Butler High School - Magnet Yearbook (Butler, PA)

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T HE SENIOR (M A G N E T LITERARY ---------------------4 Chap Vance Green It was one of those cold, bleak days of February in Seattle and the early darkness was gathering, Dick Bennett was shuffling along one of the main streets, hands in his pockets and cap pulled over his eyes. Luck seemed against him as he was penniless and had had no supper nor would he have any prospect of a warm and dry bed. As he would get no supper, and as the shops were closing, he thought he would look for a packing box behind one of the department stores, which might have a little excelsior left in it. Turning up an alley, he saw a stack of boxes, one of which was half-boarded over and feeling inside discovered quite a quantity of straw also an occupant. Dick struck a match and found what appeared to be a cur, which was crouched back in the farther corner and which snarled, apparently trying to protect his bed from an intruder. “Why! hello old chap!” exclaimed Dick, reaching forward his hand to pet the dog. “1 won’t steal your bed, but I'll ask for a share of it.” The dog being good natured and seeing that no harm was meant, gave in to the petting of this friend. So they spent the night together protected from the bitter weather and awoke refreshed but as hungry as two bears emerging from their winter quarters. Since they were both in the same fix and neither had any breakfast to look forward to, Dick set out to hunt a job as he had been doing for the past two days. “ This case of ours is hopeless, my boy!” cried Dick after being turned down two different places where he had inquired for work. “By the way, if we are to chum together, what am I to call you?” and Dick looked more closely at the appearance of his companion. The pup was a cross between a collie and Belgium police dog, as near as Dick could tell, not knowing a whole lot about dogs. “What did I call you at first?” he went on to say to the jumping ball of curly fur about his feet. “Was it not ‘Chap?’ Why that ought to do,” and calling this name over and over the pup understood that it meant him and always responded to it. Two years later we find Dick and Chap comfortably fixed in a small apartment where there are no such signs as “No Dogs Allowed.” Dick had procured a job as a collector and, proving that he was no loafer but an industrious worker, now got a fat envelope on pay day. Sometimes Chap would accompany him on his rounds or woulu wander off seeking amusement in chasing some of the citified cats. Now Chap was no longer a scroggley cur but a wide-chested, well-balanced, bright-eyed dog with pointed features of a police dog and the furry coat of a collie. He was strong, quick and a fast runner. One day when Dick returned home, he wondered why Chap did not meet him at the steps and, then thinking that the janitor had left him in, went on up to his room, but here there was no Chap to be seen. Neither did he turn up after