Beautiful Joe, Marshall Saunders [historical books to read .TXT] 📗

Morris said that she had a dozen to take care of. Careless and

cruel people would go away for the summer, shutting up their houses, and

making no provision for the poor cats that had been allowed to sit

snugly by the fire all winter. At last, Mrs. Morris got into the habit

of putting a little notice in the Fairport paper, asking people who were

going away for the summer to provide for their cats during their absence.

 

 

 

 

 

       *       *       *       *       *

 

CHAPTER XIII (THE BEGINNING OF AN ADVENTURE)

The first winter I was at the Morrises', I had an adventure. It was a

week before Christmas, and we were having cold, frosty weather. Not much

snow had fallen, but there was plenty of skating, and the boys were off

every day with their skates on a little lake near Fairport.

 

Jim and I often went with them, and we had great fun scampering over the

ice after them, and slipping at every step.

 

On this Saturday night we had just gotten home. It was quite dark

outside, and there was a cold wind blowing, so when we came in the front

door, and saw the red light from the big hall stove and the blazing fire

in the parlor they looked very cheerful.

 

I was quite sorry for Jim that he had to go out to his kennel. However,

he said he didn't mind. The boys got a plate of nice, warm meat for him

and a bowl of milk, and carried them out, and afterward he went to

sleep. Jim's kennel was a very snug one. Being a spaniel, he was not a

very large dog, but his kennel was as roomy as if he was a great Dane.

He told me that Mr. Morris and the boys made it, and he liked it very

much, because it was large enough for him to get up in the night and

stretch himself, when he got tired of lying in one position.

 

It was raised a little from the ground, and it had a thick layer of

straw over the floor. Above was a broad shelf, wide enough for him to

lie on, and covered with an old catskin sleigh robe. Jim always slept

here in cold weather, because it was farther away from the ground.

 

To return to this December evening. I can remember yet how hungry I was.

I could scarcely lie still till Miss Laura finished her tea. Mrs.

Morris, knowing that her boys would be very hungry, had Mary broil some

beefsteak and roast some potatoes for them; and didn't they smell good!

 

They ate all the steak and potatoes. It didn't matter to me, for I

wouldn't have gotten any if they had been left. Mrs. Morris could not

afford to give to the dogs good meat that she had gotten for her

children, so she used to get the butcher to send her liver, and bones,

and tough meat, and Mary cooked them, and made soup and broth, and mixed

porridge with them for us.

 

We never got meat three times a day. Miss Laura said it was all very

well to feed hunting dogs on meat, but dogs that are kept about a house

get ill if they are fed too well. So we had meat only once a day, and

bread and milk, porridge, or dog biscuits, for our other meals.

 

I made a dreadful noise when I was eating. Ever since Jenkins cut my

ears off, I had had trouble in breathing. The flaps had kept the wind

and dust from the inside of my ears. Now that they were gone my head was

stuffed up all the time. The cold weather made me worse, and sometimes I

had such trouble to get my breath that it seemed as if I would choke. If

I had opened my mouth, and breathed through it, as I have seen some

people doing, I would have been more comfortable, but dogs always like

to breathe through their noses.

 

"You have taken more cold," said Miss Laura, this night, as she put my

plate of food on the floor for me. "Finish your meat, and then come and

sit by the fire with me. What! do you want more?"

 

I gave a little bark, so she filled my plate for the second time. Miss

Laura never allowed any one to meddle with us when we were eating. One

day she found Willie teasing me by snatching at a bone that I was

gnawing. "Willie," she said, "what would you do if you were just sitting

down to the table feeling very hungry, and just as you began to eat your

meat and potatoes, I would come along and snatch the plate from you?"

 

"I don't know what I'd _do_" he said, laughingly; "but I'd _want_ to

wallop you."

 

"Well," she said, "I'm afraid that Joe will 'wallop' you some day if you

worry him about his food, for even a gentle dog will sometimes snap at

any one who disturbs him at his meals; so you had better not try his

patience too far." Willie never teased me after that, and I was very

glad, for two or three times I had been tempted to snarl at him.

 

After I finished my tea, I followed Miss Laura upstairs. She took up a

book and sat down in a low chair, and I lay down on the hearth rug

beside her.

 

"Do you know, Joe," she said with a smile, "why you scratch with your

paws when you lie down, as if to make yourself a hollow bed, and turn

around a great many times before you lie down?"

 

Of course I did not know, so I only stared at her. "Years and years

ago," she went on, gazing down at me, "there weren't any dogs living in

people's houses, as you are, Joe. They were all wild creatures running

about the woods. They always scratched among the leaves to make a

comfortable bed for themselves, and the habit has come down to you, Joe,

for you are descended from them."

