HOW TONY PAID HIS TAX

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 15, 11 April 1907, Page 37

HOW TONY PAID HIS TAX

• It's two dollars, Tony ; two whole dollars I must make somehow, but, oh ! how ?' And Betty looked down into the bright brown eyes raised to her face. Tony leaped upon his little mistress, and wagged his ridiculous little stumpy tail until it is a wonder he did not wag. it oil ; but he could not answer the question which had been puzzling her for days-. For the dog-tax was dve — overdue, "Tn fact ; and in the little brown house under the hill there were, not so many dollars that two could be easily spared, even to save as bright and loving a little playmate as Tony. But then, nobody loved Tony as Betty loved him. . - There were so many of them in " the little brown house, and they all ate so much and wore out so many clothes, that it was all the busy little mother coul-d do to keep them fed and warm. And how could she be expected to keep a dog, too ? % • Not but what Tony is an uncommon nice dog. I'll say that for him,' she had told Betty the .day before, when the tax collector had been around for the' third time; '"but he's only a dog,- and I've -no two dollars to pay his tax with. So you'd better take him' -down to Sullivan's, Betty ; he's?, always wanted Mm.' She turned away that she might not see the look in Betty's eyes, saying to herself : • She's only l a child and will soon forget.' Betty ran out of the house anfl .up the hillside, Tony at her heels, leaping and barking, "his white body gleaming in the sunshine. But instead "of the romp he expected he was snatched, up into Betty's 'arms as she -dropped down into the clover and covered his little black head with caresses. Give Tony away ! Betty gasped at- 'the thought. It was almost as bad as if her mother had said 1 Give the baby away.' Wasn't Tony, one of" them ? Hadn't he slept on Betty's bed ever since he was a puppy ? Had her mother forgotten -how faithful he had been when Betty had the fever in the winter, never leaving the room where the sick ■ child lay, and ref us-ing" 'to eat until Ms little' body was as thin as Betty's own ? • Oh ! none of them loved him as she loved him, an-d how couild she take this little friend-' dowm to the butcher and calmly give him away? She loved him." Ever since he had been a puppy he had come to her whistle, following her wherever she went, watching her every movement, and loving her as only a faithful dog can love. . i But worse; than giving him away was the dreadful thing the collector had said would happen if the twoidollars were not ready the next time •he caime I • Betty shuddered at the thought, and hugged Tony's; ' little wriggling body to her, while he struggled . t o j reach her face with his loving,- doggy kisses. " -

Two dollars ! It was a great deal of money for a little girl to earn. If she were a boy it would be easier ; there were so many things a boy could do. To be, sure, there were wild strawberries to pick; but it took so many to make two dollars 1 worth. Long hours every- night Betty lay awake, thinking, . planning ways in which to earn the two dollars, and every morning found her little sunbonnet up on the hillside, bending over the strawberi4es •to see .-whether they were not just a little riper than they were the day before. If tears could -ripen them, ■ the berries would have turned scarlet with all those that Betty shed over them as the days wore slowly on and the dreaded day of the tax collector's promised yisit . drew near. " I can't think what ails Betty,' the busy mother said, ' She's white -as chalk, . and don't eat a mouthful. - She ain't really got over that fever yet.' If she could have seen the little girl tossing- restlessly at night, or ■ starting up from a • fitful sleep <to- put out her hand to make sure that Tony was still, there, she might have understood. But at last one morning the strawberries "gave a rosy welcome to Betty and Tony when they climbed the hill ; and that afternoon a clean, fresh little girl, ,with a basket in hear- hand and- a -frisky fox-terrier at her heels, started up the long, dusty, road to -the summer hotel. ,Whether it was the- fresh sweetness of Betty's strawberries or the fresh sweetness of Betty's face I cannot tell ; but she, sold every berry, and, when she sat down. on ,the stone wall to count, her money, she had seventy-three cents. • . . That was Thursday, and the tax collector was coming on Saturday. - ' , ' > - -" The next afternoon Betty canned more strawberries to tine hotel, but she had picked the best ones the day before, and the inferior 'ones sold badly. Moreover, ' the guests of . the hotel seemed to have dost their- interest ; and, as she walked . down the long piazza between the two rows of rocking-chairs, for the fourth time, she heard one lady laughingly say : • Mercy, do you suppose she is coming .every day as long as they last '!' - '"• As she spoke, she was fondling the ears of a silky terrier that lay curled' in her~ lap, and Betty wondered a little wistfully what she would do if her •dog's tax could- not be paid; - - With a heavy heart she started down the long road » home, half her terries, unsold, in the basket that hung like, a . dead "weight on her arm, „an-d -thirty cents in - her hand. Thirty and seventy-three made a .dollar and three cents. It was late in the afternoon, and the tax collector would lie around in the mornJng ! Betty sat down on a rock by the .lake with a - great lump- in her throat. What was to be done ? -Was there no way in which she could get the ninetyseven cents that evening ? - ' ' Oh, Tony,' she said, c what am I to do ? I've done my best, and I can't' give you up, or see you shot. Oh, Tony, Tony, isn't there some way out ?' . At this moment- there was a - 'great commotion' ■" a , .little farther up the, lake. Some little boys from the hotel had been sailing .their boats ; and .one of them, a beautifully .rigged little schooner, perfect in all' its appointments,"- had broken its- string,- and was ..starting off on an independent crvfise. There was a great deal of shouting and . running- up and down the shore, when there came a sudden splash as a small' white body plunged: -into- the water and struck out with steady strokes for the . retreating boat. - .\- "' ''Oh," see the dog I' cried the boys. ,' He's- going to get it !' * " " ■ '' " , ' He'fi break it.' . _ ' >'No, he won't,' and .shouting and cheering they ran down the bank to meet him. - '"" For Tony had • seized the -runaway and now was steadily bringing it, in. The boys cheered. and encouraged him untttl Betty held up her hand in spite' of her aching . heart ; and the . little boy who had run crying to the hotel for his father,* now returned with" him, the tears still wet on his cheeks, but smisng through them. One of the boys took" the, schooner from Tony as he paused to shake off the water. •>'Is that your dog little girl ?' said the child's father, when the situation had been explained to Mm. • He's a bright fellow, and we are very grateful to him,' and he dropped a bi%ht salver dollar - into Betty's lap. ' But wait a moment— you've forgotten your strawberries ! ' But strawberries had no further" interest' for Betty 'as ' she sped * down the road. " Fifteen minutes later she burst into the house. - ' ; •'There,' 1 she cried, laying the silver \ dollar on , the table, • Tony . paid" his own tax.'— Exchange. ,