Connecticut western news., 1909-04-08
: Love Shep, and Shep Loves Ma
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By F. A. MITCHELL.
\ Story of 0 Boy and 0 Dog.

love to think Of those happy Gays now fa@ agone WhIn we were boys. There was .lLc ard Sam and Ned ard myself. all cf whom lived witli.n a mile Cf each other and were in5eDara ble. While we were out of school We were togethcr and when in school we were thinking of one another. When we were told to write compositions Cn subjects of our own choice We wrote about what we loved, most usually ci- ther d cat or q dog or hor.ie CT lamb CT our swimming hole or the cir GUS. We were only from six to nine, and cur m0Cd teacher did not expect us to scar higher.
 remember one of the essays was upon the subject of a dog called Shep- he1d. the name being abbreviated to Ghep. There was a sentence in it that I have never forgotten. l delight to nurse it in my heart as an cpicurc will roll rare wine on the tongue. 1t was this: 'I know q deg by the name of Shep. I love Shep. and Shep loves me-" Could there be anything more touching? Alas, how rare, how brief. is real affection of a human being for an inferior animal. It can never be as real as in childhood.
 We boys all lived along a road that led toward a city. An omnibus passed every morning to take people to town, and I can hear today the buGle notes that served for signal ringing out clearly as Josh drove by, picking up the passengers. We all knew Josh, and many a 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 hard. Josh used to call him Colonel Minute. but his name was Colonel Ringgold. a veteran of the Mexican war He had been shot all to pieces, being minus an eye, an ear, leg and an arm. I do believe that the only spur that forced Josh to keep any sort of time was the thought of the colonel, watch in hand, standing at the gate, his single eye darting between it and the driver
 We boys were i'll great terror of Colo nel 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 RinggOld was the owner of the dog Shep. Shep was collie, and the collie is a very intelligent dog. Shep stood, as 1 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 8 o'clock, but during the day he was free to romp with us boys. I think he loved Ned best. That was because Ned loved him best, for Ned, you know, was the boy who wrote the compost tiOn mentioning Shep so affectionatcly.
 We were all very careful that Shep should not get into trouble, first, be- cause we lCved him and, second, be- blot us from the face of the earth if any harm came to the dog while in our company. Many a bigger dog we beat off when he was driving our com- rade to the wall
 One afternoon when we were all to- gether teaching Shep to jump a rope we saw the colonel coming toward us, walking with the limp occasioned 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 a corn field, trying to walk erect, his stern countenance making up for his diapi- dated body. We would have all run, but we were paralyzed.
 What do you boys raean by stealing my dog" he asked in his stentorian voice.
 I scarcely distinguished what he said. I thought it something like: Column forwards; guide right. Charger 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 a little trem- bling voice. It was Ned's.
 Pm the one who has been keeping Shep," he said. 'I 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, 1 knew that"
 ''Well, don't you ever do such a thing again. I want my dog in the house nights. Eight o'clock is taps for him-S o'clock precisely. not five minutes after s or five minutes be- fore s, but s. AS a punishment you"