Saturday, August 13, 2011

Quote of the Day

"I expect That Dog will whine all night and I shan't get a wink of sleep," Jill said as they went up to bed that night. Penny said nothing. Candy was put into her basket close to Penny's bed. The puppy circled round three times, just like a grown-up dog, tucked her ridiculous pencil of a tail under her, gave a gusty sigh and closed her eyes.
"One in the eye for you, Jill!" said John, grinning.
Penny tenderly tucked the blanket round the puppy and went to bed.
About two o'clock in the morning, she tucked the blanket - not quite so tenderly - round Candy for the twentieth time. "Please, please, my angel," she whispered, "go to sleep and don't waken Jill," and crept into bed. As had happened nineteen times previously, no sooner was Penny's comforting hand removed than Candy started her pathetic little wail. Penny, who had spent most of the night on the floor beside Candy's basket, picked Candy up, crept back to bed and settled her in a cosy little nest on the quilt. Candy licked her hand and went to sleep.

From FOURPENNY FAIR, Chapter 5, Penny Goes into Commerce. Penny is bonding with her dachshund, Candy. Dachshunds, or saugage dogs, are a favourite in Jane Shaw's books. Later on in the short story Jumble Sale, Lindy has a dachshund too, by the name of Mitzy. This was the name of Jane Shaw's own dog. In a letter written in 1960 to a reader who was asking her about pets, in particular Susan's cat Chang, the author replied: "Chang is a real cat, but unfortunately he doesn't belong to me. We have a white cat called Puff and I'd love to have a Siamese as well, but as we also have an Airedale (Biddy) and a dachshund (Mitzi) who hate cats and only just tolerate poor Puff, I'm afraid that's not possible" (Susan and Friends, page 28).

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