Evening star., 1914-10-04
as nearly sheepish as a Scotch thrush
can look. She hung her head.

as nearly sheepish as Scotch thrush
can look. She hung her head.
81. know, she clucked, nervously
Don't you know that your conduct
was IN violation of all the railroad
regulations? Don't you know that
there are decisions of the interstate
commerce commission COVERING this
subject. Don't you know"
Momentarily, Nellie became defiant.
well, If you'd had happen to you
what's happened to me-" she cackIed
guess you'd be laying eggs, too"
The Observer became more gentle.
Iell me about it," he urged
IL me ne man who bought me-" said Nell
this ridiculous cage. He ia great
believer in safety first So, at the in
Ilmatlon OF coming trouble, he sent me
back to this country by mail, or parcel
skipped out. too, but he didn't travel
in a cage.
Il was waiting at a railway station.
Some fellow in rainbow uniform was
pretendlng to take care of me. 1t was
raining. He seemed to think I was a
kind of duck Anyhow, he left me out
side the roof of the portico where 1
could get all the rain. 1 was soaked
through. The worst of my troubles
seemed to have come, and 1 was Just
arriving at the philosophic turn of
mind when a fool of a reservist came
up and began telling the man in the
rainbow uniform about the war In a
little while he got excited, and from
the motions of his arms you would
have thought he was trying to fy
The climax of his argument came.
and he let the gun he was carrying z
fall right beside my cage. I thought
exploded in my ear. 1 began laying
eggs as soon as I recovered conscious
ness, and
By this time the Observer was con-
WINGED that he was being kidded
What has that to do with the con-
ductor's hat?' he demanded, sternly
I'm coming to that" said the thrush.
When 1 got alongside the conductors s
hat hoped on the rim, and just then
the idiot of an engineer had to blow
the whistle
An impressive silence followed. The
boy picked Nellie and the cage from
their place atop a trunk and trudged
away. The Observer fell to wondering.
* X
From the distant freight yards there
came the sound of weeping. The OBJ
server STROBE toward the noise, which
seemed to come from a long. low crate.
Peering down. the Observer beheld a
very fat, bowlegged. melancholy dachs-
hund. with droopy, Tapping ears.
What's worrying you?" asked the
Observer.
The dachshund slowly shook his head.
Great tears welled anew in his sad
eyes.
dachshund. 'Everybody's against me.
L m so fat / can't run the way | used
to when l was young. And there's SO
much of me strung along the ground
that you can't miss me when you throw
a brick at me-"
But" said the Observer, in a kindly
tone. why should people be against
you? True, you are not beautiful AS
matter of fact, you look foolish. But
that fact, in itself: should not turn
people against you"
The poor dachshund tried to smile.
You amt against me, are you?" he
inquired.
Not on your life." replied the OBJ
friend. Any time you want to borrow
a little money or anything like that,
come and me-"
This seemed to cheer the dachshund
considera bly,.
Thank you," he said, politely For
4 dachshund he had splendid manners.
by the way" remarked the Observer,
as he turned away. without being i'm
pertinent, I'd like to know where you
came from"
Paris replied the dachshund MY
master and 1 have just returned"
The Observer had nothing more to
say He suspected. however, that the
| dachshund was slightly obtuse if he
didn't know why people had maltreat-
| ed him.
| An inventory of any set of conditions
| invariably leads the investigator far
afield. AS the Observer strolled away
from the dachshund he happened to
recall an animal dealer whom he
knows. He started on his way for the
animal dealers store-one of those ami
! NAL dealers whose notions of the pro-
6od no
| from. Julius Caesar"
| Even before he entered the store
| there came to the Observers ears a
! sound of weeping and wailing and
gna shing of teeth that boded no good.
There was yapping, intermingled with
snarling. Something had gone wrong.
Once inside the store the Observer
perceived the cause of the disturbance
A French poodle which looked as
though it had suffered the ministra-