Read Ebook: Dogtown Being Some Chapters from the Annals of the Waddles Family Set Down in the Language of Housepeople by Wright Mabel Osgood

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1104 lines and 79092 words, and 23 pages

FULL PAGES

IN TEXT

MRS. WADDLES 1 AUNT PRUE AND THE CAT BASKET 8 WADDLES GREETING AUNT PRUE 12 ANNE AND FOX 30 HAMLET BEGGING 43 HAMLET READING 46 MR. HUGH'S HORSE 54 "HIS HEAVY CURLS WERE A MAT OF MUD AND BURRS" 58 "THE MAIL BAG SWINGING FROM ITS GALLOWS" 64 LILY 68 THE GAME OF SNATCH BONE 71 WADDLES DETHRONED 74 LUMBERLEGS 81 WADDLES SNIFFING THE MORNING AIR 90 WHEN WADDLES WAS ILL 100 JACK AND JILL WADDLES 104 CURIOSITY 115 WRESTLING 121 "JACK WATCHED HER OUT OF THE CORNER OF ONE EYE" 127 JACK WADDLES 129 THE JAY AT BREAKFAST 154 AN OWL BABY 156 MAMMA OWL 160 THE DAYTIME PERCH 165 "BUTTER'S COME!" 178 "THEY WERE HERALDED BY MUCH CREAKING OF WHEELS" 185 WADDLES FINDS THE CAKE BASKET 199 A HEN PARTY 201 AT THE CROSS-ROADS 220 THE CHICKEN COOP 227 THE HERB WITCH'S HOME 228 "ALSO GEESE THAT MAKE GOOD GUIDE-POSTS" 246 THE KENNEL YARD 256 A BOARDER 258 THE PUPPIES' BATH-TUB 262 IN THE KENNEL KITCHEN 263 MARTIN BAKING BREAD 266 READY FOR TRAVEL 268 FLO POINTING 281 SILVER-TONGUE 296 HAPPY AT HOME 307 BIG BROTHER 309 IN MISCHIEF 312 LEAP-FROG 322 OUT OF SCHOOL 324 "DRINK, PUPPY, DRINK!" 330 WATCHING OUT 335 QUICK 338 COLIN 344 "A GREAT OWL WITH A SMOOTH ROUND HEAD" 383 THE BRIDE 401 "TOMMY SHOUTED 'ME!'" 402 "HE SUCCEEDED IN SITTING UPRIGHT" 404 "TIP MOUNTED GUARD UNTIL NIGHT CAME" 405

DOGTOWN

ENTER MRS. WADDLES

Happy sat by the watering-trough, waiting for Baldy to come for the milking pails and go for the cows.

Waddles, lying on the sunny side of the lilac hedge, was also waiting for this important evening happening; and though nothing in his appearance told that he was on the watch, for his back was toward the barn, yet he would know when Baldy crossed the yard to wash his hands at the pump, gauge the time he took to reach the house, and, without hurrying or looking round, be at his side the moment that the clashing of tin told that he had really come for the pails.

Seated on the stone wall, Anne and Miss Letty were also waiting, partly for Baldy, but chiefly to hear the evening music that would soon come from the wooded field edge and near-by garden, for it was a lovely May afternoon. In the morning there had been a warm rain that made worm pulling and bug hunting a pleasure instead of labour for the birds, and the air was full of scraps of song.

You have not met Happy before, or Miss Letty either. Happy was a beagle hound, with long, tan-coloured ears, the daintiest bit of a nose, a plump body marked and ticked with tan and black, and eyes of such beseeching softness that if she but looked at you when you were eating, you were impelled to give her the very last morsel, no matter what your hunger might be.

Her legal name and pedigree was recorded in the Westminster Kennel Club register as "Cadence out of Melody, by Flute, breeder J. Sanford, Hilltop Kennels," and really for two years of her life she had been merely a kennel dog. Now she was a lady of distinction, a real person beloved of Anne, Happy, of Happy Hall, mother of twin pups, Jack and Jill, and wife of no less honourable a person than Waddles, who, now past middle age, portly and sedate, was Mayor of Dogtown and an undisputed authority on all matters of dog law and etiquette.

