Master Sunshine | Page 6

face up against his shoulder, and opened her rosy mouth in a great
yawn, and dropped quietly off to sleep.
But Master Sunshine's thoughts were not quite so care-free as Lucy's.
"Next time I must be a better brother," he said to himself; and when his
mother came to carry the baby to her crib, he would not let her give
him a word of praise. "I am too ashamed to tell you why, mother," he
said; "but after this I mean to take better care of my little sister."
The rain kept falling steadily, and after dinner, when mamma had gone
to lie down, and Almira Jane was washing up the dishes, Master

Sunshine was drumming on the window-pane, and wondering what he
should do the whole long afternoon. Just then Tommy Dane came
running up towards the house, and behind him scampered a dog, very
like Gyp, who, when he heard the familiar bark, put his paws on the
window-sill, and wagged his tail with delight; while Daisy, meowing to
Spry to follow her, fled hastily up the kitchen stairway.
"Mother said I might bring Tim over and have you teach him tricks this
afternoon," announced Tommy, shaking the rain off his coat.
"Tim is not a smart dog, like your Gyp. He does not seem to be able to
think. I almost wish I had taken Gyp when I had the chance."
Master Sunshine and Tommy had got their dogs from the same litter of
puppies, and Tommy had had the first choice.
"Tim is such a cross, snappy dog," continued Tommy. "He makes me
angry every time I try to teach him anything."
"May be it is because you are angry that he is cross and snappy," said
Almira Jane, half under her breath.
Of course Master Sunshine was very proud to exhibit Gyp. He loved to
have his pet look up at him with trusting brown eyes; and when Gyp
sprang on his knee, and put his paws affectionately about his master's
neck, it always seemed as if he were not quite a dog, but something
very like a dear human friend. Gyp had such winning ways too. He
would stand on his hind legs and beg, or he would seat himself on a
chair, and hold out a paw to shake hands with, in the most knowing
manner; and all of these accomplishments he owed to his little master's
patient teaching.
Almira Jane was through washing the dishes now; and as she took the
broom in hand to begin sweeping out the kitchen, Tim gave a
frightened growl, and fled to the dining-room.
Almira Jane grew very red in the face as she said, "That dog can think
well enough, and tell his thoughts too. It is plain to me that some one

has used a broom to ill-treat the poor, helpless creature with."
Almira Jane looked very hard at Tommy as she spoke; but Tommy
threw back his head as if he did not much care what she said, and
followed his dog into the dining-room. "Let's keep away from that girl,"
he said coaxingly; "it seems to me she is very interfering."
"She taught me how to teach Gyp," said Master Sunshine politely; "and
she is very wise about animals. You'll be fond of her, too, when you
understand her ways. She only gets 'nervous,' like she was now, when
she is very busy and hurried, or when she thinks people have been
unkind. I'm sure she did not mean that you had beaten your Tim with a
broom."
Tommy hung his head.
"But I did," he said, almost in a whisper; "he would not shake hands, as
I wanted him to, so I took up the broom and gave him a blow with it. I
thought no one saw me do it, and I never imagined Tim would tell."
Master Sunshine was very much shocked. He had not believed that his
friend would be guilty of such a deed. "Tommy," he said gravely, "if
you are unkind to Tim he will never look at you as if he loved you, and
that is the nicest thing about having a dog."
"I got him a pound of raw meat from the butcher's to make up for it,"
said Tommy, half sulkily.
"But that wasn't kind, either, though you meant it to be so," cried
Master Sunshine; "Tim is too young a dog to have so much meat at one
time. He needs to have his meals regularly, just like you and me. Too
much fresh meat will make him very cross. Perhaps that is part of the
reason why he snaps at you."
Tommy was much interested. "I wonder why I never knew that
before?" he cried. "After this I will see about his