The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-17
:lloye Shep. and Shep loves Me /:
BY r. A. mitchell.


There was Abe and Sam and Ned and !
myself, all Of whom lived within a
mile OF each other and were inseparo-
bic. While we were out Of school we
were together and when in school we
were thinking Of one another. When
we were told to write compositions on
subjects of our own choice we wrote
about what we loved, most usually Ell
ther a cat or a dog or a horse or
lamb or our swimming hole or the cir
Gus. We were only from six to nine,
and our good teacher did not expect us
to soar higher.
remember one Of the essays was
upon the subject Of a dog called Shep-
herd, the name being abbreviated to
Shep. There was sentence in it that
I have never forgotten. ] delight to
nurse 1t in my heart as an epicure will
roll rare wine on the tongue. 1t was
this: II know dog by the name Of
Shep. love Shcp, and Shcp loves
me-" Could there be anything more
touching? Alas, how rare, how brief,
is real affection Of human being
for an inferior animal! 1t can never
be as real as in childhood.
We boys all lived along road that
led toward a city. An omnibus passed
every morning to take people to town,
and l can hear today the bugle notes
that served for signal ringing out
clearly as Josh drove by, picking up
oil
and many free ride he gave us. One
OF the regular passengers used to stand
at his gate every morning when the
stage was late with his watch in his
hand. Josh used to Gull him Colonel
Minute, but his name was Colonel
Rlnggold, veteran OF the Mexican
war. He had been shot all to pieces,
being minus an eye, an ear, leg and
an arm 1 do believe that the only
spur that forced Josh to keep any sort
of time was the thought of the colonel,
watch i'm hand, standing at the gate,
his single eye darting between 1t and
the driver.
We boys were in great terror Of Colo
mel Ringgold. We told each other aw-
| full stories about him which we invent
ed ourselves, but which in time be-
came real TO us. One was that his
house was fortified with an unlimited
number of guns, pistols, sabers, and
the like. 1t was averred by one boy
that he had killed a man with his
wooden leg. There is no one like a
boy for making real things out of
| dreams, and all we had to do was to
fancy these things, tell them to each
other and they had happened.
Colonel Rlnggold was the owner of
the dog Shcp. Shep was a collie, and
the collie Is a very intelligent dog.
Shep stood, as l remember him, about
two feet high, his color being a mix.
ture OF white and brown. During the
night Shep was expected to be "in" by
s o'clock, but during the day he was
free to romp with us boys. 1 think he
| loved Ned best. That was because
Ned loved him best, for Ned, you know,
was the boy who wrote the compost
ton mentioning Shep so affectionately
We were all very careful that Shep
should not get into trouble. first, be.
cause we loved him and, second, be-
cause we feared that his owner would
blot us from the face Of the earth II
any harm came to the dog while In
our company. Many bigger dog we
beat Off when he was driving our com
rade' TO the wall.
| One afternoon when we were all TO.
gcther teaching Shep to jump n rope
we saw the colonel coming toward us,
walking with the limp occasloned by
his wooden leg. Every boys heart
sank into his boots. Had the whole
United States army come down on us
we could not have been more terrified.
! What caused us the chief alarm was
the thought that he was coming to or
der us in future to leave Shep out of
our fraternity. I can see the old man
now making his way across corn
field, trying to walk erect, his stern
countenance making mp for his dllapl.
dated body. We would have all run,
but we were paralyzed.
"What do you boys mean by stealing
my dog" he asked In his stenlorlaD
voice.
scarcely distinguished what he
said. thought it something like.
"Column forward; guide right
Charge" Every boy was too fright
ened to answer.
"Some one is Keeping him nights"
added the colonel. "Whoever is doing
1t shall be put in the-I mean de-
serves to be punished" Again there
was silence, ended by little trem.
bling voice. 1t was Ncd's.
"Fm the one who has been keeping
Shep" he said. II have locked him
in, and he has come up and slept on
my bed"
"You locked him in! Don't you
know that he is not your dog?'
''Yes, sir, knew that"
"Well, don't you ever do such O
thing again. want my dog in the
house nights. Eight o'clock is taps
for him-S o'clock precisely, not five
minutes after or five minutes be-.
fore 8, but 8, AS a punishment you"
addressing Ned, "are forbidden to
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