Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1856-08-26
From the New York independent.
The Dog Noble and the Empty Hole.

Lenox, we had along very intelligent
dog named Noble. He was learned in
many things, and by his dog-lore excited
the undylng admiration of all the chill
dren. But there were some things which
Noble could never learn. Having on
one occasion seen red squirrel run into
hole IN stone wall ne could not be per.
saaded that he was not there for evermore
Several red squirrels lived close to the
house and had become familiar, but not
tame. They kept upa regular romp with
Noble. They would come down from the
maple trees with provoking coolness; they
would run along the fence almost within
reach; they would cock their tails and
SAIL across the road to the barn; and vet
there was such well-timed calculation
under ali this apparent rashness, that No.
bic invariably arrived at the critical spot
just as the squirrel left it.
On one occasion Noble was so close
upon his red backed friend that, unable
TO get up the maple tree, he lodged into
a hole IN the wall, ran through the chinks
emerged at little distance, and sprung
INTO the tree. The intense enthusiasm of
the dog at that hole can hardly be descri-
bed. He filed it full of barking. He
paved and scratched as if undermining a
| bastlon. Standing off at little distance
he would pierce the hole with a gaze as
intense and fixed as if he were trying
magnetism on it. Then, with tail extern
ded, and every hair thereon electrified,
he would rush at the empty hole with
/ prodigious onslaught.
/ Tnls imaginary squirrel haunted Noble
! nluht and dau Tho ,-erx, cs,,,,rrol H.
/ self would run up before his face into the
tree, and crouched In crotch, would sit
silently watching the whole process of
bombarding the empty hole, with great
sobriety and relish. But Noble would al
low of no doubts. His conviction that the
hole had a squirrel in continued for six
weeks unshalen. when there were no
more chickens to harry no pigs to bite,
no cattle to chase, no children to romp
with, no expeditions to make with the
grown folks, and when he had slept all
his dog-skin would hold, he would walk
out of the yard, yawn, and stretch HIM
self, and then look wistfully at the hole, as
if thinking to himself, s'well as there is
nothing else to do may as well try that
hole again"
We had almost forgotten this little trait
until the conduct of the New York Ex-
press, in respect to Col. Fremont's rehg-
ION brought it luaicrously to mind again.
Col. Fremont IS, and always has been, as
sound a Protestant as John Knox ever
was He was bred in the Protestant faith
and has never changed. He is unac-
quainted with the doctrines and ceremo-
MES of the Catholic Church, and has new
er attended the services of that Church,
with two or three exceptions, when curl.
osity, or some intrinsic reason, led him as
a witness. We do not state this on vague
belief. We know what we say. We
say it upon our own personal honor and
knowledge. Col. Fremont never was,
and is not now, Roman Catholic Nor
has he in any way, directly or indirectly,
given occasion for this report.
It's a gratuitous falsehood utter barren,
absolute and unqualified. The story has
been got up for political effect. 1t is still
circulated for that reason, and like other
political lies, it is q sheer, unscrupulous
falshood, from top TO bottom, from the core
to the skin, and from the skin back to the
core again. In all its parts, in pulp, teg-
ument, rind, cell and seed, it is thor
ough and total untruth, and those who
spread 1t bear false witness. And as to
all the stories of the Fuimer etc., as to
supposed conversations with Fremont, in
which he defended the mass, and what
not, they are pure fictions. They never
happened. The authors of them are SLAM
derers; the men TO believe them are
dupes; the men who spread them become
endorSers of wilful and corrupt libellers.
ID, Il =
on this hole in the wall, and can never be
done barking at it. Day after day it re-
sorts to this empty hole. When every
toing else fails this resource remaing-I
There they are, indefatigable-the Ex-
press and Noble, a church without Fre-
mont, and hole without squirrel in it
In some respects, however, the dog had
the advantage. Sometimes we thought
he really believed that their was a squir-
rel there. But at other times he appar-
emily had an inkling of the Righteousness
of his conduct, for he would drop his tail,
and walk towards us with his tongue out
and his eyes little aslant, seeming to say,
"My dear sir, you doD't understand a
dogs feelings. / should of course much
prefer a squirrel, but if | can't have that,
an empty hole is better than nothing. |
imagine how | would catch him if he was
there. Besides people who pass by don't
know the facts. They think that have
got something. 1t is needful to keep up
my reputation for sagacity. Besides, to
tell the truth | have looked into the hole
SO long that have half persuaded myself
that there is a squirrel there, or will be,
if keep on
Well every dog must have his day, and
every dog must have his way. No doubt
if we were to bring back Noble now, af-
ter two summers absence, he would make
straight for that hole in ihe wall with Just
as much zeal as ever
We never read the Express. now-a-
days, without thinking involuntariiy-
&c oodness: the dog is letting off at that
hole again.