A Dark Brown Dog
A Child was standing on a street-corner. He leaned with one shoulder against a high board-fence
and swayed the other to and fro, the while kicking carelessly at the gravel.
Sunshine beat upon the cobbles, and a lazy summer wind raised yellow dust which trailed in
clouds down the avenue. Clattering trucks moved with indistinctness through it. The child stood
dreamily gazing.
After a time, a little dark-brown dog came trotting with an intent air down the sidewalk. A short
rope was dragging from his neck. Occasionally he trod upon the end of it and stumbled.
He stopped opposite the child, and the two regarded each other. The dog hesitated for a moment,
but presently he made some little advances with his tail. The child put out his hand and called
him. In an apologetic manner the dog came close, and the two had an interchange of friendly
pattings and waggles. The dog became more enthusiastic with each moment of the interview,
until with his gleeful caperings he threatened to overturn the child. Whereupon the child lifted
his hand and struck the dog a blow upon the head.
This thing seemed to overpower and astonish the little dark-brown dog, and wounded him to the
heart. He sank down in despair at the child's feet. When the blow was repeated, together with an
admonition in childish sentences, he turned over upon his back, and held his paws in a peculiar
manner. At the same time with his ears and his eyes he offered a small prayer to the child.
He looked so comical on his back, and holding his paws peculiarly, that the child was greatly
amused and gave him little taps repeatedly, to keep him so. But the little dark-brown dog took
this chastisement in the most serious way, and no doubt considered that he had committed some
grave crime, for he wriggled contritely and showed his repentance in every way that was in his
power. He pleaded with the child and petitioned him, and offered more prayers.
At last the child grew weary of this amusement and turned toward home. The dog was praying at
the time. He lay on his back and turned his eyes upon the retreating form.
Presently he struggled to his feet and started after the child. The latter wandered in a perfunctory
way toward his home, stopping at times to investigate various matters. During one of these
pauses he discovered the little dark-brown dog who was following him with the air of a footpad.
The child beat his pursuer with a small stick he had found. The dog lay down and prayed until
the child had finished, and resumed his journey. Then he scrambled erect and took up the pursuit
again.
On the way to his home the child turned many times and beat the dog, proclaiming with childish
gestures that he held him in contempt as an unimportant dog, with no value save for a moment.
For being this quality of animal the dog apologized and eloquently expressed regret, but he
continued stealthily to follow the child. His manner grew so very guilty that he slunk like an
assassin.
When the child reached his door-step, the dog was industriously ambling a few yards in the rear.
He became so agitated with shame when he again confronted the child that he forgot the
dragging rope. He tripped upon it and fell forward.
The child sat down on the step and the two had another interview. During it the dog greatly
exerted himself to please the child. He performed a few gambols with such abandon that the
child suddenly saw him to be a valuable thing. He made a swift, avaricious charge and seized the
rope.
He dragged his captive into a hall and up many long stairways in a dark tenement. The dog made
willing efforts, but he could not hobble very skilfully up the stairs because he was very small and
soft, and at last the pace of the engrossed child grew so energetic that the dog became panic-
stricken. In his mind he was being dragged toward a grim unknown. His eyes grew wild with the
terror of it. He began to wiggle his head frantically and to brace his legs.
The child redoubled his exertions. They had a battle on the stairs. The child was victorious
because he was completely absorbed in his purpose, and because the dog was very small. He
dragged his acquirement to the door of his home, and finally with triumph across the threshold.
No one was in. The child sat down on the floor and made overtures to the dog. These the dog
instantly accepted. He beamed with affection upon his new friend. In a short time they were firm
and abiding comrades.
When the child's family appeared, they made a great row. The dog was examined and
commented upon and called names. Scorn was leveled at him from all eyes, so that he became
much embarrassed and drooped like a scorched plant. But the child went sturdily to the center of
the floor, and, at the top of his voice, championed the dog. It happened that he was roaring
protestations, with his arms clasped about the dog's neck, when the father of the family came in
from work.
The parent demanded to know what the blazes they were making the kid howl for. It was
explained in many words that the infernal kid wanted to introduce a disreputable dog into the
family.
A family council was held. On this depended the dog's fate, but he in no way heeded, being
busily engaged in chewing the end of the child's dress.
The affair was quickly ended. The father of the family, it appears, was in a particularly savage
temper that evening, and when he perceived that it would amaze and anger everybody if such a
dog were allowed to remain, he decided that it should be so. The child, crying softly, took his
friend off to a retired part of the room to hobnob with him, while the father quelled a fierce
rebellion of his wife. So it came to pass that the dog was a member of the household.
He and the child were associated together at all times save when the child slept. The child
became a guardian and a friend. If the large folk kicked the dog and threw things at him, the
child made loud and violent objections. Once when the child had run, protesting loudly, with
tears raining down his face and his arms outstretched, to protect his friend, he had been struck in
the head with a very large saucepan from the hand of his father, enraged at some seeming lack of
courtesy in the dog. Ever after, the family were careful how they threw things at the dog.
