ter he leaves Riverdale that Bella always shocks
Mrs. Morris with her slang talk.

I am glad that I am to end my days in Riverdale. Fairport was a very
nice place, but it was not open and free like this farm. I take a walk
every morning that the sun shines. I go out among the horses and cows,
and stop to watch the hens pecking at their food. This is a happy place,
and I hope my dear Miss Laura will live to enjoy it many years after I
am gone.

I have very few worries. The pigs bother me a little in the spring, by
rooting up the bones that I bury in the fields in the fall, but that is
a small matter, and I try not to mind it. I get a great many bones here,
and I should be glad if I had some poor, city dogs to help me eat them.
I don't think bones are good for pigs.

Then there is Mr. Harry's tame squirrel out in one of the barns that
teases me considerably. He knows that I can't chase him, now that my
legs are so stiff with rheumatism, and he takes delight in showing me
how spry he can be, darting around me and whisking his tail almost in my
face, and trying to get me to run after him, so that he can laugh at me.
I don't think that he is a very thoughtful squirrel, but I try not to
notice him.

The sailor boy who gave Bella to the Morrises has got to be a large,
stout man, and is the first mate of a vessel. He sometimes comes here,
and when he does, he always brings the Morrises presents of foreign
fruits and curiosities of different kinds.

Malta, the cat, is still living, and is with Mrs. Morris. Davy, the rat,
is gone, so is poor old Jim. He went away one day last summer, and no
one ever knew what became of him. The Morrises searched everywhere for
him, and offered a large reward to any one who would find him, but he
never turned up again. I think that he felt he was going to die, and
went into some out-of-the-way place. He remembered how badly Miss Laura
felt when Dandy died, and he wanted to spare her the greater sorrow of
his death. He was always such a thoughtful dog, and so anxious not to
give trouble. I am more selfish. I could not go away from Miss Laura
even to die. When my last hour comes, I want to see her gentle face
bending over me, and then I shall not mind how much I suffer.

She is just as tender-hearted as ever, but she tries not to feel too
badly about the sorrow and suffering in the world, because she says that
would weaken her, and she wants all her strength to try to put a stop to
some of it