Year: 1866




cltable canine we ever sawl -Four years ago.
the day after n chap on the cars had the ilp-
per end of his snute punched for calling .us n
traitor, Ros Hatcher gave us that red and
brindle batch of dog, then done mn small
ike, but looking SO bull doggisll tlIat we were
afraid Of his picture for a weckt Pc. said
'he was an Alabama bull dog, imported from
New jersey in a basket, as q sample of tbe
handsoniesef that country But he be a pret-
ty purp. His tail was no longer than a wick
ed man prayer, and II IS sfiiit as stunnin -
And those ears They looked like the small
corner of plug al5aeco. Atid such ewes -
And such eyebrows I! When he WINS but n
child, so called, some monster must have
slung first against stonewall, for his eyelids
looked like Ben Buffers, sort'r shamed of
something His jaws were pretty jaws
They were so severe in their angles-there
was so much jaw in proportion to the purp
that we wanted to call him Swisshelm, but he
wasn't that kind of pet. But he was nigh
onto all jaw.


We kept him four weeks in the sanctum,
and all the time hired niger to watch him.
He'd steal-stcal is no name for it. So we
concluded to call him John Brown. And he
kept the niggcr mighty busy watching him.
till at last the niger being such a smart.
mimicky, educational cuss, got so much worse
nor the dog, thatwe kept the dog to watch
the niger. Egad wasn't it full team p
Strange now niggers will learn things.


And he was the bungriest dog we ever saw.
A penny worth of beef didn't last him as long
as ten dollar bill would Democrat the
night before election. He had fine voice
Tor beef. And what the dog would not cat
the niger would! And the dog grew large
and ponderous about the jaws He used to
cat papers, books, mats, vests, old hats, gloves,
patent leather boots, window curtains and
sich. He ate such stuff for dessert. That
dog ate full calfbound set of Harper's
Weekly one day, just on account of the calf.
And he ate ten copies of the Chicago Trt-
Gune one day, but the lies in them papers
made him so dog-goued sick all that week,
that he would have died if the niggcr in 'em
hadn't emetickcd 'em out, and so got we'll
But he never pincd himselfto shadow hank
cring after Republican newspapers any more.
And he kepton stealing. Wealways thought
them Republican newspapers aided in the
development of that complaint, for he was
sure to steal all the niger earned for us.


He'd walk out on a rainy day for his health
and always come back with something he had
found. Once it was a lady's veil. Then it
was half ham, with butchers knife stick
ing in it. What he wanted to bring the
knife with him for is more than We know,
unless he had to cut and run. One day he
came in with baby's cradle There was
some blood on the edge of it, aud all that af>
ternoon the bell man was out ringing a bell
and yelling "boy lostw John Brown didn't
so out for two or three days! Once he came
In with wooden leg in his teeth. That
night wooden-lcgged soldier was missing,
but, as crippled soldiers were of no account,
he didn't try to keep shy bit. He brought
us the leg, no doubt thinking it the kind of
club we like for the La. Crosse Democrat.-
And he used to find money! He'd go into
store and snatch grcenbacks out of a cash
drawer just as handy One day he came in
with contribution box he'd stolen from the
entry way of a close communion church.


lie carried the box behind the end of the
sideboard, broke it open-and looked sick
John Brown never stole a contribution box
again. and after that, when we'd point to that
box and smile, he'd drop his tail, what there
was of it, and look just like Ben. Butler does
when having his picture taken. And he'd
steal haltcrs, brides, saddles and such stuff.
And as he grew older, he'd actually unhitch
horse, and lead him across the line into
Minnesota. When any one would call out
''John Brown" he'd go for a horse, sure
And so we had to change his name What
to call the cuss We didu't know But as he
had chawed up SO many books, and was al
ways meddling with what was none of his bu-
siness, and grew to be sort of logmatic and
radical about his bloody jaws, we left off call
ing him John Brown, and called him Charles
Sumner For awhile he seemed to like it.
He was an ambitious dog, and to keep his
name good, meddled with SO much that was
none of his business that at last he got dog
goned Gaming, which so affected his back bone
W haH tn foYsA A niOE


After she strengthened up his spinal YER
tebrac, he howled and ranted around SO, we
had to change his name again.


So we called him General Curtis. And
that seemed to please him mighty. He'd
stand on his hind legs, poke the hair out Of
his eyes, and when he went out doors, strut
bout as though he was going to fight Pea
Ridge'battlei And what notice he'd take of
mules! He became enamored Of mules, and
often would lead them to the outskirts of the
city and hide them in the bushes. And he
grew into such taste for cotton! Never
was dorg so fond of cotton. Twasn't safe
for half the ladies when out promenading in
full costume to meet that dorg in the street.
In fact he had such love for cotton that
tWasn't safe to let him walk on the street.
nor stay in the sanctum, nor go to any place,
so we called him General Siegel. That
bothered himl He had tough time of it.
Gracious, how led twist his jaws and bark
And he loved to get into dog fight, too.
He'd whip any dog in the city; But it took
so long to get him into fight that he was
useless You see when we wanted him to
fight one dog, we'd set him on another, and
then he'd back into the tother one, and then
fight his way out. But it took SO long to
learn his style, and then twasn't always con-
venient to get up two fights, so We changed
his name again


He grew beautiful each day. In fact, he
was a handsome cussi And folks took so
much notice of him, he forgot he was nothing