登陆注册
4609900000002

第2章 The Coming Of Bruce(1)

She was beautiful. And she had a heart and a soul--which were a curse. For without such a heart and soul, she might have found the tough life-battle less bitterly hard to fight.

But the world does queer things--damnable things--to hearts that are so tenderly all-loving and to souls that are so trustfully and forgivingly friendly as hers.

Her "pedigree name" was Rothsay Lass. She was a collie--daintily fragile of build, sensitive of nostril, furrily tawny of coat.

Her ancestry was as flawless as any in Burke's Peerage.

If God had sent her into the world with a pair of tulip ears and with a shade less width of brain-space she might have been cherished and coddled as a potential bench-show winner, and in time might even have won immortality by the title of "CHAMPIONRothsay Lass."

But her ears pricked rebelliously upward, like those of her earliest ancestors, the wolves. Nor could manipulation lure their stiff cartilages into drooping as bench show fashion demands. The average show-collie's ears have a tendency to prick. By weights and plasters, and often by torture, this tendency is overcome.

But never when the cartilage is as unyielding as was Lass's.

Her graceful head harked back in shape to the days when collies had to do much independent thinking, as sheep-guards, and when they needed more brainroom than is afforded by the borzoi skull sought after by modern benchshow experts.

Wherefore, Lass had no hope whatever of winning laurels in the show-ring or of attracting a high price from some rich fancier.

She was tabulated, from babyhood, as a "second"--in other words, as a faulty specimen in a litter that should have been faultless.

These "seconds" are as good to look at, from a layman's view, as is any international champion. And their offspring are sometimes as perfect as are those of the finest specimens. But, lacking the arbitrary "points" demanded by show-judges, the "seconds" are condemned to obscurity, and to sell as pets.

If Lass had been a male dog, her beauty and sense and lovableness would have found a ready purchaser for her. For nine pet collies out of ten are "seconds"; and splendid pets they make for the most part.

But Lass, at the very start, had committed the unforgivable sin of being born a female. Therefore, no pet-seeker wanted to buy her. Even when she was offered for sale at half the sum asked for her less handsome brothers, no one wanted her.

A mare--or the female of nearly any species except the canine--brings as high and as ready a price as does the male. But never the female dog. Except for breeding, she is not wanted.

This prejudice had its start in Crusader days, some thousand years ago. Up to that time, all through the civilized world, a female dog had been more popular as a pet than a male. The Mohammedans (to whom, by creed, all dogs are unclean) gave their European foes the first hint that a female dog was the lowest thing on earth.

The Saracens despised her, as the potential mother of future dogs. And they loathed her accordingly. Back to Europe came the Crusaders, bearing only three lasting memorials of their contact with the Moslems. One of the three was a sneering contempt for all female dogs.

There is no other pet as loving, as quick of wit, as loyal, as staunchly brave and as companionable as the female collie. She has all the male's best traits and none of his worst. She has more in common, too, with the highest type of woman than has any other animal alive. (This, with all due respect to womanhood.)Prejudice has robbed countless dog-lovers of the joy of owning such a pal. In England the female pet dog has at last begun to come into her own. Here she has not. The loss is ours.

And so back to Lass.

When would-be purchasers were conducted to the puppy-run at the Rothsay kennels, Lass and her six brethren and sisters were wont to come galloping to the gate to welcome the strangers. For the pups were only three months old--an age when every event is thrillingly interesting, and everybody is a friend. Three times out of five, the buyer's eye would single Lass from the rollicking and fluffy mass of puppyhood.

She was so pretty, so wistfully appealing, so free from fear (and from bumptiousness as well) and carried herself so daintily, that one's heart warmed to her. The visitor would point her out. The kennel-man would reply, flatteringly--"Yes, she sure is one fine pup!"

The purchaser never waited to hear the end of the sentence, before turning to some other puppy. The pronoun, "she," had killed forever his dawning fancy for the little beauty.

The four males of the litter were soon sold; for there is a brisk and a steady market for good collie pups. One of the two other females died. Lass's remaining sister began to "shape up" with show-possibilities, and was bought by the owner of another kennel. Thus, by the time she was five months old, Lass was left alone in the puppy-run.

