A Boy and a Dog 



But there was no place for him nor 

 any other dog in that bedroom there 

 three hundred miles away. And for 

 the first time the boy now began to 

 realize that when he migrated to the 

 great city by the lake the curtain was 

 falling forever upon an act complete. 

 Probably this Collie would have been 

 a better work dog, so far as helping in 

 the handling of the live stock was con- 

 cerned, had the boy not played with 

 him so much. This doubtless de- 

 tracted from his selling value for 

 practical farm purposes. Many dogs 

 were infinitely his superior in working 

 flocks and herds, but whatever he 

 lacked in point of skill at the heels of 

 sheep or cattle he more than made up, 

 from the boy's standpoint, by the 

 splendid intimacy of his constant com- 

 panionship and the zest with which 

 he entered into various games jointly 

 devised. And one sad day the boy 

 and dog had their final romp. The 

 boy knew it was the end, and his heart 



[17] 



