Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-07-26
Whe,, Vjck;eHud
The Surprise

II you think that little dog across
the street is cunning. Dorothy" said
mamma, as she drew up q chair DO
side the bed to tell the usual sleepy
time story, you should have sean one
! had when was nttle girl.
"His name was Victor, though Of
course we all called him Vickie. He
was perfect ball Of white and. oh.
so cute and darling and clean! Al
ways in the summer remember, We
used to have his long. curly, fluffy
hair clipped close all over-exceDt q
great bang Of It which was left hang
ing down over his shining, little black
eyes to protect them from the glare
Of the sun.
Nothing seemed to delight him
of an evening. to lean far out the
side Of the carriage and bark just as
loudly and fiercely as ever he could
at the dogs we passed-even the big
gest of them. And when they would
come dashing along after the car
riage, Vickie would bark all the
louder. and most any one would think
him a dreadfully ferocious dog. OF
course, he was perfectly safe in the
carriage-and we sometimes thought
he knew it, for he would never bark
while passing another dog when we
were walking.
zone summer Sister Florence and
I went up to Uncle Arthur's farm to
spend week or two. We took Vickie
with U.S. And he enjoyed the coun-
try and all the strange animals and
flowers and birds just as much az We
did.
Uncle Arthur had three dogs Of
his own, for people who live in the
always have them. One was a
great big watch dog, another squatty,
bull dog and the third .
beautiful silky-haired collie. Strange
to say, Vickie seemed to make friends
with all three OF them. At first. he
was very quiet and northumberland
scared of them, too for when he saw
one of them coming up on the porch
be would jump up on the lap OF the
very nearest person.
"But after a while, when he saw
that they had no intention of harming
him, he became holder; and it was
not many days before he was play
ing around the yard with them and
across fields and through the
cool, green woods, barking and yelp-
Ing and scampertng along 40 though
he were indeed just a. much real
dog as they.
Nov Uncls Arthur also had two
little kittens. One was pure white
and the other % black 40 your stock
Ing, with white star right In the
middle Of his forehead. Uncle Arthur
hadn't had them so very long, but his
dogs had become thoroughly accus-
TONED to them and never chased them
Or barked at them, much less trying
to bite them.
sBut not vickie. oh, no, Mr..
Smarthy Vickie had no sooner set eyes
On them one day, when he happened
to steal into the kitchen unobserved,
than he set up most terrific bark
Ing. Why, you would have imagined
be was a great fierce watch dog and
there were burglars attempting = to
break in and carry off the entire
house. s3e. sasss1ss
~ rushed into tho kitchen to see
what In the world was the matter
with Vickie. And there found him.
his feet spread out, his cunning little
bang hanging down over his eyes and
his cute little tail wiggling and wag-
zing for all the world like q timber
switch when you're holding It by one
End and shaking Il.
s''And the poor kittens Blackie and
Whitie-welT, he had them crowded
back into a corner, their little backs
arched up until It seemed they would
surely break, every hair Of them
right up on end and the most
pitiable look on their tiny
little faces you ever saw.
NJ grabbed him up and ran out in
the front porch with him didn't
spank him, but did try to tell him
what bad little doggie he had been
and asked him how he would feel If
Uncle Arthurs big dogs drove him
into q corner and barked and turped
ut hint
The very next day I caught him
chasing White all around the front
yard, around the trees and right
through the fiowerbeds. And the day
after that he drove Blackie up tree
and jumped up and down, at the foot
Of the tree, as high as he could, bark
ing and showing his teeth until even l.,
his mistress, felt almost afraid of him.
But the next day-well, the next
lay something happened to little
vtckie that he never forgot. 1t was
The surprise Of his life. In the after
noon, about an hour after dinner, I
was just making myself comfortable
IN the hammock on the front porch
when heard him barking IN the
Kitchen.
II rushed back az fast as ever I
could. Mary, the hired girl. had gone
TO the barn to hunt for eggs, It seems,
and there was naughty vickio spread
,ut in his usual fashion before Blackie
and gleefully barking at him and
,na nnino hia little laws omen and shut