A SOUND INVESTMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 185, 6 August 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

A SOUND INVESTMENT.

There had never been very »ueh money to spare in the Frost family, and Connie had always said that when she started earning her own living her first salary would be spent on a dog. When Connie left school she took a secretarial training, and eventually found a post. Her first thought was for her dog. She had quite set her heart on having a fox terrier, and she and her mother decided to go into London the very first Saturday she was paid to buy it. The great day came. Together they went to a dog shop they had seen advertised. "Mother, this is going to be very hard to choose," said Conn ie, flushed and excited, as" puppy, after puppy was brought out. Each one seemed to look at her more appealinglv than the last. Suddenly she caught sight of a young puppy at the back of the shop, locked up in a cage. "What about him ?" she cried, pointing to the dog. "Oh. I don't think you will like him, miss," the man replied. "He is so ugly, and rather a mongrel at that. He's no dog for a lady." But Connie would not be put off. He was • brought out, a white bull terrier with a large patch over his eyes, and too short in the leg. But Connie at once decided to have him. The money was paid, and the little dog trotted out behind his new mistress. / He certainly wasn't .a beauty, but something about him had endeared him! to Connie tlie moment she had caught sight of him. _ . "I think you have made a wise choice?' said Mrs. Frost. "I am sure mongrels are much cleverer than many Fen bred dogs." Foxey, as Connie had already christened him, received a very warm welcome at the Frost's home, and became a great favourite with everyone. He was very intelligent, and soon learnt many tricks. Every morning he used to carry a paper bag in his mouth with two pennies in it to the fishmonger, and when he arrived he placed his two paws on the counter until the mistress of the shop came and took it from him. and filled it with fish scraps and cMps for his dinner. As soon as it was filled he would trot back home, pleased with his morning's shopping. One morning Connie picked up the paper, and was glancing casually through the news, vlien her eye fell on an advertisement asking for an intelligent dog of the exact description of Foxey, for film work in a, cinema studio.

"Oh. mother, do you think I could ever part with Foxey,"even for a, short time? But they offer a good salary, and the thought of money is tempting'just now, when we need it so badly. It perhaps might mean we could keep Eve at. school another term., If lie were'accepted you do think they would take great cure of him. donr*t ; youj *«-», Mrs. Frost did not. know what to say. She knew how ~Connie was feeling, yet the thought of the money tempted her too. Connie was some time making up her mind, a*id then she decided to take, him up to London for an interview. No harm could be done by that, and she could see the man who would have charge of him. The man who interviewed Foxey was delighted with him, and as he promised that the dog would bo taken great care of, and that he would not be away for longer than six weeks at the most, she gave him her consent. When Foxey returned lie brought back a big fat cheque with hirn, and lie just sat back to be admired and to. rest upon his laurels, for, of course, he knew that for one brief spell he had been the largest wage-earner in the family.