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So what in the world was that picture I posted on Monday?

Meet Lovey, O. Henry's dog:

This little piece of public sculpture stands in a tiny plaza outside the U.S. Trust Center building at North Elm and Bellemeade streets. Maria J. Kirby-Smith sculpted man, dog and a book in 1985. Southern Life Insurance Company (remember them?) paid the bill for the project. Kirby-Smith also is responsible for the statue of Mr. Bog Garden, Joe Christian, that we wrote about last week.

Lovey is featured in the O. Henry story "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog." The dog, by the way, wasn't too hot on the name. "Lovey," the dog thinks to himself, "is something of a nomenclatural tin can on the tail of one's self respect." At the end of the story ... well, read it for yourself.

A few of you thought Monday's picture was a close-up of the statue of Miss Babe Ruth, the Grasshoppers' bat-fetcher. I knew she was a real live dog, but didn't know she worked part-time as a statue.(It's actually a bench.)

Only two of you knew the correct statue by its nose:
* Fran Roberts Burwell of Greensboro, who works at a downtown law firm and says she has patted it (the statue, not my photo) several times
* C.A.R. from Greensboro.

Nice going, both of you.

Here are some more pics from the plaza I took a couple of weeks ago on a mostly sunny morming. (Sunshine. Remember that?)

Another view of Lovey

The plaque at the U.S. Trust plaza

O. Henry's book. That's "The Gift of the Magi" on the left and "The Ransom of Red Chief" on the right.

The boy beside the book

The boy's shoe. I think I had a pair like that once.

The author at work.

WITW will take Monday off (it's a holiday, people) and will be back Tuesday.