ned came too, but with
look of grave concern. and while the
others counted and admired the littla
chicks. that knowing fellow also sniff,
ed around the little newly f1edged crea,
lures, while Mother Speckle spread out
her wings Grossly and tried to drive
him away.
Yes, ten chicks" the Mutt children
counted. ''Speckle has ten chicks
Where can she have hidden the nest?"
Ned cooked up his ears at ''ten
chicks cast scornful look at the
stately. mother. and, then dashed off
to neglected stump in the far corner
of the stone WALL
Presently he came back with an egg
in his, mouth, hid it gently in Mrs.
Nuts apron, and then jumped about,
wagging his tail and barking joyously.
The egg Ned had brought was not a
touched it with her finger, and it was
warm; it stirred in her apron and then
the tiny tip of a yellow beak was seen,
pecking at the SHE'LL from the inside
little. live chick was there trying to
get out into the great world
Mrs. Mutt put the egg is cotton, near
the fire, and peck. peck sounded
the little beak, and break, break
oh
weeny, fluffy chick with pink feet and
legs, beady eyes, and yellow down for
feathers, and Mrs. Mutt called to her
children to come and see "Speckle's
eleventh chick" Then they all, went
and put it under Mother Speckles
wings and she brooded it with the
others. All the time Ned watched them
intently, licking his mouth and yawn-
ing, wagging his tail and following the
chicken jealously, even to the soft
cover of its jealous mothers wings.
The founding never grew as big as
the other chicks, and was called "Neds
chicken" Ned knew it from the others,
and would fetch it tenderly in his
mouth to the house. from the barn
when told go fetch your chicken!'
And the chicken learned to watch for
Ned and followed him everywhere.
The Mutt children make a special pet
Of Ned's chicken. They say, if you
had not watched Old Speckle when she
stole her nest and laid her eggs in the
neglected stump, and if he had not
counted the eleven eggs and known
that one was missing when Speckle
came home with ten chicks-then Old
Specklei would have forgotten the poor
little odd one, in her pride over the
ten. and "Ned's chick would have
stayed in the stump, in the shell, and
have never seen the light of day. nor
known the very great fun of scratch
ing up the flower seeds in Mary's gar
den.-Olive Risley Seward in Little
Folks.
THE LIAR ABROAD.