THE DOG.
IN WORDS OF FOUR LETTERS.
Boy. I love the dog. Do not you?
Mother. Yes, sure.
Boy. Wag! do you love me?
Mother. You see he does; he wags his tail. When he wags his tail, he says, I love you.
Boy. Does his tail tell me so?
Mother. Yes; it says, I love you; I love you; pray love me.
Boy. When we go out, he wags his tail: what does his tail say then?
Mother. It says, Pray let me go; I wish to go with you.
Boy. I love to have him go with me.
Mother. Here is a cake for you.
Boy. Nice cake! See the dog! how he wags his tail now! Why do you wag your tail? Why do you look so? Why does he wag his tail so much?
Mother. To beg for some cake. His tail says, I love you; you have a cake, and I have none: will you not be good to me? Will you not give some of your cake to your poor dog?
Boy. Poor dog! do you want some cake? take a bit. Here! I hold it to him, but he does not take a bit.—Take some; O, he has got it all! he was not to take all. Fie, Wag! to take all! Now I have none left. You are rude, Wag.
Mother. He did stay some time.—Here, I will give you a plum-cake.
Boy. Now you are to have none, Wag. You are to have none of this cake; you were rude.
Mother. He did not know that he was not to take all. He can not know all that you say.
Boy. Well, you may have a bit of this. I will take a bit off and give it to him.
Mother. Do so. You are a good boy. We must be kind to all. We must give to them who want.
Boy. Why do you ask for more?
Mother. He has not had a meal to-day. He had not a bit till now. You have had food.
Boy. I hope he will have meat at noon. I will ask cook to give him a bone; and he may have some milk, and he can have some bran. Cook will boil them for him. Poor dog! he can not ask as we can, so I will ask for him. Wag, I wish you could talk. Why does he bark at poor men?
Mother. When he sees a man whom he does not know, then he says, “Who are you?—who are you?—why do you come?—what do you do here?—I am at home—I must tell the folks—I must tell that you are here—I will call our folks to look at you. Come out, man; come out, maid—see who this is.—Bow, wow, wow, wow!”
Boy. Does the dog say all that? Why does he stop as soon as the folks come out?
Mother. He is so wise as to know that he need bark no more then. If he means to call them out, he will stop when they are come out.
Boy. Wag, why do you gape when you are hot? Can you tell me why he does so?
Mother. To cool his tongue.