PRINCE MORDGE. 253 



about the school premises during school hours. I 

 rather think he ran home or elsewhere at times, re- 

 turning to his post ; but always, when school was 

 dismissed, he was at the door to take us home, and 

 during all the after years of his life — dear faithful friend 

 and companion — he was ever at hand, protecting and 

 guiding Bella and myself. Never again had Prince 

 Mordge to be told to " take care of the bairns," From 

 that hour he made us his peculiar charge. Other 

 bairns there were, younger, not less adventurous, cer- 

 tainly quite as witless, but thei/ never received from 

 Slop the same watchful tenderness that we did. 



Oh, the rambles which we three took during long 

 happy hours, when skies are so very blue, grass so 

 very green, sea so bright, earth so glad — when youth 

 casts its glamour over everything ! Oh, the delight of 

 those days ! The pleasure and the poetry of it are 

 cherished by us still, along with the memory of our 

 beloved dog. Dog ! Some people use that word as a 

 term of reproach. If I wished to describe a man as 

 everything that is brave, honest, faithful, and good, 

 I could find no word that would better express what I 

 meant to say, because one dog I knew and loved was 

 all that is noble and high-minded. 



Sometimes in our wanderings we would lose our 

 way, or become mist-locked. When such was the 

 case we would tell Slop our perplexity, tie a scarf to 

 his collar, and he would take us directly home. 

 Usually both Slop and we went our way as children 

 and dogs do, in a devious manner, attracted aside by 



