The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 21, 1905, Page 6

HE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY the hailf I was very fond of spite h ical friend babit, which entific bodies with weak e ophthalmolo m fet toi remarkable case gronounceable, ohn was ing quite un- d to gaze into sity, while gled aga such portions veach; for stand, ke disapproved of light of subsequ Billy’s uneasiness t stance of an 1 pre To see Blily Wigg co ecross that mi swirled between did every morning was an artistic pleasure. more than a mere pilot vather the rudder to @irection old precise and prompt the trouser leg fror bring the ancient newsbo gentle jerk forw: would start him again, and in obedience to a steady Pl to one side or the other he would trustingly suffer himself to be con- dycted argund a checked wagon or a halted caBle car. All the time Billy Wigg would keep up a running con- versation made up of admonition, warning and encouragement. “Come on, now”—in a series of sharp yaps, as they started from the curb. “Push right ahead. Hold hara. Burry, T said. Will you do as I tell you?” Then, to a too-pressing cabby, in an angry bark, “What's the matter with you, anyway? Trying to run folks down? Hey? Well"—apolo- petically, in response to a jerk on his string—*“these fool drivers do stir me up. Wait a bit. Now for it. And here we are.” How many thousand times dog and man had made the trip in safety be- fore the dire day of the accident not even Bolomon John can reckon. Har- wey and I had started down town early, while our pair of paper-vending Something the dog; accurate ed with 3 A tug of hind would 0 a halt. A whose o e y y/ friends chanced to be a little late. As we reached the corner they were al- v half way across the street, and y Wigg, with all the strength of was striving to haul Solomon John backward. “What's the matter with Billy?” said Harvey, for from the sidewalk we could not then see the cause of his excitement. A second later the question was answered as there plunged into view from behind a car the galloping horse 1 derelict delivery wagon. “Good heavens! Look at the old man,” I cried, and in the same breath, “Look at the dog,” gasped Harvey. With one mighty jerk Billy Wigg ad torn the leash from his master’s nd. Bereft of his sole guidance in e thunder and rush of traffic the d man stretched out piteous warding the death he could of “Where are you, Billy? Billy,” he quavered, “Come back to me, Billy~ dog.” For once Billy Wigg was deaf to his master's voice. He was obeying a more imperious call, that unfathomed nobility of dog-nature that responds so swiftly to: the summeons. He was ‘ ing his own life in the balance to save another’s. Straight at the horse’s throat he launched himself, a forlorn hope, It was a very big horse, and Billy was a very little dog. The upestrike of the knee caught him full; he was flung, whirling," fell al- most under the wheels of a cab, rolled into the 'gutter and lay there quiet. The horse had swerved a little, not quite enough. There was a scream and the blind man went down from the glancing impact of the shoulder. Harvey and I were beside him almost as soon as the crosswalk policeman. The three of us carried him to the sidewalk. “No need to call an ambulance, offi- cer,” said Harvey. and the man is a friend of mine.” “Bedad, thin, the dawg is & frind of mine,” said the big fellow. *“Couldn’t ye take him along, too, sir?” ““Well—rather,” sald Harvey heartily. “Where is he?” He turned to look for the dog. Billy Wigg came crawling toward us. Never tell me that dogs have nd souls. The eyes in Billy’s shaggy little face vearned with a more than human pas- sion of anxiety and love, as, gasping with pain—for he had been cruelly shaken—he dragged himself to his part- ner's face. At the touch of the warm, eager tongue Solomon John's eyes opened. He stretched out his hand and buried it in the heavy fur. “Hello, Billy,” he said weakly. “I was afraid you were hurt. Are you all right, old boy?” And Billy, burrowing a wet nose in Solomon John's mneck, wept for joy with loud whines. Some rapid and expert wire-pulling on the part of Harvey landed our pair of friends in a private hospital, where Solomon John proved a most grateful and gentle patient and Billy gl‘n a most tumultuous one until arrapge- ment was made for the firm to occupy “I'm a physician: BY SAMUEL one and the same cot. Thén/he be- came tractable, even enduring the in- dignity of a fiannel jacket and splints with a sort of humorous tolerance. Every day Harvey came and gazed soulfully into Solomon John's glazed eyes—which is a curious form of treat- ment for broken collarbone, not sanc- tioned by any of the authorities who have written on the subject. Il soon became evident that Harvey dldr’t care anything about the Lone; he had other designs. Oa a day he came to the roint. “Solomon Jonua, would yecu like to have your sight back?” - The blind man sat up in his cot ard pressed his hands to his head. “Do you mean it, sir?”