PRINCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 974, 17 May 1930, Page 33

PRINCE

The Story of A Dog

Prince was a dog. In fact. Prince t»ds two dogs—a play dog and a work dog. When 1 was a very small boy my father got me a dog. a very little, playful Gordon setter. I don’t remember much about his growing up except that it seemed to go very quickly my mother must have been very ela j. because he chewed up so many shoes. He and 1 grew up together—at least. I did part way while he grew up all the way and as far as a dog could. 1 now remember him only as a grown dog who was very eager to look after a small boy, and I was that boy. We lived in a house on the top or a hill, and when I came home from school he was always sitting on the top edge of the hill watching for me. He seemed to know the exact moment of the afternoon. and no one could get him to do anything but watch for me at that time. After that we were always together In winter I used to coast down the Hill on my sled, with the dog running and barking alongside: then he would take hold of the rope with his tecth to help me pull the sled back again. Once when the sled went down the

KING OF THE CATS

TOM TIDDUM COMES TO THE THRONE There was once upon a time an old man who lived with hfs wife in a cottage built in the shelter of a valley among lonely mountains. There was not another house for miles, and so you can imagine how lonely they sometimes felt.

One day the old man went out to gather a sack of wood in the forest, because winter was coming, and he and his wife had to have tires to keep themselves from freezing. He did not come home as soon as his wife thought he would, and she worried, thinking he might have got lost, because the dark came on so quickly.

She got out her knitting and sat down by the fire, amusing herself by chatting to her old black cat. who was curled up enjoying the warmth. He looked so very wise, and he never spoke.

It grew later and later, and you can just imagine how anxious she was. The wind howled outside, and the rain lashed the window panes. She pulled up the blind and put a lamp in the window, thinking he might see the light through the storm and find bis way home more easily. Quite three hours past teatime, when the stew was ruined and all the scones spoiled through waiting so long for him, the old man came home, dripping from head to foot with rain.

You’d never guess what I've just seen, wife,” he said, and they* both sat down to warm themselves in front cf the fire, with the cat curled up between them. "I’ve seen the very strangest thing. You know the rocky patch of I ground on the hilltop near here? Well, just as the storm was coming on and 1 was hurrying to get home to tea, I saw j a little procession of lights, just like will o’ the wisps, bobbing along the j path. I couldn’t see very well becauM of the mist, so I had go up very : clqse to see what was happening. Goodness, wife, Just look at that cat! It’s gots Its ears all pricked up. and don’t its eyes look queer!” “That’s nothing,” said his wife. “It’s only the firelight shining so bright in j his green eyes.” “Well, to go on with the story, what : should I see but a long line of black cats, all walking in pairs, and they all had big black bows round their necks. The will o’ the wisps gave them light, and the two cats who were walking ii« 1 the middle carried on their backs a box of ebony and gold, with a little goiden coronet on the lid. But oh! Doesn’t that cat look knowing: you’d think he knew every word I was saying!” Rut | the old woman said. “Oh. get on with j your story, do!” “When they came to the top of the j hill they all stopped. It was* so dark I could hardly see the ground under my feet. They set the box down, and all the cats sat down on their haunches round a hole that had been dug in the earth But the strangest thing of all. wife, was that they could speak. Then lour of the cats, bowing low to the earth, picked up the box and put it in the ground, just like a funeral. The cat who was at the head of the profession came up and said—O dear, the look on that cat’s face just frightens me! His fur’s all on end!” “Do get on and tell me what the cat said,” urged his wife. “Well, he said quite a silly thing. 1 can’t understand it at all. He just sa»'d, ‘Tell Tom Tiddum that Tim Tiddlum’s dead.’ ”

With a mighty bound the black cat curled up beside the old couple, sprang up from its cushion. Its eyes flashed fire and its claws gleamed “Why!” cried the cat. “If Tim Tiddlum’s dead, then I’m the King of the Cats!” And with a bound he flow up the chimney and out into the storm, and the old couple never saw their cat again.

hill alone, after I had fallen off, Princ* caught up with it and brought it bacV to me all by himself, nulling the roj ♦ with clumsy jerks and jumps. Aftei a time it seemed to come to him tha ho ought to slide down the hill him self. Taking a hard run at the to; and then throwing himself on his back he would slide along after me. Tin* was such a funny trick that peopl* used to come to see him do iL One day my grandfather said. ’ll Prince can teach himself to slide down hill. 1 mink we could easily train bin as a horse.” My father had a set » harness made to fit him. and a s* of shafts put into ray express wagon There was no bit on the harness su-.l as a horse has. because that woulr have been cruel for a dog. We jt.s had the reins go to a collar, and Print-* behaved just as well as a horse dui: with a bit. Have you ever heard why a iiorscan carry a bit in his mouth withou having it hurt him? It is because righ behind his front teeth there is a plai t where there are no teeth at all. Tin bit fits into that place very ccrnafort ably. Sometime when you have chance, you must ask someone to show you that place In a horse’s mouth. f<» it is very interesting.

Once, before Prince was fully ; aim • , l was riding in the wagon when h° saw another dog that lie wanted t>> speak to for a minute, and off be dashed after the dog. I went out of the wagon backward, but it didn’t hur; In a moment Prince remembered that he was supposed to be a horse, not a dog. so he came* back very :nuc! ashamed of himself. After Prince ha 1 been fully trained, he and I used to g<* on long trips in the country. Of coutv*I always walked up the hiils. The biggest adventure we ever had was on a rather lonely country road, about a half mile from my home. W* were going along very happily, whet two tramps stepped out of some bushes and stopped us. making nt< take off most of my clothes, which th»> stole. When Prince saw what they were doing he tried to help me. but he was tied up in the harness and hitched tth© wagon. After they ran away with my clothes. I sat down in the husband cried, I can tell you. One of the reasons I cried was that I had be«-?i told by my father not to go out on that lonely road: 1 realised how wrong it was of me to disobey him. PoetPrince tried t»» get into the bushes t.; comfort me, but he could not do so on account of the wagon. As fast as he could go lie ran home: and his barking at the door told my mother that something was wrong. She unhitched him and he led her back to where I was hiding. Of course I told her how my clothes had been stolen. A few days later my stolen clothe.were found in a store, where they had been sold. By these means the police officers were able to find the personwho had robbed me. The men denied that they knew anything about it. My father called Prince, who. the mimi! he saw- them, began to bark furiousl;. there was no longer any doubt th :■ they were the thieves..

When Prince was about :welv years old we went to live in a city, but ho was very unhappy there. Dui;> like to live in the country, where they can have room to run. We sent him to my grandfather’s farm because we thought that would be kind. Of course we were very lonely and unhappy without him. I think he must have been lonely and unhappy, too. because he died very soon afterward. Grandfather said he died of old apt But I think lie died of loneliness: dogs sometimes do, you know. I think dogs often love us more than we love them, but of course they can’t tell us about it in words. They can tell us about it only with their gentle eyes and loving actions This should teach us that our actions toward those whom we love often say more about our real feelings than words do.