The Washington herald., 1914-04-19
OIL D ZE B w HITE
He tells How His Dog Got Him Into Trouble

cuss words as yo'rs. Mebbe dawgs hev
souls, and mebbe they heven't, but some
OF 'em hev sartinly got religus feelin's.
Yo'ye driv the dawg away bekase he
couldn't stand cussin'."
1T looked like it," said the old man to
me. "and l hadn't much to say about it.
Fact was. l felt ashamed of the hull
thing, and l promised myself to sort O.
let up on cussin' in future. When a
critter has got to that pint whar' his own
dawg can't abide his language he'd bet
ter hold on. l looked fur the dawg to
come back that day. but he didn't. He
didn't show up next day nor the next,
and II looked like he was headed for Vir-
ginny. 1t was about midnight on the
fo'th night that the old woman woke me
up from a sound sleep and said:
''Zeb. thar's some varmint movin' about
outside. Il may be the dawg. and it may
be a bar or wild cat
Il reckon it's the dawg," l says arter
listenin' a mint. Ill git up and let him
in
But don't make no blunder." she says.
When a man takes his dawg out into
the woods and cusses him out o. his hide.
as yo did. the Lawd amt gwine to pass
it over. He's gwine to punish that man,
and yo' jest look OUT
Her words kind o. riled me up" said
Zeb, ''and when / hoped out o. bed 1
made up my mind I'd drag that dawg into
the cabin and kick him most do death
and then swar at him till he stretched
out and died. I'm a believer in the Lawd
and all that. but II a man can't sw'ar
at his dawg what's the use of livin'?
didn't wait to pull on my trousers. but
flung the doah open and called out TO
the dawg. He wasn't thar, but l seen
him dodgin' behind a bush a little ways
of. and so I ran out TO grab him. When
l got to the bush I grabbed sunthin'
but it wasn't my lost dawg. No, sub.
1t was a full-grown bar. with his teeth
on aidge and his claws ready fur biz
ness! You bet l was astonIshed and all
that, l was ready to let go and git back
into the house, but the critter wouldn't
hear OF il. He jes' riz up and tackled
me, and he didn't mean to give no far
show either. l was bare-iegged and bare
handed and II didn't take much figgerin'
to make out that thar would be a funeral
within a day or two. ] hadn't yelled mo
than three times befo' the old woman
knowed what was up. The bar throwed
me down and rolled me about, and though
got my hands on his throat and choked
him, he kept usin teeth and claws. 1t
was the old woman who saved my life
She grabbed a burnin brand from the
fireplace and come runnin' out. She jab-
bed that bar in the eye with the brand,
and he let up on me and went rollin'
about. The fire took all the fight out O.
him fur a time. and befo' he rekivered we
got into the house. I fell in faint on
the floor, and the old woman spent the
rest of the night dressin' my hurts"
''How badly were you hurt?" I asked.
"Six bites and seventeen scratches,
sub" he answered. when say
scratches mean places whar' he sunk
his claws into the flesh right to the bone
It was five months befo' I could lift an
ak or hold a plow, and yo' kin Judge by
that what sort O. hurts 1 got. He'd a
had me in ribbons in two minits mo-
Befo' 1 got up the bar was killed by Jim
Kelso. and he was blind of an eye"
And did the dog ever come back?"
"No, sub. He went back to his
Christian master, a distance of 900 miles
My cussin' jest driv him out O. the
State of Tennessee"
And what did Mrs. White say?"'
wall. sub. she never said a blessed
was expectin' it every day. Then, one
out sunthin', she looked up at me and
says:
"Zeb White, the Lawd amt mean and
owminded and sneaky. like human be-
ngs, but lemme tell yo that If yo' go to
rippin' agin things will be so fixed that
von either run up agin two bars or
Else l shall be away from home and can't
help yo' out with the oner
she put it that way. sub, and shet I'D
and went to bed and didn't sass back"