3 8o 



RECREATION 



you'd get the ribbon sure." I had heard the 

 head groom talking to his brother Jack. 

 (] ack washed the carriages and was a real nice 

 man, but I had no use for that head groom, 

 not since he cut off my beautiful little tail.) 

 He was telling him about a bench show, 

 that's what he called it, where all the fine 

 dogs were sent and men came, looked at 

 them and tied ribbons on some of them. 

 I believe it is considered quite an honor to 

 have the blue ribbon. I thought it would be 

 great sport to go, for perhaps there would 

 be a ribbon for "runts," and I might get it; 

 but I was doomed to disappointment, for 

 only my mother and my brothers and sisters 

 were to go. I felt it was too bad that I was 

 to be left behind, for I did so want to see 

 what the world was like outside of the yard 

 where we lived. 



You see our place was on the outskirts of 

 the city, and our master owned a great many 

 beautiful horses, and, oh! such a lot of 

 dogs, and each family of dogs had their 

 own little yard in which to exercise. 



Well, the next day I was right glad I was 

 not to go to the show, for mother and my 

 brothers and sisters were no longer allowed 

 to roam around the yard at will, and such 

 washing, rubbing and brushing as they had ! 

 When I heard my brothers and sisters cry- 

 ing to get out where I was I strutted about 

 and congratulated myself on being born a 

 "runt,-" but pride goeth before a fall, for that 

 evening I was carried off by that head groom 

 to his house and given to his little boy. 

 Now Billy, that was the boy's name, was 

 ugly, with red hair and a freckled face, not 

 naturally bad, as boys go, but he had never 

 been taught to be kind. I was lonely and 

 homesick, and when I cried he beat me; 

 I had never been struck before, and I think 

 I was more surprised than hurt, but I soon 

 learned that crying &id no good, it only 

 brought me a beating. I had no one to play 

 with, and I had to amuse myself in some 

 way, so I carried off whatever I found and 

 buried it in my treasure garden; this was a 

 place away down at the foot of the back 

 yard, and I soon had quite a collection 

 there. 



One day, after I had been there quite a 

 while, Billy was all excitement, he was going 

 to a party. I believe that is a place where a 



lot of children get together and sit around 

 very uncomfortable in their best clothes 

 until the ice cream comes, and then they 

 eat and go home. Billy and his chum had 

 talked it over in the back yard and had con- 

 cocted a plan by which they were to have 

 three dishes between them; they were full 

 of pleasant anticipations and soon expected 

 to be full of ice cream. Billy had polished 

 his best shoes till he could see himself in 

 them, and set them out on the back porch 

 just as I came trotting around. I caught a 

 whiff of the varnish, it isn't a bad smell at 

 all; I thought I'd just take one of those 

 shoes down to my treasure garden, and 

 perhaps after a while it might be good to 

 gnaw on ; bones get awfully good after they 

 are buried a while. So off I went with one 

 of his shoes and soon I had it covered with 

 the nice fresh dirt I had scratched up ; then 

 being a little tired I went over, stretched out 

 under a shade tree and was soon fast asleep. 



I was awakened by Billy's voice in loud 

 lamentations; he seemed to be deeply dis- 

 tressed and was running around, evidently 

 looking for something; down the yard he 

 came, clear down to my treasure garden. 

 Directly he gave a yell of delight and picked 

 up the end of a shoe string; with the shoe- 

 string from out of the soft earth came the 

 missing shoe. It was the shoe he was looking 

 for, for without the shoe Billy could not go 

 to the party (he had lost the mate to his other 

 pair the day before, when he went in swim- 

 ming), and without the party there would 

 be no ice cream. He grabbed the shoe, and 

 then catching sight of me he picked up a 

 stick and made for me, but I had felt the 

 weight of that small arm before, so I ran as 

 fast as I could out of the yard through the 

 open gate, down the street; nor did I stop until 

 I reached the waterfront where, perfectly 

 exhausted, I crawled under some old lumber 

 and lay for hours trembling with fright. 



That was the last I ever saw of Billy, 

 but that was the beginning of my life as a 

 street dog, and as a boy in knee pants 

 brought me my first misery I then and there 

 vowed eternal hatred to them all, and woe 

 unto the shins that came my way. I cared 

 not whether they were covered with silk or 

 cotton, or whether they were covered at all, 

 a sight of a pair of knee pants always made 

 me show my teeth. 



