Don! Don! frolicsome Don!
Chasing your tail at a game of tag,
Dancing a jig with a kitchen rag,
Rearing and tearing, and all for fun,
Frolicsome Don!
Don! Don! affectionate Don!
Looking your love with soft kind eyes,
Climbing our laps, quite forgetting your size;
With kissing and coaxing you never are done,
Affectionate Don!
Don! Don! chivalrous Don!
Stalking all night piazza and yard,
Sleepless and watchful, our sentinel guard,
Squire of dames is the name you have won,
Chivalrous Don!
Don! Don! devotional Don!
When the Bible is opened you climb to your place,
And listen with solemn, immovable face,
Nor frolic nor coax till the chapter is done,
Devotional Don!
Don! Don! wonderful Don!
Devotional, faithful, affectionate one,
If owning these virtues when only a pup,
What will you be when you are grown up?
Wonderful Don!'
"And now by way of contrast," said Miss Ruth as she folded the letter, "I have a story to tell you of a poor little forlorn, homely, insignificant dog, of low birth and no breeding, which was picked up on the street by a boy I know, and which made for himself friends and a good home by seizing the first opportunity that offered to do his duty and protect the property of those who had taken him in. I have no doubt that Don Quixote, intelligent, faithful, kind, with not a drop of plebeian blood in his noble body, will fulfill all the expectations of his friends, and we shall hear of many a brave and gallant deed of his performing; but when you have heard what Tommy Tompkins has to tell, I think you will say that not even Don Quixote could have done himself more credit under the circumstances than
TOMMY TOMPKINS' YELLOW DOG.
"Tommy shall tell the story as he told it to me:—
"'Yes, marm, he's my dog. His name's Grip. My father paid five dollars for that dog. You look as if you thought he wasn't worth it; but I wouldn't take twice the money for him, not if you was to pay it over this minute. I know he ain't a handsome dog. I don't think yellow is a pretty color for a dog, do you? and I wish he had a little more of a tail. Liz says he's cur-tailed (Liz thinks it's smart to make puns), but he'll look a great deal better when his ear gets well and his hair grows out and covers the bare spots—don't you think so? But father says, "Handsome is that handsome does," and nobody can say but that our dog did the handsome thing when he saved over two hundred dollars in money and all mother's silver spoons and lots of other things from being stolen—hey, Grip? We call him Grip 'cause he hung on to that fellow so till the policeman got in to take him.
"'What fellow? Why, the burglar, of course. Didn't you read about it in the newspaper? There was a long piece published about it the day after it happened, with headings in big letters: "The house No. 35 Wells Avenue, residence of Thomas Tompkins, the well-known dealer in hardware, cutlery, etc., was entered last night by burglars. Much valuable property saved through the courage and pluck of a small dog belonging to the family." They didn't get that part right, for he didn't belong to us then. You just wait, and I'll read the whole piece to you. I've got it somewhere in my pockets. You see, I cut it out of the paper to read to the boys at school.