The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-04-08
BARNEY
AND THE
BRAT
90 BY D. J. walsh,

r. merry fire, when wall Of the burn
Ing building suddenly fell In and
Barney, most intrepid Of freight
ers, went down In the crash, the men
at engine house No. had done every
thing possible for their injured COM
rade.
The three months that Barney lay
In the hospital not day passed with
out one Of them visiting him. They
carried all sorts of presents from
bumpy, hard-isted bouquets tied with
coarse string from home gardens to
most gorgeous bathrobe that would
have completely eclipsed Joseph's coat
of-many-colOrs. And when at last poor
Barney, helpless cripple for life, was
able to be taken home, they all
Clipped In and bought him wheel
chair.
But with these big-hearted, open
handed men giving SO far had been
pleasure. Now came the real test Of
devotion. They were asked to give
until 1t hurt.
| 1t was Jerry who made the sug-
gestion-the one In the group of men
seated at the engine-house door with
the bright-eyed, alert-eared fox terrier
at his feet.
The proposal met with blank ST.
| lence.
Il know it's not easy, boys" Jerry
spoke again. "It's going to be like
pulling teeth without any laughing
gas to every mothers son Of US. But
| something's got to be done or the first
thing Wen know Barney will be put
ting bullets into himself. All the time
he was In the hospital / never saw
him so disheartened as he Is now.
"It's company Barney most needs
now" Jerry continued. "His wife's de-
voted to him, but except for hurryins
in to get him a bite of lunch at her
noon hour she's gone all day. And she
can't give up her bookkeeping job, for
their little house isn't paid for yet, and
Barney's mar-sarge and electric treat
ments cost lot Of money. Now If he
had the Brat"
"But why the Brat?' asked a fire
man recently transferred to No. 8,
| "couldn'twe get him another dog that
would do as wellT
| Jerry shook his head
"There amt no such animall Not
In Barney's opinion, anyhow. You
see, while we all contribute to the
Brat's keep, Barney had more to do
with the kids bringing up and edu-
catin' than the rest of US put together"
II can remember reminiscently
grinned Jovial Joe, "way back when
the Brat was a puppy, yelping nights
to beat the band, and us fellows shy
Ing boots at him to make him shut up,
how Barney would get out of bed and
warm milk for him.
"And it was Barney who learned him
all his tricks" chimed In another Of
the men.
"And Barney who trained the Brat
to ride to fires, sitting up beside him
as important as the chief himself"
contributed a third.
81 tell you what let's do, boys"
twinklingly proposed Jovial Joe, '1ets
| put itup to the Brat Brat said he,
addressing the fox terrier, which
would you rather belong to? Engine
house No. 8 In general, or Barney In
Particular"
At the word Barney, spoken in an
arresting tone, the Brat danced up and
down, wagged his stub Of tail and
broke into an outburst of excited yaps
II should say the vote was 'unani-
NOUS" grinned Jovial Joe.
And the next day, with due cere-
mony, the presentation was made.
From that time on Barney began to
improve. Not only was the Brat COM
pany; he was occupation as well. Bar
ney fed him, brushed, combed and
bathed him. He taught him all sorts
of new tricks.
So while still the helpless cripple, q
| light came into Barney's dull eyes, a
healthy color to his cheeks, even a
cheerful whistle to his lips.
Such was his Improvement, in fact,
that in couple Of weeks he was well
enough for his wife to wheel him out
In the sunny front yard at noon and
leave him there with his inseparable
TIC SChOOiOOy
Dor she had arranged with wheeled
him in again at four.
Barney and the Brat were "as happy
as kings"
Then, out of clear sky, fly thrust
itself into the ointment of their con-
tent-a boisterous buzz-fly.
The buzz-fy was lawn mower In
the next dooryard.
At the sound Of 1t, the streak Of 1t
across the grass, the Brat went wild
with resentment.
Unfortunately, Hopkins, the owner
Of the next door house, was out of
Job and terribly out of sorts because
of the fact, and to have a yapping
swapping small dog hurl himself before
the lawn mower every time he started
In cutting his grass made him furious.
"If you don't call off that confound-
ed dog of yours, I'll not be responsible