If you should look for Dogtown on the map of the county where Happy Hall, Anne's home, is located, you would not find it, for it is really concealed under the pretty name of Woodlands, and was discovered quite by accident by Anne's Aunt Prue.

Now Aunt Prue was one of those ladies who prefer indoors to outdoors, and cats to dogs. The "Fireside Sphinx" has many virtues, and its rights should be respected, only it is a very strange thing that people who love cats cannot seem to fully appreciate dogs, which of course are the superior animals.

One day, a couple of years before this time, when Lumberlegs, the St. Bernard, then an awkward pup, was a new arrival, and the Widow Dog Lily, who had been rescued from starving by Miss Jule, had been adopted by Tommy and become his guardian, Aunt Prue had come unexpectedly to pay her brother, Anne's father, a visit.

She had not intended to arrive unannounced, for she liked to be met by the best go-to-meeting surrey and pair. But travelling and even planning for it always flustered her; and when she wrote to tell of her plans, after spoiling three sheets of paper, she directed the letter to another brother in Texas. Consequently, when she arrived at the Woodlands station at noon of a blazing July day,--she always took midday trains, it's apt to thunder in the afternoon,--there was no one there to meet her. "No, marm, no hacks here to-day," said the station master in answer to her request for one; "no use in 'phoning the stable either, all the teams here about have gone to the Sunday-school picnic, and I reckon the only folks to home is dogs." So saying he banged down his office window and drifted across the road to dinner.

Aunt Prue paused and set down a stout wicker basket with an openwork top that she carried, straightened her bonnet, felt in her glove to be sure that her trunk check and return ticket were safe. She always bought a return ticket as a sort of guarantee of safety, but usually lost it before it could be used.

She looked up the hill road. There was the store and post-office, then a quarter of a mile of open before the shade began, not a living thing was in sight; it was too hot for even the chickens to scratch up the dust.

The basket at her feet began to roll about uncannily, for in it was Miss Prue's tortoise-shell tabby cat, which she always took visiting when she was going to stay more than two nights. In politics Miss Prue was a stanch monarchist of the old-time, "off-with-his-head" variety. The cat's name was Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, and never, even in the most informal and playful moments, was she called either Gussie or Vic.

With one more glance at the road, Miss Prue settled the basket firmly on her arm and trudged off. Augusta Victoria was not happy and, moreover, she was determined to get out of the basket.

For a few moments she sat in sullen silence making herself heavy, as only an animal being moved against its will knows how to do. The post-office was reached, and Miss Prue paused a few moments to rest on the steps. Happy thought! There was a late morning mail; perhaps the family had not yet called for it, as they were sure to do, for her brother being a literary man was very particular about his letters. She would inquire.

"Nope," replied the girl who was tending office during the noon hour and preparing to hie to the picnic later by taking her hair out of curl papers and combing it into a mossy-looking bank above her freckled forehead, "your folks live beyond a mile, and the rural delivery fetches 'em their letters most times."

Poor Miss Prue! She crossed over to "the leading grocer's," where "soft drinks" were conspicuously advertised, and asked for a bottle of sarsaparilla.

Yes, there it was surely, with a bright clean dipper hanging by it.

Miss Prue seized the basket and looked about, calling in vain for help, but no one came, only more dogs, so she hurried back to the road, closing the gate behind her in frantic haste.

But what is a bar gate to dogs? Those that could neither get under or through, jumped over, for the dogs at the Burgess farm were always in fine condition. A second fox terrier sprang between the bars, a black-and-tan dachshund crawled under, while almost at the same time a collie and a greyhound cleared the top rail.

They were polite, gentlemanly dogs, fortunately, and accustomed to the best society. They never thought of touching Miss Prue; but in spite of her gestures turned their attention to the basket, sniffing and jostling it and saying things in a way to put Augusta Victoria into a frenzy.

