The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-28

Some members Of his masters family
were on the veranda when he arrived,
late one afternoon. Evidently he had
travelled far. He limped, And his
ears-those one-time cocky ears-and
his tail-that one-time strongly curv-
| ing tail--were limp and pen lent His
coat of hair--once so rich and long
| and oily-was scant and dry and
straight! YEARLY, with head hung
| between his fore-legs, with his tail
| dragging the pavement, Jack entered
the yard approached the steps and
entered the veranda. Mournfully, he
| looked once at his old friends on the
porch from lack-lustre eyes and
then-with a despairing Whlne-he
laid an object at the feet or MS mis-
tress. bone dry and old and cracked
by exposure to the sun! 1t was worth
less as food; it was a sign! It was as
| though to say:
Here am mo longer worthy to
be called your dog-come back! Al
! low that / may remain a space and
nose a living from your trash-heap!
1t was the eternal verify of the
parable of the prodigal son exemph-
field again in the act of a. sad-eyed
dog!
And. though the "fatted calf" was
duly killed, Jack has never recovered
from the disgrace. 1t is plain to see
| that the change in his nature is fun
1 damental, that the backbone of his
vitality is broken. Physically, he has
almost recovered. His hair has grown
again luxuriously, his barrel has
rounded out, his pointed ears some
times rise straight up like those of
fox at attention. But the daredevil
| light in his eye has faded to a DUH
and hopeless glow; his bark is per-
| functory and void of enthusiasm; the
trimmings and leapingS and Wanton
wallowings on the grass have ceased.
/ Jack has played the game and lost and,
gentleman that he is. he is waiting
tragically to carry the sense of his
folly Enlightened and unforgotten to
| the grave!
| It is a lamentable fact that the aver
| age tprodigal" takes up the role be-
cause. like Jack. he is fine and we'll
| bred dog, and that, once returned, he
| is "thenceforward fit for no great
work, either of good or evil" This of
course refers to the real prodigal. the
man who has played the game earn
estly and lost who comes back sin
cerely to eat from the servants table
and to wait to hide his shame in
death The weak fraud. who banks
on the home and the folks" as the
harbor to which he may turn in
storm, who comes back only to rest
a space between iniquities, and who
ceases to make his annual return
only when there is no harbor left, Wa
all know. That he is always received
is merely one of the more beautiful
of the manifestations of human ma
ture; he is not worth saving" in the
first place and he would not permit it
were such a, thing possible.
Al. L, rtiN
casts the die and misses his throw,
who has in him the pride and the wit
and the talent that might have brought
success, comes home, like Jack, with
his head and his tail down. and the
backbone of his ambition broken.
And the pity of it is that once at home
again he stays, purposeless, effortless,
nursing pride that keeps him help
less!-he who could have done, who
might do, so much, shackled literally
by the very virtue that is in him, the
very worth of character that has sur,
vived the wreck!
Christ in his parable taught the
goodness of the father; he was silent
as to the effect of the reception on
the son.
Did the latter wander again when
his stomach was filled and he had
money in his purse and clothes on his
every one of us has known, merely re-
main in the house. a tragic picture
of lost chances and crushed hopes,
coiorlessly good, sitting in the sun
shine smiling with wistful sadness on
the children of his brother who play
ed about his feet. watching with lack
lustre eye the march of events as one
apart-waiting, like Jack to carry his
folly to the grave?
-
OF course the problem is, not how
to receive the prodigal-that comes
from the mothers womb-but how to
prevent his being one.
And, in that connection. the hippant
tale of the puppy and the rubber shoe
will bear watching.
For, at any rate, and sadly enough,
the prodigal dog is a much rarer
ora ptitv than the prOdipal mani