OUR DICK. 15 



are too free and generous to do anything 

 like that. 



You will know by this that it was by 

 no fault of ours that Dick fell into the 

 hands of the dog-catchers. I should be 

 ashamed to look any honest dog in the 

 face if each first of July morning did not 

 find me at the City Hall, for the purpose 

 of buying my little brown friend the 

 bright new tag which marks the begin- 

 ning of another of the many years in 

 which he has been my daily companion. 



As I have said before, we did not own 

 Dick nor did Dick own us, as he seems 

 now to think when he was thrust into 

 that dismal place where dogs abandon 

 hope. The fact is, we were at our wits' 

 end, almost, for a long time when we tried 

 to find out to whom he belonged, and how 

 it happened that a gentleman of such 