_he gasped. “You—you wouldn't go to fool an old man ‘about such a thing?” “Will you let me operate on morrew?” “Anything you think best, sir. I den’t quite seem to take it all in yet, sir—not the whole sense of it. But if it does come out right,” added Solo- mon John in the simplicity of his soul, “won’t Billy Wigg be surprised and tickled!” i to- Billy Wigg raged mightily and.rent the garments of his best friends be- cause he was shut out during the oper- ation. When he was admitted after it was over he howled tumultuously be- cause Solomon John was racked with ether sickness, which he ‘mistook for the throes of approaching dissolution. 1t was a long, nerve-trying wait, but the day finally came when the white bandages were removed. After the first gasp of rapture Solomon John looked abaut him eagerly. “Let me see my dog,” he said. “Billy, is this you?” as the junlor partner looked with anxious and puzszled eyes into his face. ““Well, you're certainly a mighty handsome doggy, old boy.” (Bllly Wigg was homelier than a stack of hay in January, but the eyes that lcoked on him were as those of a mother when she first sees her babe.) Unhappiness was the portion of Billy in the days that followed. A partner who wandered about unchaperoned and eluded obstacles without relying on his sense of touch was quite beyond his comprehension. So he sulked consist- ently until the time came for leaving UG As REBALI™ NOPKINS the hospital. Then he chirked up a bit, thinking, presumably, that Solomon John would resume his old habit of blind reliance upon him when once the doors had closed behind them. Poor Eilly! It was three weeks after the opera- tion that they left, Solomon John be- ing discharged as cured. Harvey ex- ulted. He said 1t was a great opera- tion and proved things. I thought, myself, it was a mean trick on Billy Wigg. My unprofessional' diagnosis was that he was on the road to be- coming a chronic melancholiac. The partners called-on Harvey soon after the departure from the hospital. They were a study in psychological antithesis; Solomon John bubbling over with boyish happiness, Billy Wigg aged with the weight of woe he was carry- ing. The old man was touchingly .'L;ruteful. but his ally surreptitiously es- sayed to bite a niece out of Harvey's leg when his back was turned. He nursed an unavenged wrong. Months passed beforel we saw the pair again. Wereturned from our Eu- ropean vacation confident of finding them on the same old corner, and, sure enough, thére they were. But as we approached Harvey seized me by the arm. “Good heavens, Bob! Look at the old man!” 2 “What's wrong with him?" said L “He looks just the same as he used to.” “Just the same as he used to,” echoed Harvey bitterly. - “Eye-shade and all.« All my work for nothing. Poor old boy!" “Billy Wigg’s all right, anyway,” said I, as that superior animal greeted us’ with every indication of excite- ment. v ““Think s0?” said Harvey. “It strikes me that it isn't exactly welcome' that he's trylng to express.” Then, in a louder voice to Solomon John, “How did it happen, old Sol?” At the sound of his voice Solomon John whirled about, and; started to thrust up his shade, as if I‘volunurfly. Then he held out tremulous hands, cry- ing: “What! Is that you. Dr. Harvey? God bless vou, sir! And is s Mr. Roberts with you? Well, well; z:: this does me good. Youre a sight sore eyes!” ; *Not for yours, Solomon John." “And why not, then? Whist! I for- got,” he broke off scaredly, jerking his head toward Billy Wigg, who held us all under jealous scrutiny. “Wait a breath.” Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he whipped it out suddenly. A flight of coins scattered and tinkled and roll- ed diversely on the sidewalk. “Dear me!” cried the old man cunningly. “The old fool that T am! Tl never be rich this way. Pick them up; Billy boy.” \ Billy hated'it, for picking small coins from a smooth pavement with lip and taoth is no easy job; hated worse leav- ing his partner to such unscrupulous characters as he well knew us to be. But he knew his business, and set about it with all his energies. “Whisper now,” said the senior part- ner as Billy swore under his breath at a clithery and elusive dime. “T've as fine a pair of eyes as you'd want for star gazing at noonday.” “Then what on earth——" “Sh-h-h! Soft and easy! The beast’s cocking his little ear this way. Sure twas all on his account, sirs.” “On _Billy’s account?” we