She ran out to the gate, and said, 'Why, Harry! What makes you come home
so early to-day?'--'O mamma!' said Harry, 'my poor little Jack has
broken his leg!' Then Harry's mother looked at Jack, and, after thinking
a minute said, 'My dear Harry, I am very sorry; but I think we shall
have to kill little Jack to save him from suffering. A dog's broken leg
cannot be made whole again.'

"Oh, how sad little Harry felt when his mother said that! It made him
cry very hard. But in a little while something made him stop crying: and
what do you guess it was? Why, he began to think that perhaps his mamma
was mistaken when she said that dogs couldn't have their legs mended;
and he thought he would go to the doctor who cured him when he was sick,
and ask about it.

"So he said, 'Dear mamma, please let me go and ask Dr. Stratton if he
won't try to fix Jack's leg.' And his mother said, 'Well, Harry, you may
go; but I don't think the doctor will do it.'

"So Harry put on his hat, and went over to Dr. Stratton's. Harry knocked
on the doctor's door. 'Come in!' said the doctor. 'Why, Harry! What do
you want? Anybody sick at your house?'

"'N-no, sir,' said Harry, 'not exactly anybody, but my little dog Jack
has a broken leg, and mamma says you can't mend it; but please try. My
dear little dog is such a good dog, and mamma says he will have to be
killed. Will you please try?'

"Now, the doctor was a very kind man. He smiled, and said, 'Well, Harry,
I never mended a dog's leg; but I'll try for your sake--but won't he
bite me?'