She mourned her playmates. It was cold, at night, with no other cuddly little fur-ball to snuggle down to. It was stupid, with no one to help her work off her five-months spirits in a romp. And Lass missed the dozens of visitors that of old had come to the run.

The kennel-men felt not the slightest interest in her. Lass meant nothing to them, except the work of feeding her and of keeping an extra run in order. She was a liability, a nuisance.

Lass used to watch with pitiful eagerness for the attendants'

duty-visits to the run. She would gallop joyously up to them, begging for a word or a caress, trying to tempt them into a romp, bringing them peaceofferings in the shape of treasured bones she had buried for her own future use. But all this gained her nothing.

A careless word at best--a grunt or a shove at worst were her only rewards. For the most part, the men with the feed-trough or the water-pail ignored her bounding and wrigglingly eager welcome as completely as though she were a part of the kennel furnishings. Her short daily "exercise scamper" in the open was her nearest approach to a good time.

同类推荐
  • Lesser Hippias

    Lesser Hippias

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 夏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 鸡谱

    鸡谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 近峰纪略

    近峰纪略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 普照禅师修心诀

    普照禅师修心诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 慕爱夏天

    慕爱夏天

    本来就不喜欢转学,因为拗不过妈妈,所以转来这所谓最有名的贵族学校。刚一进校园里,就被一辆车高级跑车溅了一身的泥点子,从车里还下来一位拽拽的男生,长得帅了不起啊,有钱了不起啊,你以为你厉害我就怕你吗?小魔女夏天才不是吃素的,喂,那个八爪鱼,你给我站住,我的衣服怎么办?拉着男生不放手,最后终于把他搞烦,“臭丫头,不闭嘴是吗?”说完他伸手将她揽入怀中,直接强吻上去,几分钟过后,“你还挺有味道的嘛。”
  • 三界好公仆

    三界好公仆

    温馨轻松幽默向。故事很荒诞,人心很真实。月老醉酒后误捆了黑白无常,于乐就跑趟地府,把这对好基友解开。二郎神家的哮天犬爱上了嫦娥家的玉兔,于乐就飞赴广寒宫提亲。孙悟空喝了子母河的水,终究还是怀孕了……有麻烦,找于乐。这个说法在三界内广为流传,都夸于乐是个好公仆。好公仆于乐,却是源于一个泼天的阴谋,诸天神佛,妖魔鬼怪,皆被算计了在内。于乐就给自己定了一个小目标,维护世界和平。作者是山东省作协会员,青岛市作协会员。
  • 本事词

    本事词

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 何为神袛

    何为神袛

    本书不会上架,也不会有封面,爱看不看吧。章字数少于1000
  • 论语集注

    论语集注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 盗墓诡事

    盗墓诡事

    我叫张小天,为了还债,无奈走上盗墓这条路。从地铁工地的古墓中得到一枚残缺的玉如意,从此之后,厄运缠身……
  • 明伦汇编人事典吉凶部

    明伦汇编人事典吉凶部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 奇妙的粉红气流

    奇妙的粉红气流

    双面矛盾的冰刀王子-郝天阳,蠢萌逗比的元气少女-尹小初。从青梅竹马到错失爱情再度牵手,一路为爱情披荆斩棘,令人啼笑皆非的小日常.......那天他知道她怀里抱着她同桌的书,转天送了本全是英文的飞鸟集。“送我这个干嘛?”“比那个高级。”
  • 走过青春伤痛的河流

    走过青春伤痛的河流

    走过青春的磕磕碰碰,随着一起流失的时光,就像日夜不息的河流,走了便是走了,痛过还留有痕迹。亲爱的小青年,如今我们都还年轻,请切记,可以哭着笑,可以笑着哭,但不要忘记对待人生的态度。无论怎样,我都会陪你们一起走过,替你们诉说曾经的,和正在发生的时光。PS:请大家关注我的新作《阅读者》,谢谢!
  • 无上

    无上

    天之极,握日月、掌星辰,至尊无上。地之极,踏九幽、脱轮回,永生无上。道之极,战九霄、败八荒,法则无上。仙之极,杀千神、灭万佛,苍穹无上。魔血少年,十方纵横,云图化神,立足苍穹,终成无上!