One day, when Johnnie Jones was playing in his front yard, he heard the yelping of a dog.  He ran to the gate, and saw, lying in the street, a poor little puppy which had been hurt by a wagon, or perhaps, an automobile.

“You may come home with me, you poor little thing,” Johnnie Jones told the dog.  “My mother will rub salve on you and make you well.  Come on.”

But the poor little puppy couldn’t walk.  Johnnie Jones picked him up, and attempted to carry him to the house.  The puppy was so heavy, however, that Johnnie Jones was obliged to put him down and take him up again, three times, before he reached the side door.  He called to Mother to come down.

“But, little son,” she said, “we can’t keep a strange dog.  We shall have to let him run away.”

“Oh, Mother, he’s hurt, and I am sure he’s hungry, so don’t you think we shall have to keep him?”

Of course, as soon as Mother understood that the puppy was hurt, she knew that it would be necessary to keep him, at least until he was well again.  She examined the little fellow and found that he was not badly injured, but was merely bruised and frightened.  She and Johnnie Jones bathed and bandaged the poor little body, and when the puppy seemed to feel more comfortable, gave him a bowl of milk.  He could not say “Thank you,” but he wagged his tail, and kissed their hands, which meant “Thank you,” so they agreed that he was a polite little dog,

“But where shall we keep him?” asked Mother.  “I can’t allow him in the house, he would gnaw the legs of the chairs and tables; all puppies do when they are cutting their teeth.”

“Perhaps Father and I can build a doghouse,” Johnnie Jones answered, and when Father came home they talked it over.

“Well,” Father decided, “If the grocery man will give us a large box, we can line it, fill it with straw, and I’ll cut a door in one end.  That should make an excellent house for Mr. Doggie.”

Johnnie Jones ran to the grocery-store as fast as he could run, and asked the grocery man to send down a large box.  As soon as it came, Father cut the door, Johnnie Jones arranged the straw, and there was the house all ready for the dog.

Johnnie Jones named him Jack.  Jack soon became well and strong, and because he was such a good dog, and because his owner could not be found, he was allowed to remain at Johnnie Jones’s house.  He wasn’t a puppy very long.  He grew and grew, until he was too large for his box, and had to sleep in the front hall of the Jones’s house.  He and Johnnie Jones loved each other dearly, and were almost always together.  Mother used to say that they reminded her of Mary and her lamb, except that Jack was as black as coal.

You remember how Mary’s lamb followed her to school one day, which was against the rule?  Well, it was necessary to keep Jack in the closet every morning, until after Johnnie Jones had gone to kindergarten, because he always wanted to go with him.  One morning the door was not fastened securely, and Jack was able to push it open.  Then, before any one saw him, he ran out the gate, and followed Johnnie Jones.  The little boy did not see him and did not know that Jack was just behind him as he entered the kindergarten room, until the children began to laugh and he turned around to see what was the matter.  There stood Jack, wagging his tail with all his might.