The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-04-27

which there was such a great cutlery
on the part of dog owners not so long
ago., has already become virtually a
dead letter, enforced more in the breach
than in the observance. A good many
| persons who do not possess dogs
themselves and are therefore not to be
considered dog partisans are rather
gla. 'at the ~dog-muzzling ordinance
T.. lapscd.
T.. ice caused tragedies and
heartbreakS a.nong the canine haut ton.
1t spread dislnay and grief among the
%jeunesse doree of dogdom. The ordi-
nance, in it's practical application, gave
the roaming cur a %palpable edge on the
patrician dog. Had Julius Caesar been
bucked and gagged, he were no better
warrior than the most loutish water
carrier among his legions. La Ma
poleon'S olive countenance been fitted
with a strap, the n~oisiest brawler in
his braggart battalions had been as
willy in counsel and magnetic in action
as the Corsican. Nature provided dogs
with teeth, just IS it provided pugi-
lists with tongues and typewriters, or
barkeepers with bungstarters, as
weapons of defense. And it gave all
dogs teeth alike and impartially-mon-
grels and thoroughbreds. But the
mighty hand of the law-to employ a
-frazzled OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES in. and
o away the h~igil-grade NUTS only
method of defense, thereby giving the
hobo dog, that remained unmuzzled, be-
cause, being a nomad, he was pos
sessed by nobody, a cherished opportu-
nifty to lick the patrician dog right out
Of his hoofs and hide.
In Washington, however, there are a
number Of owners Of high bred dogs
who, because the dog-muzzling ordi-
nance still stands, conscientiously muz-
zle their dogs, if only for the purpose
Of cleaving to the line Of scrupulous
citizenship.
One of these still-muzzled dogs is a
bull terrier, the domicile of whose ex-
ceedingly conscientious owner is on S
street, between Seventh and Four
tenth, which is precise enough. Be-,
fore the dog-nuzzling ordinance came
along this bull terrier used to be the
bully of his neighborhood. His pedigree
is spread on the Almanac de Gotha Of
Dogdom In extra heavy-faced type. He
is a hummer Of a fighting dog, and as
soon as he turned up on S street a few.
years ago all of the dogs in his princi-
panty made obeisance to hin and
tacitly acknowledged that he was their
overload and the entire works.
In return, the bull terrier let them
alone. All that he demanded was their
unquestioning fealty, and he got it. OF
course, however, this nabob among bull
terriers required exercise. He got it in
a mild, comfortable way, by eating up
all Of the stray, unpossessed, hobo dogs
that happened to slim by his front
gate.
He would sit on his front door steps
licking his chops and summing him
self and waiting for something soft to,
paddle along thai would permit of his
taking a nice, easy constitutional, Then
some Wretched, skulking cur, unawarei
OF the danger lurking in that neighbour
mood, would come nosing along the
sidewalk. The princely bull terrier
would coolly hop the front fence, re-,
move q few pounds of pelt from the
o%utcast. and then jump back to his
yard, lie down n blink complacently
in the sun, entirely satisfied with HIM
self.
One day the bull terrier put this trick
over the plate on the unoffending car
cass of a dog of any old breed-a little
Newfoundland, some shepherd, per-
haps a soupcon of mastiff-that I'M
Warily happened by his gate. The out
cast took his thrashing meekly, and
went his mournful, directionless way,
limping.
Not very long after that, the dog.
muzzling ordinance came in, II tho
S street bull terrier had to stand for
the facial strap, his wne being d
conscientious man, as stated. The dog
has been muzzled ever since, in spite
OF the non-enforce1nent Of the nluzzling
law, because the owner Of the terrier
believes that ordinances were made to
stick, n not to be smashed by nom
believers in them.
One raw morning last week-just
about two years after. the date of the
thrashing he had administered to the
mongrel that had a little Of New
~foundland, some shepherd and a bit of
mastiff in him-the S street bull terrier
sat on his front steps, trying to wipe
his muzzle off with his paws and look
was on to stay, and was not to be wiped
off. The dog took a gloomy front-paw
stretch n walked out Of his front
gate with his tail down.
1t happened that just as the bull
terrier walked out of his gate the part
Observation-Disclosures : collie
hobo that he had filed his teeth on
nearly two years before peeked eau
tiously around the corner fence. At
his first glance the o dog only got a
rear view of the bull terrier, and he
looked as If he was going to bolt for it
right quick.
The writer hereof lays claim to only
the lowest possible order of magma
tion-but if that wayfaring dogs eyes
didn't seem to twinkle with ghoulish
glee, and if he didn't appear to pull
himself together and to lick his chops
with ~revengeful anticipation, there's a
mistake somewhere.
For half a minute, While he peeked
around the corner of the fence, to
max perfectly certain tina the bull
terrier was securely muzzled, the out
cast might, from the joy thai glowed
in his eyes have been thought to be
saying unto himself, Here's where I've
got a pat full to that stuck-up NUTS
two pairs, and what I'm a-going to do
to him-well, watch me, that's all"
Then the hobo dog took it on the
run, making three jumps of it, and lit
square on top of the bull terriers back.
The bull terrier was quick to recover.
blu recovering wasn't the thing.
He yelped and growled and tried to
put up the old scarifying bluff, but he
didn't have the cards.
The wayfarer with the long memory
took it comfortable and easy, and in
side Of something less than two min
utes he had made the bull terrier look
like ten tin taels of Tientsin.
He removed chunks from the bull
terrier. 1t was all mitigating. with the
wayfarer doing all the business. The
only trouble was there was no gong to
save the bull terrier. He had to take
Eff% a q s. ithno ma with ~ - -