Moreover, the latter grew very skilful in avoiding missiles and feet. In a small room containing a
stove, a table, a bureau and some chairs, he would display strategic ability of a high order,
dodging, feinting and scuttling about among the furniture. He could force three or four people
armed with brooms, sticks and handfuls of coal, to use all their ingenuity to get in a blow. And
even when they did, it was seldom that they could do him a serious injury or leave any imprint.
But when the child was present, these scenes did not occur. It came to be recognized that if the
dog was molested, the child would burst into sobs, and as the child, when started, was very
riotous and practically unquenchable, the dog had therein a safeguard.
However, the child could not always be near. At night, when he was asleep, his dark-brown
friend would raise from some black corner a wild, wailful cry, a song of infinite lowliness and
despair, that would go shuddering and sobbing among the buildings of the block and cause
people to swear. At these times the singer would often be chased all over the kitchen and hit with
a great variety of articles.
Sometimes, too, the child himself used to beat the dog, although it is not known that he ever had
what could be truly called a just cause. The dog always accepted these thrashings with an air of
admitted guilt. He was too much of a dog to try to look to be a martyr or to plot revenge. He
received the blows with deep humility, and furthermore he forgave his friend the moment the
child had finished, and was ready to caress the child's hand with his little red tongue.
When misfortune came upon the child, and his troubles overwhelmed him, he would often crawl
under the table and lay his small distressed head on the dog's back. The dog was ever
sympathetic. It is not to be supposed that at such times he took occasion to refer to the unjust
beatings his friend, when provoked, had administered to him.
He did not achieve any notable degree of intimacy with the other members of the family. He had
no confidence in them, and the fear that he would express at their casual approach often
exasperated them exceedingly. They used to gain a certain satisfaction in underfeeding him, but
finally his friend the child grew to watch the matter with some care, and when he forgot it, the
dog was often successful in secret for himself.
So the dog prospered. He developed a large bark, which came wondrously from such a small rug
of a dog. He ceased to howl persistently at night. Sometimes, indeed, in his sleep, he would utter
little yells, as from pain, but that occurred, no doubt, when in his dreams he encountered huge
flaming dogs who threatened him direfully.
His devotion to the child grew until it was a sublime thing. He wagged at his approach; he sank
down in despair at his departure. He could detect the sound of the child's step among all the
noises of the neighborhood. It was like a calling voice to him.
The scene of their companionship was a kingdom governed by this terrible potentate, the child;
but neither criticism nor rebellion ever lived for an instant in the heart of the one subject. Down
in the mystic, hidden fields of his little dog-soul bloomed flowers of love and fidelity and perfect
faith.
The child was in the habit of going on many expeditions to observe strange things in the vicinity.
On these occasions his friend usually jogged aimfully along behind. Perhaps, though, he went
ahead. This necessitated his turning around every quarter-minute to make sure the child was
coming. He was filled with a large idea of the importance of these journeys. He would carry
himself with such an air! He was proud to be the retainer of so great a monarch.
One day, however, the father of the family got quite exceptionally drunk. He came home and
held carnival with the cooking utensils, the furniture and his wife. He was in the midst of this
recreation when the child, followed by the dark-brown dog, entered the room. They were
returning from their voyages.
The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's state. He dived under the table, where
experience had taught him was a rather safe place. The dog, lacking skill in such matters, was, of
course, unaware of the true condition of affairs. He looked with interested eyes at his friend's
sudden dive. He interpreted it to mean: Joyous gambol. He started to patter across the floor to
join him. He was the picture of a little dark-brown dog en route to a friend.
The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave a huge howl of joy, and knocked the
dog down with a heavy coffee-pot. The dog, yelling in supreme astonishment and fear, writhed
to his feet and ran for cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot. It caused the dog to
swerve as if caught in a tide. A second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor.
Here the child, uttering loud cries, came valiantly forth like a knight. The father of the family
paid no attention to these calls of the child, but advanced with glee upon the dog. Upon being
knocked down twice in swift succession, the latter apparently gave up all hope of escape. He
rolled over on his back and held his paws in a peculiar manner. At the same time with his eyes
and his ears he offered up a small prayer.
But the father was in a mood for having fun, and it occurred to him that it would be a fine thing
to throw the dog out of the window. So he reached down and grabbing the animal by a leg, lifted
him, squirming, up. He swung him two or three times hilariously about his head, and then flung
him with great accuracy through the window.
The soaring dog created a surprise in the block. A woman watering plants in an opposite window
gave an involuntary shout and dropped a flower-pot. A man in another window leaned perilously
out to watch the flight of the dog. A woman, who had been hanging out clothes in a yard, began
to caper wildly. Her mouth was filled with clothes-pins, but her arms gave vent to a sort of
exclamation. In appearance she was like a gagged prisoner. Children ran whooping.
The dark-brown body crashed in a heap on the roof of a shed five stories below. From thence it
rolled to the pavement of an alleyway.
The child in the room far above burst into a long, dirgelike cry, and toddled hastily out of the
room. It took him a long time to reach the alley, because his size compelled him to go downstairs
backward, one step at a time, and holding with both hands to the step above.
When they came for him later, they found him seated by the body of his dark-brown friend.
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