The logic by which the high court was enabled to enunciate its decision is quite as remarkable as the decision itself. It would seem the learned court divided the animal creation into two parts--“useful and useless,” and subdivided these into “wild and domestic beasts;” and then states: “Dogs belong to the non-useful, wild animal division.” _Ergo_: “Wild animals, as dogs which have been domesticated, are therefore property _only while in actual custody_”--which means in arms, cages, or confinement. An able critic, and a very well-informed lawyer, says: “Any respectable court would laugh at the proposition that it is not theft to appropriate a diamond which has escaped from the owner’s custody.” But that is another kind of cow--_the poor have dogs_, not _diamonds_. Still the learned man is to be admired who said: “I like dogs because I know so many men and women. “I like dogs because they always see my virtues and ignore my vices. “I like dogs because they are friends through good report and evil report--through poverty and through riches. “I like dogs because they are faithful and generous. “I like dogs because they are full of simplicity and find pleasure in very little things.” The population of the early settlements of Ohio bought and sold dogs, and considered them as much property as horses, cattle, or other personalty. They were not purchased by the pound; neither were hogs nor cattle. Among traders of the rural districts, every thing weighing over five hundred pounds was bought and sold upon appearance and opinion, by the piece. Where the price caused a disagreement between buyer and seller, some mutual friend, who had obtained a good reputation as guesser, would be called as an arbiter. Fattened cattle to go east, purchased by “drovers,” were never weighed, but were taken, like horses, at a given sum per head. Fattened hogs, however, were generally weighed, by request of the purchaser. Each hog would be suspended, and weight determined by the “steelyard,” and then branded with a redhot iron on the left ham. This done, the squealing prisoner would surrender his place and attentions of the audience to the next, and so on, until the whole drove became duly registered. But farmers trading among themselves, buying and selling stock, depended entirely upon their sight and judgment as to the valuation. FOOTNOTES: [1] Native fruit: cranberries, huckleberries, blackberries, raspberries, service berries, paw-paws (custard apples), persimmons, plums, grapes, cherries, haws, crab apples. [2] Mr. Havemeyer is the autocrat of the Sugar Trust of America after the fashion of Mr. Arbuckle, the Coffee Baron. Under the chairmanship of a committee the New York legislature, Senator Luxow investigated the Sugar Trust and found Mr. Havemeyer controlled four-fifths of the entire output of sugar in America.