both ex- claimed in a breath. “You didn’t think I'd be faking it?” he asked reproachfully. ‘We didn’t; and we said so. But we required further enlightenment. “All on account of Billy Wigg there, sirs. The eyesight was a million bless- ings to me, but ’'twas death to poor Billy. Not a pleasure in life would he take after we left the hospital. When T'd walk free and easy along the streets that looked so pretty to my old eyes, the dog’d be crazy with fear that some harm would come to me through him not leading me. At the last he just laid down and set out to die. He'd mot slgep, he'd not eat; and the eyes of him when he'd look at me were fit to make a man weep, I sent for a dog doctor— you being away, sir,” put in Selomon John in polite parenthesis to my friend. “He says, ‘The dog’s dying of a broken heart. Tve seen it before, he says ‘What'll I do?" says L content till you are as jou fore,’ 's the dog doctor. mln‘utm!ou ‘I sensed what Then. my heart got thi HARIN [&5, ADAMS. 4 ‘Blind? I says. ‘Is that what ‘You olé fool,’ Says the dog doctor, ‘can’t you do a bit of play-acting? You've had enough prac- tice in the part,” he says. “Over I went and got my stick and side me. you' mean?' — : _bark, and I hugged e put on the old shade, that I hadn’t ever thought to use again, thanks to you, sir, and tap-tapped across the floor to Billy Wigg. ‘Come on, Billy,” says I; T wast you to take me out for a walk.” Billy jumped up with a kind of choky Billy and Billy hugged me, and—we've been ,doing business on the corner ever since.” There was a long pause. Harvey's expression was queer. I felt & little queer myself. It was a queer story, you know. Finally I asked the old man if business was good. Not that I par- ticularly yearned to know, but it seemed to be time ié say something. “Nicely, sir, thank you,” said Selo- non John. “But I want to ask you. Is it a dishonesty, think you, for me to be wearing my shade like a blind man, able to see a flea on the end of gg's tail the length of the block been mighty good 1 the Lord—giving me b said Solomon John simply, turning to Harvey, “and I wouldn’t want to do anything ° that wasn't just square.” “I wouldn't let it weigh on my mind,” said Harvey. “I'd been thinking of a bit of a sign,” proceeded Solomen John. “A friend of mine pminted it for me, but the idea’s my own.” After some fum he produced a plac in large and flou was the order of i I Am NOT Blind, but the Dog Thinks I Am. Billy Wigg seemed pleased because Harvey kicked me. No doubt he would have been equally pleased if I had kicked Harvey. But it happened to be I who laughed. Harvey covered it up by soberly telling Solomon John that the sign was sure to be a grand success. It was a grand success; quite stu- pendous, in fact. Old Sol did a busi- ness on the strength of it that would bave made his eyes pop out if he hadn't kept them tight shut out of respect to FBilly’s prejudices. Reporters found his simplicity and naive honesty a mine of “good stuff.” and the picture of the firm was in all the papers. Billy Wigg began to suffer from a swelled head; became haughty, not to say snobbish. But the flerce light of publicity wore upon the simple soul of Solomon John. He discarded the extraordinary placard and was glad when he faded away from fame. Billy wasn't. He liked notoriety as well as authority. Billy continued to exercise his au- thority. Perhaps tyranny would be nearer tlp mark. But even so meek a soul as that of Solomon John has limits of endurance beyond which it is not well to press. Only the other day it was that the old man said to Harvey, while Billy Wigg was otherwise en- gaged: “It’'s as bad as being a henpecked husband, sir. Last night as I was quietly stepping out the window to take a mug of ale with some friends, Billy wakes up, and the fuss he makes rcuses the neighborhood. Sure, he wouldn’t hark to my going at all. You can see his teeth marks on my shin this minute, sir. Could you give me something harmiless to put in his food that'd make him sleep the sounder?” Harvey said he’d think about it. Ha wasn't obliged to. Less than a week later he got a note in the mail. “Dear Sir: I could not stand it any longer. I have Absconded to Buffalo to Take a Rest. Please be Good to Billy Wigg. I inclose his Board and Lodging any place you Put him. He is a-good Dog, but too Bossy. I am Going to See Things till my Eyes get Tired. I will come Back in Future. Yrs respectfully, “SOLOMON JO BOLES. “P. S.—I know you will Treat Billy Good.” The inclosure was a twenty« dollar bill. Tt was the price of fres- dom and cheap at _the price. Covyright by 8. S. McClure Cn g under his coat artfully designed ing letters. 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