A farmer's dog who had been found guilty of obtaining goods under false
pretenses is worthy of mention. He was extremely fond of sausages, and
had been taught by his owner to go after them for him, carrying a
written order in his mouth. Day after day he appeared at the
butcher-shop, bringing his master's order, and by and by the butcher
became careless about reading the document. Finally, when settlement day
came, the farmer complained that he was charged with more sausage than
he had ordered. The butcher was surprised, and the next time Lion came
in with a slip of paper between his teeth he took the trouble to look at
it. The paper was blank, and further investigation showed that whenever
the dog felt a craving for sausage, he looked around for a piece of
paper, and trotted off to the butcher's. The farmer is something out of
pocket, but squares the account by boasting of the dog's intelligence,
which enabled him to deliberately steal for him, and deceive the butcher
to do so.
While in Edinburgh, Scotland, where my wife and I remained for a year,
our apartments were cared for by an English maid, who owned a very fine
Scotch terrier. Whenever she would come to our rooms the dog accompanied
her, and soon became very much attached to me, and would come into our
apartments whenever an opportunity offered, to pay his respects to me.
My wife had a great aversion to dogs of all kinds, and particularly
objected to having one in the room with her, as she declared she could
feel fleas immediately upon the appearance of a canine, no matter how
far away they were from her.
One morning, while I was quietly reading, my wife being busy in another
part of the room, the dog slipped in and succeeded in establishing
himself under my chair, without either of us being aware of his
presence; but before many minutes had passed my wife discovered him, and
remonstrated with me at once for allowing him to come in, when I knew so
well how she detested him. I assured her of my ignorance as to his
presence, but said nothing whatever to the dog. He arose with a
crestfallen air, and with his tail tucked between his legs, walked
slowly across the room, stopping in the doorway to look once at Mrs.
Majors, with the most reproachful, abused expression I have ever seen on
any creature's face.
After that he always endeavored to make his calls upon me when Mrs.
Majors was absent, and would often come up and wait in one end of the
hall until he would see her go into the adjoining room, when he would
come to see me, but immediately upon hearing her opening the door of the
other room, he would make a break for the door, making his escape before
she would reach the room; and this, too, when she had never been unkind
to him except in what she said of him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account