The Dog That Adopted a School
So far as we know, he uas Iho on:* tfog-':
lo be buried on Ihe iiehool campus, with a
inonunient erected over his f^rave by. the. •
hoys and girls who loveil him so well.
•JUICY’*
G. II. S. Masco!
Killed June 13. 1942
THESE words on a granite
marker recall the story of a
little dog so devoted to a
school and its various activities
that he was buried on the campus.
The memorial stands just at the
foot of the flagpole on Grainger
High School campus in Kinston
and marks the grave of the gayest,
friendliest little dog that ever
adopted an entire school.
Juicy must have had a good
master somewhere in town or in
the outlying area of Kinston, be¬
cause when he first appeared at
school he was plump and evident¬
ly had been eating well. No one
ever knew where he came from
and I don’t recall who it was that
first called him by his rather in¬
congruous name. The little black
and white dog first joined the
younger boys on the back campus.
They shared their lunches with
him. and after that he joined in
their ball games, racing madly
back and forth in the endeavor to
catch their ball.
Extended Privileges
Later he invaded the corridors,
and he often wandered into the
auditorium when an assembly pro¬
gram was in progress. A dog in
school usually is regarded as a
novelty. Pupils laugh at his ap¬
pearance, and their attention is
distracted from their studies. This
may have been the case for a
period after Juicy arrived at
Grainger, but in a very little while
nobody paid any particular atten¬
tion to his wanderings from one
classroom to another. So well be¬
haved was he that not even the
teachers objected lo his presence.
So Juicy was given a free rein and
went and came as he pleased.
On one occasion, however, he
almost brought disgrace on him¬
self. even though in doing so he
was wholly innocent. Usually, dur¬
ing an assembly program, he
walked about in the aisles, only
stopping occasionally to nose a
friendly outthrust hand. But at
THE STATE. AUOUBT 5, 1950
By l,i:Oi\OIM II. W ATTS
this particular time, a speaker
with a rather loud and stentorian
voice was talking on Russia and
suddenly exploded into a long list
of harsh-sounding Russian proper
names.
Juicy, halfway down the aisle,
halted in amazement and turned
a startled look in the direction of
the speaker. Then he ran on the
stage and stood with one ear
cocked forward as he surveyed the
speaker with an inquiring expres¬
sion as though he were saying:
"What in the world did you say?"
Everybody roared. Even the
speaker was convulsed. One of the
dog’s friends hastily removed him
from the stage and the auditorium
and kept him outside until the in¬
terrupted program was finished.
Juicy spent not only most of
the school hours at the building
but he haunted it at night too, so
that if there chanced to be some
kind of meeting on hand, he could
grace it with his presence. He dis¬
liked missing any social gather¬
ings.
Wouldn't Be Denied
One day when the school band
was going to Caswell Training
School, a few miles distant, to give
a concert. Juicy trotted about ex¬
pectantly as members gathered
about the bus. But when he tried
to get aboard, the band director
vetoed the attempt, and the bus
driver announced emphatically
that no dog could ride in the ve¬
hicle. So the bus started off with¬
out the dog. Undeterred, however.
Juicy raced the bus for half a mile
until even the driver felt sorry and
yielded to the band members’
pleadings. The bus was stopped
and Juicy was taken up.
At commencement time, the
little dog became infected with the
excitement manifested by the
seniors. It was a custom to rehearse
the baccalaureate and commence¬
ment processional and recessional
quite thoroughly, as well as the
rest of the programs. Never was
there a rehearsal period, no matter
at what time it was called, that
Juicy was not present, fairly
quivering with excitement. He
watched the seniors line up for
the march and then ran barking
down the aisle ahead of them.
When the sponsor went to the
stage to direct the line, he raced
to join her, an alert ear cocked and
bright eyes darting from director
to seniors as though he understood
the whole business.
Had to be Curbed
Finally the distracted sponsor
appealed to the principal, declar¬
ing that Juicy would certainly be
on hand for the commencement
exercises and probably would
steal the entire show.
"Don’t worry,’” he chuckled. "I
have already engaged bed and
board for our friend throughout
the whole program with the
janitor." And so he was kindly but
firmly restrained from joining the
seniors at the closing program —
much to the disappointment of
many of them. As a matter of fact,
a few protested and begged that
the dog be allowed to bo with
them. “It doesn't seem natural not
to have him around.” said one
girl. “He's been with us all year
and he ought to see us graduate."
Finally, however, it was agreed
that it would be best for all con¬
cerned if Juicy were conspicuous
by his absence.
It was later in the summer of
that same year that Juicy, follow¬
ing some of the senior boys, was
run down and killed on one of the
streets of Kinston. Grief-stricken,
the boys asked and obtained per¬
mission to bury him on the campus
he loved so well, and to mark his
grave. They bought and had let¬
tered the marker that stands at the
foot of the flagpole today
Occasionally one sees a student
stop and look curiously at the in¬
scription but it means little to the
new boys and girls attending the
school. Only a few of the teachers
now remember the happy little
dog that won all hearts from fresh¬
men to principal.
i
