That foolish dog

Dave Regan, Jim Bentley and Andy Page looked for gold in Stony Creek. They worked with dynamite sticks which they put into holes in the ground and then blew up. There was a small river near their camp with much fish in it. All of them liked fish and tried to catch it when they had time. Once Dave had an idea: to kill fish with the help of dynamite. And he began to make a dynamite stick which was larger than the sticks they blew up every day.

They had a dog, a large black dog. His name was Tommy. He was their best friend and he was always with them. If they threw a thing away Tommy always brought it back and put it at their feet. Once they threw away a dead cat and Tommy brought it back. He was a foolish dog but they liked him all the same and often took him with them to the river.

That morning the dog watched Andy who was busy with his dynamite stick. Dave and Jim were at work in the field and Andy was on duty at the fire. When the dynamite stick was ready Andy put it on the ground near the tent and began to prepare dinner. Soon Dave and Jim came to have dinner and Tommy was with them. As the men sat down round the fire Tommy ran about their little camp.

Suddenly Dave heard a little noise behind him, he looked around and saw something that frightened him. Their dog Tommy stood near them with the dynamite stick between his teeth and the end of the fuse was burning fast.

“I know what happened then", Dave told his friends later, "the foolish dog found the dynamite stick near the tent and decided to bring it to us at once. As he came near the fire the end of the fuse got into the fire and began to bum".

As soon as Dave saw the dog he started to run away. Jim Bentley also turned round and then ran after Dave.

"Run, Andy, run!" they shouted to their friend who stayed at the fire. Look round, you fool!"

Andy looked round and saw Tommy with the dynamite stick in his mouth. Andy's legs began to move before he could think of anything. He followed Dave and Jim and the dog followed them. Tommy jumped about as he ran: he thought that all this was some game and he liked it.

Dave and Tim shouted to Andy as they ran, "Don't run after us! Don't run after us, you fool!"

But Andy ran after them. Not one of them knew why they followed each other. But the fact was that Dave came behind Jim, Andy came behind Dave and the dog ran after Andy and the fuse was burning fast Andy tried to strike the dog, but Tommy was too quick for him. Then he threw some stones and sticks at the dog and continued to run. It seemed that Tommy understood his mistake: he left Andy but began to follow Dave. As soon as Dave saw the danger he ran up to the dog, caught it, took the dynamite stick from his mouth and threw it away. Tommy then knew what he must do. He ran after the dynamite stick, took it between his teeth and followed Jim.

(After H. Lawson)

How we kept mother’s day

(After Stephen Leacock)

Of all the different ideas that have been started lately. I think that the very best is the one of celebrating Mother's Day every year. I don't wonder that May the eleventh is becoming such a popular date all over America, in a big family like ours. We thought it a fine idea.

We decided that we would make Mother's Day a great day, a ho­liday for all the family, and do everything we соuld to make Mother happy. Father decided to take a holiday from his office so as to help in celebrating the day, my sister Ann and I stayed home from college, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School.

It was our plan to make it a day like Christmas or any big holiday, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers, and all that kind of things. We got Mother to do the decorations, because she always does it at Christmas.

We decided that we should get a motor-car and take Моther for a beautiful drive into the country because she is busy in the house nearly all the time.

So we got everything ready for the trip, and we got Mother to make up a sort of lunch in case we got hungry, though of course we planned to come back home again to a big dinner in the middle of the day, just like Christmas or New Year's Day. Mother packed it all up for us ready to put in the car.

Well, when the car came to the door it turned out that it was much smaller than we had thought and it was clear that we couldn’t all get in.

Father said that he could just as well stay at home, and that he was sure that he could spend the time working in the garden, he wanted us to go and be happy and have a good day. But of course we all felt that it would never do to let Father stay at home especially as we knew he would not be happy if he did. The two girls, Ann and Mary, were prepared to stay and get dinner ready. They both said that Mother had only to say the word, and they gladly stay at home and work. Will and I couldn't help in getting dinner ready.

So in the end it was decided, that Mother would stay at home and just have a lovely restful day round the house, and get the dinner.