As the strange party went up the hill, the pioneer terrier running ahead seemed to spread the news, for dogs of all degrees kept joining the procession: the great woolly St. Bernard, Rex, from the doctor's piazza, the farrier's mongrel black-and-tan, who happened to be coming across lots, two loping foxhounds who belonged to Squire Burley and had been taking a run on their own account, the minister's water spaniel, the schoolmistress's pug, a white bull terrier, a comical-looking sheep dog from the milk farm, and lastly, a fantastically arrayed black poodle, with his wool trimmed into as many devices as the tattooing on a Fiji Islander, a silver bangle on one leg, and a crimson satin bow on his collar, joined the mob, in spite of the frantic calls of a maid on the steps of the select inn, who was striving to keep him clean while his owner was at luncheon; for this particular poodle had his teeth cleaned every day, could not roll in the dirt, and was not as other dogs, for which the others were doubtless thankful.

In a moment, however, he was in the middle of the fray, having the time of his life, enveloped in a cloud of dust, uttering the shrieking bark in which a thoroughbred poodle excels, while the farrier's cur promptly pulled the satin bow into a string, and the dachshund, who had difficulty in keeping up with the rest, nipped the hairless parts of his hind legs.

Aunt Prue's last hope lay in the sheriff; he surely would not be at the picnic. But he was, and his two dogs, Schnapps and Friday, dozing on a wagon seat before the stable door, suddenly waked and joined the procession.

Just then she heard the rattle of a wagon coming up hill, and turned about, hoping for relief. In this wagon was an old man on his way home from the meadows, seated on an insecure load of salt hay, in which he was buried almost to the shoulders, while a strip of green cotton mosquito netting hanging from the edge of his wide hat, somewhat obscured his view of the scenery.

To beg a ride was, under the circumstances, out of the question; but Aunt Prue ventured to wave her satchel and to call out and ask him to drive the dogs away. But he was deaf to her entreaties, for the reason that he was stone deaf anyway; and as to the rest, he merely thought he saw a vigorous, stout, middle-aged woman on her return from market with an unusual lot of dogs, whose dinner she carried in her basket; and he drove on, trying to reckon how much it must cost to feed thirteen dogs, and set Aunt Prue down in his mind as "another fool woman."

At last she saw in the distance the stone wall that surrounded Happy Hall, and then a glimpse of the house through the trees revived her; but as she passed in the gateless entrance, two new and strange dogs greeted her,--Lily and Lumberlegs,--both rather objected to the visitors, and suddenly Lily fastened her wide jaws upon the basket.

Then at last poor Aunt Prue screamed loud and long, and Waddles, who had at first discreetly surveyed the proceedings from the porch, threw back his head and bayed. It was a very funny scene, though of course not nice for Aunt Prue; but it often happens that funny things are disagreeable to somebody.

At the double noise, doors flew open, Baldy ran from the stable, Anne, her father, mother, and one of the maids from the house, while Waddles danced about and issued dog orders with such good effect that by the combined efforts the intruders were dispersed, Aunt Prue was ensconced in a piazza rocker and was being fanned by her gentle sister-in-law, Anne brought iced ginger ale, Baldy bore Augusta Victoria, basket and all, to a retired room in the barn, where she could be fed and calm her nerves, while the father by degrees unravelled the history of the walk.

At first Aunt Prue had cried, but now she sat bolt upright and severe in her chair, talking between sips of ginger ale that would get into her nose and give her a fuzziness of speech.

"Yes--a most unparalleled--experience for a lone woman--in a civilized land--Woodlands you--call the place--faugh!--I say it's nothing more or less than Dogtown, and it's lucky I bought my return ticket. Poor Augusta Victoria's nerves are shattered, not to speak of mine, and home we go by evening train."

So in time it had come to be that Waddles was the acknowledged head of Dogtown and its people, these same being three times the number that had been the escort of Miss Prue and Augusta Victoria. For when people heard of the doings of the dogs at Happy Hall, and saw the beautiful setters, foxhounds, and field spaniels that Miss Jule raised in the Hilltop Kennels at the horse farm, every one wanted a dog of his or her own; and though Lily remained the only real bulldog in the community, there were several clever bull terriers, and Miss Letty brought back from her schooling abroad a wonderful black poodle, who understood three languages.

