GIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

GIP.

Readers will be interested in this story, ■which is written by a reader of the "JCew York Herald Tribune," the paper which arranged our pen friend correspondence.— P.P.

In the great book where the names of I brave, valiant dogs appear you will read stories of bravery, love and worship that dogs have given to loving, kind owners. You will see the names ot don • that have saved lives from drowning, the staunch martyrs of the Alpine Pass, the St. Bernard dogs. You will see the names of dogs that have died of broken hearts for their beloved masters, such as "Grey Friar's Bobby," or canines that have carried their man-gods through raging blizzards of the unmerciful North. But you never see the names of that vast army of canines that die daily in the slums, being run over by carelesß drivers—starved, homeless and friendless—the mongrel outcast, the dog who claims no master, a scared, somewhat savage "beast, always en the watch for a kick or a How from a passer-by. Always he prepares for attacks from other dogs, and the brave dog often has unfair odds against him.

Gip was just one of that vast multitude. No one knew where Gip came from; no one cared. If every breed of dog were named, Gip was sure to have descended from one of them and could trace Ms ancestry to the lords of the Swiss Pass, or to the French toy poodle, exhibited in frifle of ribbon* and curls. He «u about the size of «a English bull, I with broad hack, deep chest, and a low, .flat forehead, hound ears and a setter nose. His only beauty mas the short

silky brown tad white 1* flMjfe his body and docked tail. His Hit* more like that of a jadoattitttt * dog, accounted for by akort long iund-fegE. r " ■

If Gip could talk yoa nrii Jh, that during Iris short four jtsa «| fib be had never had * full mL Jbnw thin, but every lit of food §gf build bone and tissue,and k and solid as a roc*. Hehsdhqp»l*B eyes that were always laaliM g doubtfully and dkknritjfe to m whether yon wtn goiag tofkiaar Jrnock his ribs In. Gip mm ayiil favourite with beys and —" AH» but woe unto an older pemn nio tni to touch him. Hie reputatioa mm tht of hp'mg savage and IntiL Jij fHT he had been loving and playful; aS puppies are. Bnt he wae aeon to kan that dog lore does not fat cmymj far in the slams of Chicago. . v-'

One day Gip bad found « Itm mi was going to hid* it bate* mm Ar dog should rlwmand it As h» MM down the alley he heard * gnat deal ft nokM. Running to the spot vim the crowd ted awannMed he mw is tie middle of the road a «n«3l AH ui * large team of draught harses HmHakg towards Un. 3»o one fed the pnt of mind to grab tie <&3d; to with <m leap Gip jumped into the roei. The maddened beasts gaSoped tjr.aed when the dost settled the odoataaaw the frightened child billing « #®l>i and at ite feet the aange mongrel *iti its hind legs onehed. Clasping the «*£ said, with tear* im her eyes, to tke fifeleas form at ier feet, htai