READING: Susie and Rover

"Mamma," said Susie Dean one summer's morning,"may I go to the woods and pick berries?"

"Yes," replied Mrs. Dean,"but you must take Rover with you."Susie brought her little basket, and her mother packed a nice lunch for her.She tied down the cover and fastened a tin cup to it.The little girl called Rover a great Newfoundland dog and gave him a tin pail to carry. "If I bring it home full,mamma," she said, "won't you make some berry cakes for tea?" 

Away she tripped, singing as she went down the lane and across the pasture.When she got to the woods, she put her lunch basket down beside a tree and began to pick berries. Rover ran about, chasing a squirrel or a rabbit now and then, but never straying far from Susie. 

The tin pail was not a very small one. By the time it was two thirds full, Susie began to feel hungry and thought she would eat her lunch. Rover came and took his place at her side as soon as she began to eat. Did she give him some of the lunch? No, she was in a selfish mood and did no such thing.

 

"There, Rover, run away! There's a good dog," she said,but Rover stayed near her,watching her steadily with his clear brown eyes.The meat he wanted so much was soon eaten up,and all he got of the nice lunch was a small crust of gingerbread that Susie threw away. 

After lunch,Susie played for a while by the brook. She threw sticks into the water, and Rover swam in and brought them back.Then she began to pick berries again.She did not enjoy the afternoon as she did the morning. The sunshine was as bright, the berries were as sweet and plentiful, and she was neither tired nor hungry.But good, faithful Rover was hungry, and she had not given him even one piece of meat. She tried to forget how selfish she had been,but she could not do so, and quite early she started for home. 

When she was nearly out of the woods, a rustling in the underbrush attracted her attention. "I wonder if that is a bird or a squirrel,"she said to herself. "If I can catch it, how glad I will be!" She tried to make her way quietly through the underbrush, but she was terrified when she saw a large snake coiled up before her prepared for a spring! She was frightened so much that she could not move,but brave Rover saw the snake, and, springing forward, seized it by the neck and killed it. When the faithful dog came and rubbed his head against her hand, Susie put her arms around his neck, and burst into tears. "O Rover," she cried, "you dear, good dog! How sorry I am that I was so selfish!" 

Rover understood the tone of her voice, if he did not understand her words, and capered about in great glee, barking all the time. You may be sure that he had a plentiful supper that evening. Susie never forgot the lesson of that day.She soon learned to be on her guard against a selfish spirit and became a happier and more lovable little girl.

 

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

1.What does Rover do to show that he is “faithful?”

2.What does it mean that Rover capered at the end?

3.Why do you think Susie has trouble enjoying the afternoon after she eats lunch?

4.What do you think would happen next in the story if it kept going?