Miss Jule's dogs did not quite belong to Dogtown as citizens, because, being kennel dogs, they were not free to come and go and to express their opinions like the others. They were as boarding-school children, having fixed times for exercise and play, in comparison to those who, after school, run free.

There are some children who, though they may have good dispositions, can never be happy when cooped up and restrained. Tommy-Anne had been one of these, and so when, a year before, she had seen Cadence the beagle sitting looking mournfully through the slat door of her kennel, where she had been shut by her trainer for being heedless and unmanageable and not obeying his directions, her heart smote her and she felt so intimate a kinship with the little animal with the hopeless eyes, that she went to Miss Jule to ask the price of Cadence and if she might pay for her by instalments.

Miss Jule loved animals dearly, was tender-hearted, and had several pet dogs that were almost human; but the kennel dogs were raised for sale, and must be taught the various trades that, together with their pure breeding, made them valuable and able to earn their living.

No cruelty was allowed in the training-and-breaking-to-hunt process, but they simply must learn. Martin, Baldy's brother, who not only broke colts under Miss Jule's supervision, but trained both fox and beagle hounds, had said of gentle Cadence: "She's no mortal use for hunting rabbits, she won't mind if you chide her, unless your very eyes are upon her, she bolts at sight of a gun, won't heel or gather with the others. We don't need her for breeding, and I think she'd be better out of the way."

While Miss Jule was thinking over the matter, Anne had hurried home and counted the contents of her money box replete with the results of Christmas, a birthday, copying manuscript for her father, and various dealings in rags, bottles, and old iron. She had been saving seriously to buy a camera holding glass plates that she could develop herself, and so be able to take pictures of her dear woods and flowers, the dogs, and, best of all, of her father and mother as they walked out in the garden together in their everyday clothes.

Thirty-seven dollars the money had footed up. The camera that she had chosen, together with the trays, drying rack, red lantern, some plates, etc., would be thirty dollars. Was it possible that Miss Jule would sell a thoroughbred rabbit hound for seven dollars?

Anne knew that she had often received a hundred dollars for a well-broken young hound; but poor Cadence did not seem to be broken at all, except in spirit, so that might make a difference; anyway, the camera could wait, for she kept seeing those appealing eyes, and had an instinctive feeling that Cadence's fate was in her hands.

"Sell Cadence to you, so she needn't be shut up so much? What will they say at home to another dog about? You know it was only last week that Tommy told me that Lumberlegs and Lily grinned at each other 'awfully,' and that Waddles would not let either of them go to walk with him. What will your mother say?"

Anne had not thought of this, to be sure; but no one at home had ever objected to any animals excepting white mice, and her mother had rebelled at having them kept in a bureau drawer, and finally put them under ban.

As Anne grew older she was more drawn toward those of her own race than when as Tommy-Anne she had played alone; but the birds and little beasts were still her friends and brothers, and ever would be. She would, if possible, get Cadence from behind the bars and risk the consequences.

"What do you want her for? She is either stupid or sullen, and will not even charge or come to heel; she will never learn anything."

"Please, Miss Jule, I don't think she is stupid or ugly, only somehow she doesn't understand; maybe she can't think when she is shut up so much. You know that when I was little I could never learn lessons in school, but if I sat by father I couldn't have helped learning if I had tried."

Miss Jule did not smile at the simple earnestness of the tall slip of a girl with the great dark eyes that looked so pleadingly at her, for Anne at fifteen believed as thoroughly in the brotherhood and rights of all living things as had Tommy-Anne at five.

"Well, I'll make a bargain with you," she said at last; "you may have her on a week's trial: if you like her, you shall have her at a reasonable price" ; "if you can't manage her, you can bring her back. Perhaps Waddles may like her for a mate."

"Here, take a leader," called Miss Jule, as Anne darted off full of the new idea, "she's as likely to bolt off to the next county as to go home with you."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet