Evening star., 1907-11-09
JOBSON GETS A PURP
<< A MUSING little codgers, those
n Boston bulls aren't they?"

observation. He was watching a small
boy fooling with a Boston bull pup ou
| on the sidewalk.
| ''Um-ye-eh.'' replied Mrs. Jobson, un
| enthusiastically. Mrs. Jobson vaguely per
| ceived what was coming.
| Blamed amusing-that's what they
are" said Mr.. Jobson. "Clipperish kind
| Of dog. too. a Boston bull. Compact
solid. sensible. neat and doggy-doggsh
not wheezy, pampered, mollycoddled lap
NUTS. but su-e-enough, honest-Injun dog
dogs. Kind I like
| "Ye-eh," said Ms. Jobson again Mrs
Jobson can't warm up at all when she has
a huneh of impending trouble.
| Come to think of it, went on Mr.
Jobson, still watching the pup out in front
with sort of fascinated interest. "IG
| ike to have a purp around these works
m bug about dogs, anyhow. Like 'en
| all-mutts, yaller dogs, curs-any old kind
OF dogs Wish had a dog right now"
Mrs. Jobson, not having anything te
| say. remained commentless.
| Been a deuce of long time since
W. We had pup. isn't it?'' inquired Mr.
Jobson.
Yes. it has been.' said Mrs Jobson
| hndlng her tongue when the soliloquizins
| of Mr.. Jobson took the form of questions
Il remember. the last one we had you
| sWore you'd never have another dog with
in thousand miles of you
| Mr.. Jobson turned from the window and
regarded Mrs. Jobson with grave distrust
Who? Me? l said that?" And Mr.
| Jobson shook his head sadly, as if Sc
cretly repining over the state of Mrs. job
sons mind. Il said that. hey? The way
| | love dogs?"
Well said Mrs. Jobson. you know
what bad luck we've always had with the
pups we've got. And they were always
| 50 hard to bring up. All of ou. pups died
of dstemper, you know
Well, you may think that I know
that" put in Mr.. Jobson; but I don't
know it, all the same. I'm not an accusa-
| tory person in ordinary circumstances.
| but. at this distance from those transac-
| tons, permit me to say that always en-
tertained well-founded suspicion that
| you deliberately poisoned all of the dog
pets that 1 brought into this house.
| madame"
Now. you know that's absurd" hastily
| replied Mrs. Jobson. Il always was very
tond OF the poor little things. but they al
ways ove-ate themselves, and then they
| had fits. and don't you remember how
afraid you were that the last puppy we
| had was getting hydrophobia, and how
you-'
Who? Me afraid of a puppy with hy-
drophobia?" said Mr.. Jobson. smiling
sorrowfully for the condition of Mrs. Job
sons 1ntellectuals Madame, YOU are
overwrought. Calm yourself. I beseech
YOU. IN other words. get next to your
self You are deaming You are talk
ing like some drugged person. Me afraid
or puppy with hydrophobia. hey? Es-
pecially when I've always known that
there never was any such canine disease
madame, I pray you"
And another thing" went on Mrs
Jobson. you must remember how ter
rioly destructive these poor little dears
OF puppies always are. and how they
Just can't help but bite and tear every
th1ng to pieces that they can get their
teeth on. and how the last pup we had
ate nearly all Of the upholstery off one
OF the parlor chairs. and how"
And how he ate all of the plaster
off Of the walls, and then all OF the
exposed gaspipe, and then all Of the
gas fixtures. and then all of the zinc
lining of the sink. and all of the metal
work on the stationary washtubs-
Mr. Jobson. Sure. l remember It,
Then he ate up all the flooring. and then
all OF the roofing, and the first thing we
knew, why. we were living in the open
the Jobson family that had been eaten
out-of-doors by three pound setter pup
and the London Society of Psychical Re
search had long session devoted to the
study of the question as to whether four
hundred and twenty cormorants were in
habiting the frame of the setter pup.
and them
'Oh, WELL" said Mrs Jobson "of course.
you don't remember things. especially
when you don't want to, but 1 do know
that you've said, every time you've yield
ed to whimsical and momentary en-
thusiasm over pups, that the next
time
Whimsical and momentary enthusiasm
where did you uncoil all of that philo-
logical dope?" broke in Mr.. Jobson Il
Qtdn know that bo
affords you most of your mental pabu-
lem. used them kind of langwiches. How
ever. wherever you got 1t or get it, mad
anne. let me distinctly and emphatically
inform you OF one thing: I am going to
have pup around this dump. Got that I?
Pup. pup: My pup. Pup for Jobson
esquire. And. madame, if you don't like
my pup-well. to employ the expressive If
somewhat tarnished vernacular of the
pave. you can lump him. That's all
And let me make this additional crack If
crack you want to call it: There's some-
thing wrong about a woman that don't
like little creatures-little birds. bugs
dogs or chinch bugs, when it comes to
that It's instructive for the right, nor
NAL kind of a woman to like little crea-
lures, especially little dogs. and the
woman who doesn't isn't all there. That's
all I've got to say"
Mr.. Jobson made good his statement
He brought home the dog 1t was a Bos-
eyes. usual screw tail. usual needle teeth,
usual lonesomeness, usual grief and wrath
over being separated from it's immediate
maternal ancestor. Mr.. Jobson had sep
arated himself from fifty iron men at a
dog store that ternOon in order to come
into possession of the pup.
Mrs. Jebson really liked dogs AS soon
as Mr. Jobson brought the pup into the
house she sat down on the floor of the
sitting room and played with it for an
hour. Then she fixed up some warm
milk and stuffed the pup. Then she got
out some old rags and played tag with
the pup. Mrs. Jobson figured that, if
she were going to have any fun with that
pup she might as well have 1t right from
the jump for she didn't anticipate that
the pup would be around the Jobson dom
icile for any great length of time. Mr..
Jobson. delighted with the pup, stood
around, twiddling the keys and change
in his pocket, while Mrs. Jobson fooled
with the pup.
He expat:ated upon what a shrewd bar
gain he'd driven with the dog man in
order to get the pup for fifty bucks.
The pup slept. that first night, or part
of 1t. on a sofa pillow in a closet In the
Jobsons' ROOM Even that close con-
tiSuity to its new master and mistress
didn't appease the lonesomeness of the
pup, however. He wept for two hours,
and then the Jobsons had to take him
into their bed. where he behaved badly,
but not word in anger did Mr.. Jobson
say about the pup.
When Mr.. Jobson came home from the
office the next evening he found Mrs. job
son standing ruefully over the fragments
of new hat she had got only a few days
before. The pup had brabbed the hat
from out of half omen ban6bpY and