plunge him in. That made him well again, and no one seemed to
think it was a great deal of trouble to take for a creature that was
nothing but a dog.

He fully repaid them for all his care, for he turned out to be one of
the prettiest and most lovable dogs that I ever saw. They called
him Billy, and the two events of his early life were the opening of
his eyes and the swallowing of his muslin rag. The rag did not
seem to hurt him, but Miss Laura said that, as he had got so strong
and greedy, he must learn to eat like other dogs.

He was very amusing when he was a puppy. He was full of tricks,
and he crept about in a mischievous way when one did not know
he was near. He was a very small puppy and used to climb inside
Miss Laura's Jersey sleeve up to her shoulder when he was six
weeks old. One day, when the whole family was in the parlor, Mr.
Morris suddenly flung aside his newspaper, and began jumping up
and down. Mrs. Morris was very much alarmed, and cried out,
"My dear William what is the matter?"

"There's a rat up my leg," he said, shaking it violently. Just then
little Billy fell out on the floor and lay on his back looking up at
Mr. Morris with a surprised face. He had felt cold and thought it
would be warm inside Mr. Morris' trouser's leg.

However, Billy never did any real mischief, thanks to Miss Laura's
training. She began to punish him just as soon as he began to tear
and worry things. The first thing he attacked was Mr. Morris' felt
hat. The wind blew it down the hall one day, and Billy came along
and began to try it with his teeth. I dare say it felt good to them, for