McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908.Various
History
McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 3, July 1908.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals
Wherever we went in America, the hotel people wanted to get rid of the
dog. In the paper they had it that Miss Terry asserted that Fussie was a
little terrier, while the hotel people regarded him as a pointer; and
funny caricatures were drawn of a very big me with a very tiny dog, and
a very tiny me with a dog the size of an elephant. Henry often walked
straight out of an hotel where an objection was made to Fussie. If he
wanted to stay, he went in for strategy. At Detroit the manager of the
hotel said that dogs were against the rules. Being very tired, Henry let
Fussie go to the stables for the night, and sent Walter to look after
him. The next morning he sent for the manager.
"Yours is a very old-fashioned hotel, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir, very old and ancient."
"Got a good chef? I didn't think much of the supper last night--but
still--the beds are comfortable enough--I am afraid you don't like
animals?"
"Yes, sir, in their proper place."
"It's a pity," said Henry meditatively, "because you happen to be
overrun by rats!"
"Sir, you must have made a mistake. Such a thing couldn't----"
"Well, I couldn't pass another night here without my dog," Henry
interrupted. "But there are, I suppose, other hotels?"
"If it would be any comfort to you to have your dog with you, sir, do,
by all means, but I assure you that he'll catch no rat here."
"I'll be on the safe side," said Henry calmly.
And so it was settled. That very night Fussie supped off, not rats, but
terrapin and other delicacies in Henry's private sitting room.
[Illustration: _Photograph by Sarony_
AUGUSTIN DALY]
It was the 1888 tour, the great blizzard year, that Fussie was left
behind by mistake at Southampton. He jumped out at the station, just
outside where they stopped to collect tickets. After this long
separation, Henry naturally thought that the dog would go nearly mad
with joy when he saw him again. He described to me the meeting in a
letter:
"My dear Fussie gave me a terrible shock on Sunday night. When
we got in, J----, H----, and I dined at the Cafe Royale. I told
Walter to bring Fussie there. He did, and Fussie burst into the
room while the waiter was cutting some mutton, when, what d'ye
think--one bound at me--another instantaneous bound at the
mutton, and from the mutton nothing would get him until he'd got
his plateful.
"Oh what a surprise it was indeed! He never now will leave my
side, my legs, or my presence, but I cannot but think, alas, of
that seductive piece of mutton!"
_The Death of Fussie_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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