Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-09-10
THE DOG NOBLE, AND THE EMPTY HOLE.
BY HENRY WARD BEEcHER.

BY HENRY WARD BEECHER.
The first summer which we spent in Lenox
we had along very intelligent dog, named
Noble. He was learned in many things, and
by his dog-lore excited the undying admira-
tion of all the children. But there were some
things which Noble could never learn. Hav-
ing, on one occasion, seen a red squirrel run
into a hole in stone wall, he could not be
persuaded that he was not there forevermore.
Several red squirrels lived close to the house,
and had become familiar, but not tame. They
kept up regular romp with Noble. They
would come down from the maple trees with
provoking GOODNESS; they would run along the
fence almost within reach they would cock
their tails and sail across the road to the barn;
and yet there was such a well-timed calcua-
tion under all 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 hole in the
wall, ran through the chinks, emerged at a lit
tie distance, and sprung into the tree. The
intense enthusiasm of the dog at that hole can
hardly be described. He filed it full of bark
ing. He paved and scratched, as if undermi-
ming bastion. Standing off at little dis
tance, he would pierce the hole with gaze as
intense and fixed as if he was trying magnet
ism on it. Then, with tail extended, and ev-
cry hair thereon electrified, he would rush at
the empty hole with prodigious onslaught.
This imaginary squirrel haunted Noble night
and day. The very squirrel himself would
run up before his face into the tree, and,
crouched in crotch, would sit silently watch
ing the whole process of bombarding the emp
ty hole, with great sobriety and relish. But
Noble would allow of no doubts. His convic-
tion that that hole had a squirrel in it, contin-
ued unshakcn for six weeks. When all other
occupations failed, this hole remained to him.
When there were no more chickens to hurry,
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 that his
dog-skin would hold, he would walk out of
the yard, yawn and stretch himself, and then
look wjstfurly at the hole, as if thinking to
himself, ssWell, as there is nothing else to do.
may as well try that hole again -
We had almost forgotten this little trait, un-
til the conduct of the New York Express, in
respect to Col. Fremont's religion, brought il
Iudicrously to mind. Col. Fremont is, and al.
ways has been, as sound Protestant as John
Knox ever was. He was bred in the Protes-
tant faith, and has never changed. He is un-
acquainted with the doctrines and ceremonie:
of the Catholic Church, and has never attend
ed the services of that church, with two ol
three exceptions, when curiosity, or some ex
trinsic reason, led him as witness. We dc
not state this upon vague belief. We know
what we say. We say it upon our own perso
nal honor and proper knowledge Col. Ere
mont never was, and is not now, Roman Ca
tholic He has never been wont to attend tina
church. Nor has he in any way, directly
indirectly, given occasion for this report.
is gratuitous falsehood, utter, barren, abso
lutte, and unqualified. The story has been go
ND for political effect. 1t is still circulated
for that reason, and, like other political lies
IT is a sheer, unscrupulous falsehood, from to-
to bottom, from the core to the skin, and iron
the skin back to the core again. In all 1t
parts, in pulp, tegument, rind, cell, and seed
It is thorough and total untruth, and thos
who spread it bear false witness Ana as
all the stories of Fulmer, &C., as to suppose
conversations with Fremont, in which ne dc
tended the mass, and what moi, they are pur
fctions. They never happened. The author
of them are slandererS the men to ,eiie'
them are dupes; the men who spread them VI
come endorsers of wilful and corrupt hoeis.
But the Express, like Noble, has opened
this hole in the wall, and can never be doh
barking at it. Day after day. it resorts to TIL
empty hole. When everything else fails, Ill
resource remains. There they are, indefat
gablysfthe Express and Noble-a church witt