Short Fiction Twain, Mark: A Dog's Tale (Illustrated). v2. 21 January 2014

[GrannyGrump]

A DOG’S TALE
by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835 – 1910)
Illustrated by W. T. Smedley (1858 – 1920)
First published 1903

The text of this book, published before 1923, is in the public domain world-wide because the author died more than 100 years ago. The illustrations are in the public domain in countries where copyright is Life+80 or less, and in the USA.

Mark Twain is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel." Among dozens of titles, some of his works include The Innocents Abroad, A Tramp Abroad, Roughing It, Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and many more.

This short story first appeared in Harper’s Magazine in 1903, was published as a stand-alone pamphlet for the National Anti-Vivisection Society in 1904, and published as a book later in 1904. Written at the behest of Twain's daughter, an early follower of the nascent animal rights movement, this affecting piece reflects the author's deep concern for the abused of all species. Twain was opposed to the vivisection practices of his day. His objection was not on a scientific basis but rather an ethical one. He specifically cited the pain caused to the animal as his basis of his opposition:
“I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. ... The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.”

The tale is told from the viewpoint of a loyal household pet, a dog self-described by the first sentence of the story; “My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian.” With gentle humor, the narration discusses Ailleen’s early life with her mother ( a lover of jaw-breakingly large words), and going to live happily with a new family. Then events take a darker turn, and the ending will wring your heart.
—Some of the above information taken from Wikipedia

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A quick excerpt:

She had one word which she always kept on hand, and ready, like a life-preserver, a kind of emergency word to strap on when she was likely to get washed overboard in a sudden way – that was the word Synonymous. When she happened to fetch out a long word which had had its day weeks before and its prepared meanings gone to her dump-pile, if there was a stranger there of course it knocked him groggy for a couple of minutes, then he would come to, and by that time she would be away down wind on another tack, and not expecting anything; so when he’d hail and ask her to cash in, I (the only dog on the inside of her game) could see her canvas flicker a moment—but only just a moment—then it would belly out taut and full, and she would say, as calm as a summer’s day, “It’s synonymous with supererogation,” or some godless long reptile of a word like that, and go placidly about and skim away on the next tack, perfectly comfortable, you know, and leave that stranger looking profane and embarrassed, and the initiated slatting the floor with their tails in unison and their faces transfigured with a holy joy.

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4 full-page color illustrations. Formatted curly quotes, emdashes, italics. Drop-caps and Large-caps versions.

So. Read and consider the story, and if you have any pets, lavish a little extra affection in honor of Mark Twain.

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EDIT: Uploaded version 2. Some text and punctuation corrections, and illustrations re-done. Previous downloads: 164 / 120.

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[GrannyGrump]

Uploading Version 2.
Some corrections to text and punctuation errors. I took this opportunity to re-do the illustrations, and brighten them up a bit.

Drop-caps version has illustrations in a higher resolution.

Thanks to Jellby for fix-suggestions, and for reminding me about this book --- my promise to update got lost in the attic of my mind...