Do I look like a happy dog? Do I look like a handsome dog? Do I look
like a respectable dog? Is this what the other dogs call fun?
My master is a very kind man. He has brought me up well. I knew he did
not like his dogs to stay out all night, nor wander off at any time with
vulgar dogs. I had over-heard dogs talking about the fun they had when
off together. I had been invited a number of times to join them. I had
always refused until last night. Then I made up my mind I was going to
have some fun too. So quietly slipping away, I ran around the corner and
off with the dogs.
Fun? Yes, we did have fun, though an uneasy sneaky feeling would come
over me at times to interfere with my happiness. Fun? Yes, but it ended
in a fight! Fun? Yes, we did have fun, but I’m not having any now!
One eye nearly gone, one ear half chewed off, a hole in my cheek, a hump
on my leg, my master in sorrow, and I in disgrace, to say nothing of
aches and of pains. It will be some time before I get my good looks back
again, or my usual fine gait. Three-legged and one-eyed! Ugh!
Fun? Yes! But if any dog imagines that I think it pays, he is very much
mistaken. When I let myself down again to go off with vulgar dogs, no
matter what the fun, may I be locked in the asylum for foolish and
insane dogs!!
[Illustration: PLATO.]