Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1912)

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42 TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE ROWDY IS A TRIFLE BACKWARD ABOUT TAKING UP A NEW RESIDENCE ever he was, seemed to be a magic name. Rowdy's collar went with the gang, but the dog himself was left, looking gratefully up into his champion's eyes. "Nice dog," soothed the newcomer, patting Rowdy with a grimy hand; ' ' good dog ! Somebody 's lost a pet, all right. Does yer want ter live with me?" Pietro, Rowdy's new friend, was a newsboy — one of the waifs that live, no one knows how or where, picking up a precarious existence, like the sparrows, in the great city. Many of those waifs carry a starved, lonely heart under their ragged coats, and Pietro was one of them. As he looked at the dog, his eyes filled with longing. "I wisht I could keep 'im. But I s'pose 'twould be foolish," he sighed; "it'd be fine to have a dog — they're 'most human ! ' ' Rowdy put up his nose and licked Pietro 's hand gratefully. That settled it. The newsboy's mind was made up. Unless the owner came to claim him, he would keep Rowdy. Somehow, he would manage to feed him. The dog should sleep beside him in the miserable little shack which covered him at night. His heart warmed at the prospect. At last, Pietro had a friend ! "Come on, Sport," he said, benignly, "we'll go over to the frankfurter man an' git a hot dog apiece. But yer bet we wont let the frankfurter man git my little doggie ! " Rowdy knew that his name was not Sport, but there seemed to be no way of conveying this information to his new friend, so he capered along joyously. Probably he thought, in dog language, "What's in a name, anyhow?" It was the beginning of a new life for the dog and for the boy. Pietro 's starved heart enveloped the dog with a wealth of affection which equaled the devotion of his former master. Pietro could not give Rowdy a luxurious rug and expensive food, as Bob had done, but the bed which he constructed out of old sacks was warm and comfortable, and the scraps and bones which he begged from friendly butchers kept away all pangs of hunger. When there were no gifts of bones, Rowdy's supper must be bought with a few of the hard-earned pennies, but it was always provided. If one must go hungry to bed, it was Pietro, but his empty stomach never troubled him, so long as Rowdy was curled up at his feet, warm and well fed. If Rowdy thought regretfully of his former life, he never showed it ; he returned Pietro 's devotion and lived in the present, like a sensible dog. But in the home which Rowdy had left so unceremoniously woe and desolation prevailed. Bob mourned for his playmate and refused to be comforted. Daily he searched for Rowdy, devoting all his play hours to the fruitless quest. Bob's parents were scarcely less concerned than the boy himself. For many days a notice was seen in the morning papers : LOST.— Dark brindle Boston Bull, answers to the name of Rowdy. Liberal reward if returned to 2627 Webster Ave.