FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING 
 THE STORY OF B-W'AND 
 NICOLETTE ^^ BY A-E-F 
 
r EXUBRE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA^ 
 
 JOHN HENKf NASH LIBRARY 
 
 <$ SAN FRANCISCO <8> 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 ROBERT GORDON SPROUL, PRESIDENT. 
 
 MR.ANDMRS.MILTON S.RAY 
 CECILY, VIRGINIAANDROSALYN RAY 
 
 AND THE 
 
 RAY OIL BURNER COMPANY 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 NEW YORK. 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
Friendfhip** Offering 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 The Merrymount Press 
 1906 
 
Friendship** Offering 
 
 "HOW FAR THAT LITTLE CANDLE THROWS HIS BEAMS, 
 SO SHINES A GOOD DEED IN A NAUGHTY WORLD." 
 
 IF the very angels of heaven were sent 
 to guard and guide him upon his jour- 
 ney, I, for one, should not wonder; for his 
 errand was a blessed one from start to finish. 
 But who was the traveller who might have 
 been so favored? Only a dog. And with what 
 noble mission may such an one as he have 
 been entrusted? Only the rescue of another 
 small creature. 
 
 How did I come to know the story? One 
 morning last year I read in my "Daily 
 News" the following paragraph: 
 
 A family living in the town of A , 
 
 having decided upon a change of residence^ 
 departed one morning from their old home, 
 taking with them their dog, but leaving behind 
 the household cat. 'The second day after their 
 establishment in the new home the dog dis- 
 appeared, reappearing in a few days accom- 
 panied by the cat. 
 
 Much impressed by this vouched-for 
 statement, I determined to learn as much 
 as was possible about the, to me, remarkable 
 
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 incident. This, though I found somewhat 
 difficult of accomplishment as to time and 
 place and some other small details, was ren- 
 dered more possible by my rather intimate 
 knowledge of the nature, manners and cus- 
 toms and mental equipment of these lit- 
 tle creatures generically considered; which 
 knowledge, together with careful and per- 
 sistent searching, of outward inquiry and 
 inward cogitation, did so lend itself to my 
 inquiries that at length I became possessed 
 of as much as is recorded below of the con- 
 ception and manner of rescue by B. W. the 
 dog, of Nicolette the cat, through and out 
 of the miles of country lying between the 
 
 small towns of A and Z , in our 
 
 own state of Massachusetts. 
 
 The preliminary facts I found to be as 
 stated, namely, the family had moved away, 
 taking with them the dog and deserting the 
 cat. The dog went back for the cat, and re- 
 turned bringing her with him. 
 
 So in that family was just one faithful 
 soul. Out of them all, father, mother and 
 children, only one really humane creature, 
 and that one the dog! For surely the word 
 "humane," if it means anything, implies 
 kindness and friendliness and faithfulness. 
 
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 At the time of the family migration the 
 two creatures had been living together for 
 some months. They had not always been 
 friends. In the very beginning there had 
 undoubtedly been misunderstandings. The 
 one who came last had not been gratified 
 to find the other installed upon his arrival, 
 and this had been expressed in somewhat 
 rude and noisy language and behavior, 
 while the first comer had considered the 
 advent of the second uncalled-for and su- 
 perfluous. However, occupying somewhat 
 humble capacities in the household econ- 
 omy, their opinions had not been soli- 
 cited, much less considered and acted upon, 
 and the two found themselves living to- 
 gether side by side, their only chance of 
 happiness lying in the event of their mak- 
 ing the best of the situation. So they read 
 the lesson, and had straightway acted upon 
 it, and the blessing of friendship had pre- 
 sently descended upon these humble hearts. 
 
 They had grown to be true and trusted 
 friends. This they had not fully realized 
 while all was going well with them. We all 
 have a trick of taking things for granted, 
 and we are occasionally much surprised at 
 the hold which every-day demands have 
 [3 ] 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 taken upon us when the surface is dis- 
 turbed and we see the roots growing and 
 clinging down below. 
 
 B. W. was a Scotch terrier of the rough- 
 and-ready sort, intelligent, frank, impulsive, 
 and altogether friendly by nature. 
 
 Nicolette was a small black puss, slim 
 and big-eyed; in temper uncertain; in mood 
 of infinite variety; and of engaging though 
 dissembling ways. 
 
