Mexico Missouri message., 1903-03-05
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The Work of the Puppy

Mr.. John Preston was in a dlscon.
tented and uncertain frame OF mind.
He told himself a dozen times over
that he had been very badly treated;
that life was a blank.
Mr.. John Preston had been (and
still was, for the matter Of that hon
-estly In love with little Lucy Minton.
But there had come a time when
John wanted his way, and Lucy knew
that she meant to have hers. John
Preston had gone OFF in a rage-and
had cooled FIVE minutes afterward,
when Il was too late.
II never want to see you again-it
has all been a mistake" Miss Minton
had declared. 81 sincerely hope, for
your own sake, that you will find
some one who will understand you"
There are quite a number Of people
in this world ready to be sympathetic
on an emergency; when the emer'
geDcy comes you wonder why you
haven't thought Of them, and begin to
see virtues in them they never before
possessed.
There was Miss Clara Harcourt, for
instance. True, she was reported to
have a temper, but Clara Harcourt
thought we'll of him; there was much
in that
During three days Mr.. John Pres.
ton thrust out of his mind the image
of Lucy Minton and resolutely held
before him that of Clara Harcourt. On
that third evening he came out of his
office into the raw air, and thought
for a moment what O hideous place
the city was.
He came to a long, narrow street,
with various articles hanging outside
the shops for sale, and with other
streets opening from it. Wandering
saimlessly and stopping now and then
to look at the shops, he came to one
the window of which was fitted with
small cages holding birds. From in
side came noise of barking and yelp-
ing, mingled with the twitter of many
birds.
And that was where he saw the
puppy. The puppy was not associated
in any way with ordinary puppies, or
even ordinary dogs; he had a cage to
himself And as John Preston stop
ped to look at the shop his eyes were
on a level with those of the puppy.
He was a nondescript sort Of fellow,
that puppy. In a word, he may be said
TO have been all head, like species
of hairy tadpole, and to have had no
legs to speak of.
Mice dawg for a lady, sir" sug
gested a man in his shirt sleeves, who
Iounged out through the doorway at
that moment. les a 'andsome dawg.
that"
81 should scarcely have called him
handsome" said John Preston, with a
smile.
You take i'm in your 'ands, sir"
urged the man, opening the cage, and
hauling out the puppy unceremonious.
1y. Feel Is teeth, sir"
Not desiring to appear an amateur
Mr.. John Preston felt his teeth; and
incidentally, the puppy, not to be out
done in courtesy, felt" Mr.. Preston's
Anger.
On the man urging again that this
vas really a very good dog Mr.. Pres
ton remembered that Miss Clara Har
court had once said that she loved
dogs: this should be a propltiatory gift
an excuse for calling that night.
So the puppy was bundled uncere
ANONYMOUSLY into a basket, and fastened
down with a skewer, as though he haC
been so much meat; the price wal
paid and Mr.. John Preston walked
away with him, wondering a little
Before he had gone a hundred yards
Why he had bought him at all.
He wondered still more, during tn,