DOG STORIES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue VI, 10 February 1900, Page 287

DOG STORIES.

TOLD BY THE LITTLE PEOPLE.

The Pet Dog.—l read once about a pet dog which belonged to a Boman that was very cruel to him. At lasit the dog ran away, and a kind little girl found him on her way to school, and wanted to pat him, but he ran away and was afraid of her. The next day she saw him again, and after this she brought some crumbs to him every day, and she told her mother he was getting much fatter, and asked if she might bring him home with her, but her mother was angry with her. She took a little meat to him the next day. However, one day after it had been raining she was passing the river and by mistake she slipped into it. A great crowd gathered on the river banks, and at last the dog came. He .jumped into the river and brought her back safely, and an Englishman came forward and took her home. After her wetting she was ill, and she was always asking about the dog, and if he was right, so the Englishman went and fetched him for her, and she was so delighted to see him that she was allowed to keep him for her pet after all.

A Clever Dog.—Once upon a time there lived a dog whose name was Spot. His mistress taught him to do many tricks, such as begging, playing hide and seek, pretending to be dead, and many others. One night, when everyone was in bed. a fire broke out in the kitchen, which soon spread through the. house. The master was the first to find it out, and, calling to his wife and children to come, he hurried out of the house. But he found that, his eldest daughter was not there, so, running to the house, he tried to get to where she was sleeping. All at once he saw Spot running upstairs, and, in a few minutes, he reappeared with his mistress, who was only a little burnt. He dropped down as soon as sihe wns safe, and looked as if he were, dead, but with careful nursing he soon got quite well again. But. he could never do any more tricks, though the family loved him very much.

Faithful Gyp.—Some time ago there lived a very faithful dog named Gyp. He belonged to a rector's daughter, whom he loved very much. She taught

the village children, and Gyp always followed her wherever she went. If she tried to slip out without him seeing her. he would go to the school and into every room and sit up and beg, and the teacher would say, “Not here. Gyp”; and he would go to the next 1-00111, and so on till he found her. Then be would lie down at her feet quite quietly mid not disturb the class at all. But one day the rector died and the family went twelve miles away, because they could not live there any-

longer. A little while afterwards Gyp was missing, and could not be found, although they searched everywhere. He had gone to his master’s grave and was scratching at it and crying. An old servant of theirs saw him and took him a mutton-chop and some milk, for nothing would induce him to leave the place. After a few days he was carried back to his home again and watched carefully lest he should go to the grave. He was very miserable without his master, but everyone loved him more for his faithfulness.

THE PENNY POSTAGE. .Mr Henniker Heaton. M.P., tells a story of the disadvantage of the universal penny postage scheme. An Irishman in Canada, writing to a friend of Mr Heaton’s, said: "I know you know Henniker Heaton. 1 know he's a friend of yours. Tell him lie has done me a great injury. He has enabled all me |>oor relations to correspond with me here in Canada, and you know I have a hundred of them in Countv Clare.”