 To go on with the tale: B. W., noting 
 Nicolette's absence, resolved to rescue her 
 from the now deserted hearthstone, thereby 
 gathering her into the family fold once more. 
 The project no sooner conceived than he 
 set about its fulfilment. He departed with- 
 out disclosing his intention, without mak- 
 ing his adieux. He was forced to travel 
 somewhat uncertainly and slowly, for the 
 way was unknown and even the direction 
 was to be worked out as he journeyed. 
 But his sense of locality was keen, and the 
 end of the second day brought him within 
 the circle of well-known signs; and very 
 hot and anxious and weary, at a late hour 
 that night, he trotted through the gateway 
 of the old home. And there upon the door- 
 step sat Nicolette whom he sought! Nico- 
 
 [4] 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 lette his friend, in thrall to hunger and per- 
 haps cold, but more than all to homeless- 
 ness and all unfriendliness. 
 
 A heart well shaped for certain poignant 
 pain is hers, as are all those of her kind, 
 and Nicolette's cup of grief had filled to 
 overflowing when, lo ! there burst upon her 
 jaundiced vision a Friendly Being. By her 
 blessed ancestors! gods out of Egypt; of 
 desert and river and air and hearthstone 
 and temple here was deliverance, for here 
 was B. W ! No eye was upon them when 
 thus they met, and when in that first greet- 
 ing B. W. proffered his affectionate friend- 
 ship and help and Nicolette's fears and sor- 
 rows were assuaged. The Philistines whom 
 B. W. had left behind were not bidden to 
 this sight; they had done that which had 
 for the time counted them out from among 
 the Eleft. 
 
 B. W.'s happiness in that moment was 
 great, I venture to guess, and being straight- 
 forward and sincere, it is easy to believe he 
 cared not who might know it, and that he 
 did then and there express his joy and re- 
 lief in the dear old-fashioned doggy way, 
 with much tail-wagging and turning and 
 twisting, and talking in his own half-articu- 
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 late and wholly moving language. 
 
 And Nicolette, surprised in her grief and 
 loneliness, how did she then comport her- 
 self? 
 
 When a cat is willing to show the feel- 
 ings diftated by an honest heart, one va- 
 riety of its expression may slightly resem- 
 ble the pleased, tail-wagging, frank and 
 altogether lovely expression of a dog when- 
 ever he is not absolutely forced to restrain 
 himself; but such aspect, if ever it does ap- 
 pear, is fleeting in the complex beings of 
 Nicolette's kind. When her deepest feel- 
 ings are stirred she not infrequently as- 
 sumes a flippant manner, and when she is 
 light-minded and frivolous she may tear 
 your heart with doleful cries. Indeed, why 
 should she be simple and crude in manner 
 and make-up, with traditions no less than 
 Egyptian ! Did Nicolette, forgetful of her 
 affectations and misleading mannerisms and 
 airs and graces, just show herself quite 
 straightforward and grateful? 
 
 I am sure the main thing., that she could 
 count upon B. W. to the death, was safely 
 stored away in her little mental or moral 
 receptacle, and I think she knew in that 
 same deep place that she should never cease 
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Friendship's Offering 
 
 to be grateful to him ; but I do not find it 
 impossible to think that this knowledge was 
 hidden away from all observers, and that 
 no little trickling stream might be allowed 
 to meander away that should discover its 
 source even to B. W. himself! Though I 
 will not believe that in that first moment of 
 happy deliverance she did not make cour- 
 tesy to her deliverer. 
 
 And he knew depend upon him for 
 that! And he was content to be the means 
 under Providence of restoring again to the 
 family this surely beloved, though inad- 
 vertently overlooked member; and in some 
 fashion he explained to Nicolette that the 
 old place was forever shorn of its protec- 
 tion and friendly comfort, and that to find 
 home again she must go forth with him to 
 seek it. But B. W., at this point, though he 
 had travelled far, was only at the beginning 
 of his undertaking. 
 
 Like others of her tribe, extremely at- 
 tached to locality and violently opposed to 
 change of residence and association, Nico- 
 lette, in yielding up with B. W.'s aid and 
 advice her most tenaciously held convic- 
 tions, must have performed at this moment 
 within her mind a somewhat radical reor- 
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Friendship's Offering 
 
 ganization. Such a turn-about is not infre- 
 quently something of a moral shock, and so 
 it proved in Nicolette's case. Inertia when 
 it is overcome is changed into momentum 
 if one elects to turn into a downward path, 
 and Nicolette thus weighing anchor, chose 
 to sail, I regret to say, the flowery-bordered 
 and swift-descending stream of irresponsi- 
 bility and freedom. 
 
 In this frame of mind she was to start 
 upon her journey; and this fact, together 
 with other causes which will presently ap- 
 pear, will go to show that B. W. had essayed 
 a task which was not without its difficulties, 
 and will explain something of the trials of 
 flesh and spirit which were to be his portion 
 during the next few days. 
 
