22 OUR DICK. 



As Dick's house was well upholstered 

 with the freshest and cleanest straw 

 we could buy for money, he made no 

 complaints; but as Christmas-time ap- 

 proached, and it became stormy, my wife 

 began to fidget a good deal, intimating 

 that colds and rheumatism were about, 

 that such maladies were quite fatal to 

 dogs, and that a nice warm bed by the 

 kitchen fire might perhaps save Master 

 Dick from having la grippe. 



It fell out at this period, one very 

 rainy and windy night as I was sitting 

 by the fire reading "King Lear," that 

 when I had concluded the passage, " poor, 

 naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, that 

 bide the pelting of this pitiless storm," 

 my wife dropped the work she had in 

 hand and hurriedly left the room. She 

 returned before long somewhat moist, but 



