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Little Dog Ready: How He Lost Himself in the Big World

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<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1>LITTLE DOG READY</h1> <p class="center"><i>How He Lost Himself in the Big World</i></p> <p class="center p2 large"><i>by</i> MABEL F. STRYKER</p> <p class="center p4">TO ALL CHILDREN<br/> AND GROWN-UPS<br/> WHO LOVE DOGS<br/></p> <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br/></h2><h3 class="nobreak">HOW READY LOST HIS HEAD</h3> <p><span class="smcap">He</span> was a little black and white dog with a shaggy coat and a waggy tail. He had very polite eyes which were always watching people to find out what they would like to have him do. Whenever people were kind enough to tell him what they wanted, he would always do it for them if he possibly could, and that is why he was named “Ready.”</p> <p>Ready loved his little master Dick more than any one in the world, and Dick never wanted Ready out of his sight; and that is how this story came about.</p> <p>It was a very sad day for Dick and Ready<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> when Dick fell from the apple tree and broke his arm. Have you ever broken your arm? If you have, you know how much it hurts, and how still you have to be. Even then the pain won’t go away. Of course Dick wanted Ready with him every single minute of the day and night.</p> <p>But in the middle of the second night Ready felt that he really must stretch his legs while Dick was asleep. He would not have thought of letting his master know that he was in great need of a little run, but now that Dick was asleep—and he put his nose against Dick’s good arm to be quite sure that he was—Ready stepped out of the open window into the big world.</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image003.png" width-obs="400" height-obs="523" alt="" /></div> <div class="caption"><p>All would have gone well if Ready had not met Big Yellow Dog</p> </div> <p>I suppose all would have gone well if Ready had not met Big Yellow Dog. Big Yellow Dog<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> had always snubbed Ready frightfully, but even Big Yellow Dogs have their good moments, and this must have been one of them.</p> <p>Big Yellow Dog said, “Good evening,” and almost stopped.</p> <p>This turned Ready’s head. It would have turned any dog’s head. Did you ever have your head turned? You will some day, and when it happens, try hard to look where you are going, for you are <i>always going wrong</i>.</p> <p>Of course Ready did not know this, and when Big Yellow Dog said pleasantly, “Come along,” Ready went. Faster and faster ran Big Yellow Dog. Faster and faster ran Ready, although he felt that his legs were getting shorter and shorter.</p> <p>Suddenly Ready lost sight of Big Yellow<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> Dog altogether, and then he felt very tired. He sat right down on the pavement, for he knew now that his head had been turned. Of course he tried to turn it back again, but he was so tired that he only made it worse.</p> <div class="figcenter"> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image005.png" width-obs="400" height-obs="338" alt="" /></div> <div class="caption"><p class="center">Faster and faster ran Ready</p> </div> </div> <p>Then he tried to run home, but of course he ran in the wrong direction, and when you run<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> home in the wrong direction, a most unpleasant thing happens—<i>you don’t get there at all</i>.</p> <p>Ready ran on and on until he came to a house which he thought was his. You see he was quite sleepy by this time, and when you have a sleepy turned head you may as well give up.</p> <p>He wondered why the windows were all closed, but even before he had finished saying, “How queer that the windows are not——” he was fast asleep on the doormat. He did not wake up until he heard some one talking.</p> <p>“Oh, see this darling little dog!” said a young lady, looking down at him.</p> <p>Then all the family came to look down at him and to say, “How cute!” and “What a dear!”</p> <p>Now Ready, as you remember, was a very polite little dog; so of course he wagged his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> waggy tail and said in his best dog language, “How do you do?”</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image007.png" width-obs="400" height-obs="274" alt="" /></div> <div class="caption"><p class="center">“How do you do?”</p> </div> <p>This seemed to delight everybody, and they gave him breakfast at once. Ready greatly enjoyed his breakfast, and he thought there would be no harm in staying a few minutes with such very pleasant people. But that is where he made his second bad mistake, as you will see.</p> <p>He really should have run away from them as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> fast as his little legs could carry him, for all at once the young lady said, “I am going to keep this little dog <i>forever</i>.”</p> <p>“But you can see by his collar,” said her mother, “that he belongs to some one else.”</p> <p>I had forgotten to tell you that Ready wore a nice little silver collar and on it was written:</p> <div class="blockquot"> <p>“HIS NAME IS READY BECAUSE HE ALWAYS IS SO.”</p> </div> <p>“It does not say <i>where</i> he belongs,” said the young lady with a pout, “and I <i>want</i> him.”</p> <p>“He will not want to stay,” said the mother.</p> <p>“Then I will tie him up and <i>make</i> him stay,” said the young lady, quite crossly.</p> <p>Now any one could see with half an eye that the young lady was going to have her own way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> Even Ready felt that without understanding young-lady language. If he had known what dreadful things she was saying, of course he would have run right out of the door.</p> <p>But he did not know; so he only wagged his tail, hoping that would make her feel a little better. He thought that he must do something in return for his good breakfast.</p> <p>The young lady grew crosser and crosser and finally stamped her foot. This made Ready decide to leave at once, for there is no knowing what may happen to dogs or dishes when any one begins to stamp a foot!</p> <p>Ready stood up and said his prettiest good-bye, which was three little barks and then one long one, with tail wagging all the time, of course.</p> <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> <p>In a second he would have been out of the house, but the young lady caught him by the collar and held him.</p> <p>Then—I cannot tell you how it hurts me to say this—<i>they tied him</i>. Yes, they did! They tied him to an old hook and kept him there for nearly a week! They took him out for a breath of air for a few minutes each day and then put him back in his stuffy prison.</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image010.png" width-obs="400" height-obs="421" alt="" /></div> <div class="caption"><p class="center">They tied him</p> </div> <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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