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It was one of Dan's birthdays. He had had a party on the 1st of every
month since the time that he was born, which happened to be New
Year's Day. And if you asked Reggie and Flo they would tell you that
Dan quite looked forward to his monthly parties, and, what is more,
enjoyed them. You see, a whole year is a very long time. Boys and
girls may grow to be old men and women and have lots of birthdays;
but a doggie's life is comparatively short, so the more festivals
they can squeeze into it the better. Now, on this particular September 1st of which I am going to tell you, it was arranged that the milkman was to take Reggie and Flo and Dan home with him in his cart directly he had delivered the morning's milk, and bring them back again at tea-time. This he did: and how Reggie and Flo did enjoy themselves, to be sure! The milkman had two little friends staying with him, named Reuben and Jane. Reuben led the way into the woods carrying a kettle and a box of tea-things; while Reggie and Jane and little Flo followed with buns and tarts. Dan was useful too, for he helped to gather sticks with which to boil the kettle. He played hide-and-seek with the children, saw a real live rabbit for the first time in his life, and thought it was a new kind of cat; so in one way he had a very good time, but I am very sorry to tell you that the children quite forgot that Dan could not drink tea or eat jam tarts, and, as for buns, they knew he hated them. So poor Dan[16] got nothing to eat at his own party. And when good-bye was said, and when the kind milkman dropped the three down on the steps—just like the milk-cans—Dan raised a feeble little "bow-wow" to Reggie's mother, and said as plainly as a little doggie could: |
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"O, missis, missis! It's been my party and I've had nuffin' to eat.
All I got was an empty nut-shell—'bow-wow'—which somebody called a
squirrel—'bow-wow'—dropped into my mouth—'bow-wow'—while I was
looking up a tree—'bow-wow-wow'!" Reggie's mother must have understood, for she gave Dan a good supper, and he slept right soundly till morning.
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