 It was with a happy and unsuspecting 
 heart, however, that he composed himself 
 that night for a much needed rest, believ- 
 ing that all was well with Nicolette, and 
 confident that in starting upon their home- 
 ward way all trials and troubles would be 
 left behind. And the next morning with 
 none but pleasant anticipations they fared 
 forth together. 
 
 B. W. was single-minded in his desire 
 to trot steadily and soberly toward home 
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Friendship's Offering 
 
 Nicolette not necessarily so inclined. For 
 to Nicolette, quick to see and feel, impa- 
 tient of restraint, with endless capacity for 
 amusement, filled to the brim with curi- 
 osity, fleet of foot, gay indeed possessing 
 all these qualities in the proportion to that 
 of other small creatures as nine is to one 
 to this Nicolette, now emancipated tempo- 
 rarily from ordinary traditions, her imagi- 
 nation excited by the quick-changing phe- 
 nomena of foreign travel, the next few days 
 presented fearful and disintegrating joys 
 and temptations. 
 
 Circumstance, under these conditions, 
 became large with Opportunity, and the 
 most ordinary events and scenes resolved 
 themselves to this light-minded and wan- 
 dering puss into an endless and intoxicating 
 Giddy-go-round! And Nicolette's will, in 
 face of all these allurements, became as water; 
 and the noble structure of her character for 
 the moment toppled and almost fell. Still, 
 painful as it may be to dwell upon the ex- 
 treme degree of incompatibility of method 
 between the good B. W. and Nicolette, do 
 not imagine that his experience was all bit- 
 ter; for besides that happiness that accom- 
 panies and keeps pace with the doer of all 
 
 [9] 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 good deeds, and in addition to the accus- 
 tomed pleasure which B. W. experienced in 
 Nicolette's society, there were moments in 
 those days of travel when B. W. extracted 
 joy and true refreshment from the spectacle 
 of Nicolette's astonishing versatility and 
 sustained power. These moments, I have 
 reason to believe, B. W. subsequently looked 
 back upon as more than compensating for 
 those others when he only not quite suc- 
 cumbed to hopeless despair. 
 
 In what season they travelled I know 
 not, but if their pilgrimage was in the au- 
 tumn, when all the leaves on all the trees 
 were descending in golden showers, and 
 scudding and rustling and flying before the 
 wind, then would B. W. have needed grace 
 to endure; for then would Nicolette have 
 been mad with joy, and the wind not fleeter 
 nor more prone to be caught and kept in a 
 straight and narrow path than she, this erst- 
 while forsaken and pining little cat ! 
 
 If at such times B. W. forgot himself so 
 far as to administer rebuke, then indeed 
 would time have been lost before pleasant 
 relations were again resumed, and the line 
 of march taken up. "Wigs would have 
 been on the green" and not all the wigs 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 would have been Nicolette's. 
 
 Many a box on the ear must B. W. have 
 received from the object of this Rescue, 
 though we will venture to guess from tem- 
 pered paws. 
 
 We may hope, too, that their journeying 
 was not at the time of year when little 
 fledgelings are young and tender and have 
 not thoroughly mastered the art of flying, 
 while ill-advised if anxious parent-birds 
 draw the attention of hungry cats to the 
 ineffective skippings and hoppings of their 
 offspring by loud and piercing cries. O 
 Nicolette! Nicolette! "Hast thou named 
 all the birds without a gun?" 
 
 And the voice of the locust, and of the 
 innumerable small quarry that fill the sum- 
 mer days and nights with sound, for all 
 these Nicolette would have been con- 
 strained to tarry. 
 
 Indeed no season would seem to offer 
 rapid conduct to this mercurial little being; 
 no plan for simple progress not subject 
 to devastation ; and it will, I think, plainly 
 be seen that B. W. carried a pack of care 
 upon his pilgrim back. 
 
 It would be good to think they pur- 
 chased and decently paid for their proven- 
 
 t " i 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 der by the way, and yet they must have 
 travelled according to scriptural injunction 
 "without purse or scrip." Indeed they may 
 be said to have been constitutionally in- 
 capable of pockets. 
 
 "Men," says Teufelsdroch, "are pro- 
 perly said to be clothed with Authority, 
 clothed with Beauty, with Curses," and 
 clothed, perhaps, with Honesty why notP 
 Be that as it may, no doubt good appe- 
 tites and a somewhat arrogant estimate of 
 individual rights in both; an honest mien 
 on B. W.'s part, and finesse and equal 
 daring in Nicolette, combined to fill the 
 larder. 
 
 Short work would have been made of 
 tempting and unguarded lunches, and the 
 rations of many would have been requisi- 
 tioned as they journeyed along. Accounts 
 would have been run up, I dare say, as in 
 haste they helped themselves and departed, 
 and no man swift enough to stand creditor. 
 
 And so passed the days, B. W., the 
 pilot and guide, faithful, perplexed, anx- 
 ious, conciliatory; Nicolette, so exasper- 
 ating, so dishevelled in her manner of pro- 
 ceeding, and yet understanding and esti- 
 mating the situation as exactly as B. W. 
 
 t "I 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 himself. Was ever any creature so change- 
 able in conduct, so fixed in intent! 
 
 At length the journey was ended, and it 
 is related that on the third or fourth day 
 after his disappearance B. W., accompanied 
 by Nicolette, walked soberly in at the front 
 door, thus rejoining with his friend the fa- 
 mily circle, much to the gratification, if also 
 to the moral confusion, of the members 
 there assembled. 
 
 That is the end of the story, but that is 
 not all. The spirit of it lies within, some- 
 thing sacred if we look at it with singleness 
 of vision, it seems to me; and B. W. is seen 
 as possessing that in his nature whereby we 
 call men children of the Most High. For 
 brotherly love and compassion are the marks 
 of the divine within us. They are virtues by 
 the exercise of which do we all move toward 
 the light. 
 
 As to motives God alone knows us, and 
 He only knows how, through all our striv- 
 ing, we are prone to seek for happiness. But 
 this dog had a simple heart, and it is not for 
 us to ascribe to it other than simple motives. 
 
 What was the little rift within the lute 
 of a life with its physical wants all satisfied, 
 and with no needs except those of the body, 
 
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Friendship's Offering 
 
 as we so easily say, with nothing upon 
 which to call except that provision within 
 which we name " blind instinct," that light- 
 est breath of Spirit which, when the body 
 looses it, just joins the breeze and goes 
 wandering as we say? 
 
 What was the unrest that bade him seek ? 
 
 B. W. had no skill in mastering moral 
 precepts, all he could do was to follow 
 the little glimmering light that was within. 
 But certain it is that in some way or other 
 the clear order came to him, and that he 
 answered, "Here am I, send me." 
 
 To B. W. there was a vacant chair, albeit 
 that chair is sure to have been in the warm- 
 est and choicest spot upon the hearthstone. 
 The one who must be sought out and 
 brought back was a friend, but one whose 
 appetite may have made many an inroad 
 upon his daily portion, and by whom his 
 cherished bone may many times have been 
 wantonly uncovered and scattered abroad. 
 
 Perhaps it was pity that laid low his peace 
 of mind while Nicolette was forsaken, and 
 that bade him seek her. Perhaps B. W. was 
 the Good Samaritan certainly there had 
 not been lack of those who passed by on 
 the other side. 
 
 [ HI 
 
Friendship's Offering 
 
 Perhaps it was as those who were Cru- 
 saders of old that B. W. started out, to right 
 the wrong and slay the evil; and if it was, 
 I do not know that the crusade was any less 
 holy because this little knight trotted over 
 the way on his own four feet. If such deeds 
 are worthy in men, then are they so in dogs. 
 
 But perhaps the call did not come to him 
 as one of service and rescue, perhaps he was 
 not the Good Samaritan; perhaps he may 
 not be likened to a knight of old; perhaps 
 he went for Nicolette for another reason less 
 heroic, less disinterested, for he may have 
 gone for her just because he loved and 
 needed his friend. If this only was his mo- 
 tive let us take him gently down from that 
 other high pedestal; and where now shall 
 we put him ? Where in our thoughts do we 
 put a man who has need of a friend and 
 comrade; for Nicolette was not a mate after 
 his kind, she was an equal friend. But 
 however we may interpret B. W.'s deed, by 
 virtue of it there shines in the humble set- 
 ting of this dog's heart an "inward quality" 
 which all may see. In conceiving and ex- 
 ecuting his plan for the relief of Nicolette 
 he must have possessed for his peace of 
 mind something dangerously near a hu- 
 [ '5] 
 
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 man heart and intelligence. No Happy 
 Hunting Ground would now suffice to finish 
 B. W.'s course; now would he find himself 
 an alien and stranger among those whose 
 hearts having been tried are found not 
 wanting. 
 
 And who can know that some day "ad- 
 mitted to an equal sky " he will not find his 
 appointed place in some great ingathering 
 of souls !