Winning His Way | Page 4

him
by the hour, and sometimes made up his mind to be a carriage-painter
when he became a man.
"Mr. Chrome," said Paul, "don't you think that those pigs would look
better if they were painted?"

"Perhaps so."
"I should like to see how they would look painted as you paint your
wagons."
Mr. Chrome laughed at the ludicrous fancy. He loved fun, and was
ready to help carry out the freak.
"Well, just try your hand on improving nature," he said.
Paul went to work. Knowing that pigs like to have their backs scratched,
he had no difficulty in keeping them quiet. To one he gave green legs,
blue ears, red rings round its eyes, and a red tail. Another had one red
leg, one blue, one yellow, one green, with red and blue stripes and
yellow stars on its body. "I will make him a star-spangled pig," Paul
shouted to Mr. Chrome. Another had a green head, yellow ears, and a
red body. Bruno watched the proceedings, wagging his tail, looking
now at Paul and then at the pigs, ready to help on the fun.
"Si'c!--si'c!--si'c!" said Paul. Bruno was upon them with a bound. Away
they capered, with him at their heels. As soon as they came into the
sunshine the spirits of turpentine in the paint was like fire to their flesh.
Faster they ran up the street squealing, with Bruno barking behind. Mr.
Chrome laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. All the dogs, great
and small, joined Bruno in chase of the strange game. People came out
from the stores, windows were thrown up, and all hands--men, women,
and children--ran to see what was the matter, laughing and shouting,
while the pigs and dogs ran round the square.
"Paul Parker did that, I'll bet," said Mr. Leatherby, the shoemaker,
peeping out from his shop. "It is just like him."
An old white horse, belonging to Mr. Smith, also sought the shade of
the maple before the Pensioner's house. Bruno barked at him by the
hour, but the old horse would not move for anything short of a club or
stone.
"I'll see if I can't get rid of him," said Paul to himself.

He went into the barn, found a piece of rope, tied up a little bundle of
hay, got a stick five or six feet long, and some old harness-straps. In the
evening, when it was so dark that people could not see what he was up
to, he caught the old horse, laid the stick between his ears and strapped
it to his neck, and tied the hay to the end of the stick, in such a way that
it hung a few inches beyond old Whitey's nose. The old horse took a
step ahead to nibble the hay,--another,--another,--another! "Don't you
wish you may get it?" said Paul. Tramp,--tramp,--tramp. Old Whitey
went down the road. Paul heard him go across the bridge by the mill,
and up the hill the other side of the brook.
"Go it, old fellow!" he shouted, then listened again. It was a calm night,
and he could just hear old Whitey's feet,--tramp,--tramp,--tramp.
The next morning the good people of Fairview, ten miles from New
Hope, laughed to see an old white horse, with a bundle of hay a few
inches beyond his nose, passing through the place.
Mr. Smith, after breakfast, started out to hunt up old Whitey. He often
found him under the maple in front of the Pensioner's house. Paul was
swinging on the gate. "Have you seen my horse?" Mr. Smith asked.
"Yes, sir, I saw him going down towards the bridge last evening," Paul
replied, chuckling to himself.
Mr. Smith went down to the mill and inquired. The miller heard a horse
go over the bridge. The farmer on the other side heard a horse go up the
hill. Mr. Smith looked at the tracks. They were old Whitey's, who had a
broken shoe on his left hind foot. He followed on. "I never knew him to
go away before," he said to himself, as he walked hour after hour,
seeing the tracks all the way to Fairview.
"Have you seen a white horse about here?" he asked of one of the
villagers.
"Yes, sir; there was one here this morning trying to overtake a bundle
of hay," the man replied, laughing. "There he is now!" he added.

Mr. Smith looked up and saw old Whitey, who had turned about, and
was reaching forward to get a nibble of the hay. Mr. Smith felt like
being angry, but the old horse was walking so soberly and earnestly
that he couldn't help laughing.
"That is some of Paul's doings, I know. I'll give him a blessing when I
get back."
It was noon before Mr.