Mischief
: STORIES for LITTLE BOYS: Boys And Girls Bookshelf
BY ROSAMOND UPHAM
Mischief was a cunning little fellow from the very first day that I saw
him. Such a round, plump little body, such short, clumsy legs, and such
a roguish face; just the one of all his nine brothers and sisters about
whom to write a story, and so you shall hear of his preparations for the
long journey upon which he went when he was two months old.
His playmates were sent awa
alone, with only the mastiff Rex for a companion, and a most forlorn
little pup he was, running about all day long, trying to keep up with
his new protector.
One morning in January, the weather being very severe, Mischief was
taken into the kitchen to live, and a happier dog than he could not be
imagined, trotting about after the cook and housemaid from morning until
night, chasing the cats, stealing towels and brushes--in fact, attending
to all the mischief that came in his way.
One day, about two weeks after he came into the house to live, a letter
came from Milwaukee saying that he, too, must be sent off. And of
course, Mischief knew about it. How could he help it, when the whole
household were so sorry to have him go? And accordingly he began to make
ready for the long journey he was so soon to take.
As he sat by the range, evidently trying to make up his mind what to
take with him, his first thought was of the old coat he had had as a
bed; so he crossed the room, took the coat in his mouth, and with his
paws scratched it up into a bundle.
Then he thought of his milk-dish. Of course he must take that, for how
could he drink from any other dish than the shiny one given him by the
cook two weeks before? So he took that between his teeth and put it
beside the coat. And the stove-hook, why not take that? No one seemed to
be using it just at the moment. And a gelatin-box that had just been
emptied, would it not be nice to pack his new collar in?
So he ran tumbling across the floor for the box, and back again for the
string, when just then a pair of mittens caught his eye, and in this
cold weather the mittens would be a comfort on so long a journey, so
they were added to the collection under the table. And Mischief was just
thinking he was about ready to start, when the very thing he most
dreaded to leave behind him ran across the floor--the little yellow
kitten; why could she not go with him, and then the journey would not
seem so long? Accordingly, he ran after her, caught her by the neck, and
tried to put her down with his other baggage; but the kitten could not
understand what Mischief meant, and scratched and spit in a way that
plainly said she would not accompany him.
Poor Mischief lay down in despair, and, after his hard morning's work,
took a long nap, only waking in time for his dinner. The next day he was
put into a warm box, carried to the station, and after a three days'
journey arrived in Milwaukee, happy, well, and delighted with his new
master, apparently quite forgetting his little mistress whom he left in
her New Hampshire home.
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