 

This sounded very interesting, and I think she was going to tell me some

more about my wild forefathers, but just then the rest of the family

came in.

 

I always thought that this was the snuggest time of the day--when the

family all sat around the fire--Mrs. Morris sewing, the boys reading or

studying, and Mr. Morris with his head buried in a newspaper, and Billy

and I on the floor at their feet.

 

This evening I was feeling very drowsy, and had almost dropped asleep,

when Ned gave me a push with his foot. He was a great tease, and he

delighted in getting me to make a simpleton of myself. I tried to keep

my eyes on the fire, but I could not, and just had to turn and look at

him.

 

He was holding his book up between himself and his mother, and was

opening his mouth as wide as he could and throwing back his head,

pretending to howl.

 

For the life of me I could not help giving a loud howl. Mrs. Morris

looked up and said, "Bad Joe, keep still."

 

The boys were all laughing behind their books, for they knew what Ned

was doing. Presently he started off again, and I was just beginning

another howl that might have made Mrs. Morris send me out of the room,

when the door opened, and a young girl called Bessie Drury came in.

 

She had a cap on and a shawl thrown over her shoulders, and she had just

run across the street from her father's house. "Oh, Mrs. Morris," she

said, "will you let Laura come over and stay with me to-night? Mamma has

just gotten a telegram from Bangor, saying that her aunt, Mrs. Cole, is

very ill, and she wants to see her, and papa is going to take her there

by to-night's train, and she is afraid I will be lonely if I don't have

Laura."

 

"Can you not come and spend the night here?" said Mrs. Morris.

 

"No, thank you; I think mamma would rather have me stay in our house."

 

"Very well," said Mrs. Morris, "I think Laura would like to go."

 

"Yes, indeed," said Miss Laura, smiling at her friend. "I will come over

in half an hour."

 

"Thank you, so much," said Miss Bessie. And she hurried away.

 

After she left, Mr. Morris looked up from his paper. "There will be some

one in the house besides those two girls?"

 

"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Morris; "Mrs. Drury has her old nurse, who has been

with her for twenty years, and there are two maids besides, and Donald,

the coachman, who sleeps over the stable. So they are well protected."

 

"Very good," said Mr. Morris. And he went back to his paper.

 

Of course dumb animals do not understand all that they hear spoken of;

but I think human beings would be astonished if they knew how much we

can gather from their looks and voices. I knew that Mr. Morris did not

quite like the idea of having his daughter go to the Drury's when the

master and mistress of the house were away, so I made up my mind that I

would go with her.

 

When she came down stairs with her little satchel on her arm, I got up

and stood beside her. "Dear, old Joe," she said, "you must not come."

 

I pushed myself out the door beside her after she had kissed her mother

and father and the boys. "Go back, Joe," she said, firmly.

 

I had to step back then, but I cried and whined, and she looked at me in

astonishment. "I will be back in the morning, Joe," she said, gently;

"don't squeal in that way," Then she shut the door and went out.

 

I felt dreadfully. I walked up and down the floor and ran to the window,

and howled without having to look at Ned. Mrs. Morris peered over her

glasses at me in utter surprise. "Boys," she said, "did you ever see Joe

act in that way before?"

 

"No, mother," they all said.

 

Mr. Morris was looking at me very intently. He had always taken more

notice of me than any other creature about the house, and I was very

fond of him. Now I ran up and put my paws on his knees.

 

"Mother," he said, turning to his wife, "let the dog go."

 

"Very well," she said, in a puzzled way. "Jack, just run over with him,

and tell Mrs. Drury how he is acting, and that I will be very much

obliged if she will let him stay all night with Laura."

 

Jack sprang up, seized his cap, and raced down the front steps, across

the street, through the gate, and up the gravelled walk, where the

little stones were all hard and fast in the frost.

 

The Drurys lived in a large, white house, with trees all around it, and

a garden at the back. They were rich people and had a great deal of

company. Through the summer I had often seen carriages at the door, and

ladies and gentlemen in light clothes walking over the lawn, and

sometimes I smelled nice things they were having to eat They did not

keep any dogs, nor pets of any kind, so Jim and I never had an excuse to

call there.

 

Jack and I were soon at the front door, and he rang the bell and gave me

in charge of the maid who opened it. The girl listened to his message

for Mrs. Drury, then she walked upstairs, smiling and looking at me over

her shoulder.

 

There was a trunk in the upper hall, and an elderly woman was putting

things in it. A lady stood watching her, and when she saw me, she gave a

little scream, "Oh, nurse! look at that horrid dog! Where did he come

from? Put him out, Susan."

 

I stood quite still, and the girl who had brought me upstairs, gave her

Jack's message.

 

"Certainly, certainly,"