cks, and pious books,
And fancy finger-rings.

"And underneath his cart was tied
A bull-dog of the kind
That tears your musn't-mention-'ems,
In angry frame of mind.

"Now, Lige's dog was smellin' round,
And when he see this here,
He cocked his eye in agony,
And acted awful queer.

"The bull-dog gin a rousin' shout,
As Lige's dog went by,
And gev him such a sassy nip
That fur began to fly.

"Then Lige's dog unfurled his tail
And gev the wound a lick,
And then pitched into that ere dog
A way that _wasn't_ sick.

"The critters had it nip and tuck,
And made such awful noise,
That Lige himself came up to see,
With all the other boys.

"The pedler see him, and says he,
Like one to fits inured:
'I'm sorry, strannger; but I hope
Your yaller dog's insured.'

"I tell you, boys, 'twas fun to see
The grin that Lige put on,
As in his cheek he put a chaw
And winked his eye at one.

"'Oh, let the varmints fit,' says Lige,
'My pup is awful thin,
And this here row will make him look
Jist like himself ag'in.'

"And all this while the fit went on,
With such a mess of dust
We couldn't tell the upper dog,
If all our eyes should bust.

"'Twas yell and yowl, and shout and growl,
And stompin' awful hard,
And sometimes they'd a tail stick out
From where the dust was bar'd.

"Byme-by the noise began to die,
And as it fainter grew,
The dust began to settle down,
And you could just see through.

"At last it cleared away entire,
But all that we could see
Was Lige's dog a squattin' down
Beneath the axletree.

"'Law!' says the pedler, lookin' blue,
'What's happened to _my_ pup?'
Says Lige: 'It's my opinion, boss,
My pup has eat him up.'

"'But where's the chain I tied him with?'
The pedler loud did call.
And would you b'lieve me--Lige's dog
Had swallowed chain and all!

"One end was hangin' from his mouth
And gev him such a cough,
We had to fetch a chisel out
And cut some inches off.

"Then that ere brute, to show the joy
That's nat'ral to dum brutes,
Insulted that sad pedler there,
By smellin' round his boots.

"The pedler dropped a tear, and then
Says he to Lige, says he: