Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1915 — MERRY DOGS OF WAR [ARTICLE]

MERRY DOGS OF WAR

Tale of “Ugly,” Scarred Hero of a Hundred Battles. Wins Fame and Corporal'* Stripe* With the British Troops in Northern France—A Challenge and What Came of It. By GEORGE DUFRESNE. International News Service Correspondent. Paris.—ln the early days of this war, Ugly scrambled ashore In northern Prance or stowaway on one of the channel packets. He was a khakitinted cur of the most disreputable appearance. Nobody’s dog; but with a soul so tuned to the doings of soldiers that as soon as he discovered that the great game was going on. he swore to be in it and of it. He was a natural fighter, scored and scarred with a hundred battles. So they attached him here to B. X., which means any sort of job that’s going at the base —“B” —standing for base, and 1" being the recognized algebraic symbol signifying an unknown quantity. He was signed on the A. S. C. (Pickford’s Light Horse) to deal with the rats which ravage the bales down by the docks. Like the minister of munitions he was given a free hand with his subject, and so successful was he with these gray-jacketed rascals that he soon received a corporal’s stripes, double rations (he dearly loves Jam), and the offer, after another singularly successful raid among the rodents, of a commission. This last he refused declaring that he would never leave the ranks. Ugly*s prowess was noised abroad. It reached the fighting line. G. H. Q. heard of it, so that presently a dusty M. T. driver, pulling up his car amid the shell-strewn debris of the dock, handed a packet to the young officer in charge, demanding a speedy answer. The communication read as follows: Dug-out 68h, Battersea Rise, Tuesday. We always congratulated ourselves here In having the ugliest dog and the fiercest fighter In Flanders. We hereby challenge Corporal Ugly. A. S. C.. to meet Sergeant Smller, <9. H. Q.. to fight at 25 rounds, catch-as-catch-can, at any handy spot within or without the meaning of the act. Stakes—five pounds a side, money down. Inquiries were immediately made as to the standing, skill and fighting weight of Sergeant Smiler, and those being considered satisfactory, the challenge was accepted, and Ugly was put into strict training, much to his disgust A heavy book was made on the forthcoming. combnt, and when the tense evening of the meeting of these growling Greeks srrtved, the arena was packed with an eager, brownfaced crowd, all a-throb with the sweet pleasures of anticipation. Sergeant Smller arrived, due to time, in a carefully corded biscuit box. Ugly was already in possession of the floor, striding up and down in the fierce pride of ownership, and snarling a challenge to ths whole category of Crusts. The box was dragged into the ring, the cords unlaced, the lid raised, the cage tipped at the necessary angle by a brave Tommy, who leaped back over the parapet as with a roar the incarcerated thunderstorm hurled himself into the lists. • Alert, savage and with his back hair bristling, Ugly crouched for the spring—crouched, and then sat down hard in absolute amazement; for there in front of him was his exact, his complete double in size and shape and color. Sergeant Smiler also crouched and sat down suddenly, as if frozen to the floor. In the silenc# which follows, the breathing of th* two dogs could be heard —jerkily, like the spurts of a southwest squall at sea. Then, with a . glad gurgle of canine melody, the two animals flung themselves into one another’s arms in a brotherly caress, in which yaps of Joy were mingled with yelps of reminiscence, almost tear compelling to the sentimental soldiers gathered around. For none could fall to read the riddle. Corporal Ugly and Sergeant Smiler were twins, and this was their first meeting since puppyhood. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. This is a true tale, and the British army is still laughing over it. A good chuckle now and again is a tonic.