Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1856-08-28

Dog Noble and the Empty Hole.

-o "'""@O e~AA@ o41S G1lEIy %1CIS.
By HENRY WARD BEEcHER.
lhe first simmer VIC spent in Lcnox, we had
along very intelligent dog named Noble. He
was learned in many things, and by his dog-lore
excited the undying admiration Of all the child
ren. But there were some things which Noble
could never lcaln Having on one occasion seen
a red squire. ran into hole in stone wall, he
could not be pursuaded that he was not there for
evcrmore.
Several red squirrels lived cloec to the house
and had become familiar but not tame. They
kept up Il regular romp with Noble. They would
come down from the maple trees with provoking
coolncss; 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 Il we'll timed calculation under all this
apparent rashness, that Noble invariably arrived
at tile critical spot just as the squirrel left it.
On one occasion, Noble was so close upon his
red-bacEcd friend that, unable to get up the
na Die tree, he lodged into hole in the wall
ran through the chnks, emerged at little dis
tancc, and aprang into the tree The intense
enthusiasm Of the dog at the hole can hardly DO
described lie filled it full of barking. He
rawcd and scratched us If undermining u bas.
ton. Standing of alta little distance he would
tricrce the hole with a gaze as intense and fixed
as if he we're trying magnetism on it. Then,
with tail extended, and hair thereon electrified
he would rnsh at the empty hole with prodi-
gious onslaught,
This imaginary squirrel haunted Noble night
and day The very squirrel himself would run
before lis face into the tree, and crouched in
crotch, would sit silently watching the whole
process Of bombarding the empty hole, with
great sohiety and relish But Noble would al
low Of 70 doubts. His conviction that the hole
had a squirrel in it continued unshaken for six
weeks. When all other occupations failed, this
hole rrmained to him, When there were no
more chickens to harry, no pigs to bite, no cat
tie to chase, no chldred to romp with, no expo
dilions to make with the grown folks, and when
he had slept all that his dog-skin would hold,
he would walk ont of the yard, yawn and
stretch himself, and the look wistfujly at the
hole, as if thinking to himself, " Well, rs there
is nothing else to do may as well try that hole
again "
We had almost forgotten this little trait, nm
til the conduct of the New York Express, in
respect TO Col. Fremont's religion brought it
ludicrously to mind again. Col. Fremont is
and always has been, as sound q Protestant as
John Knox ever was. He was bred in the Prot
esiant faith and has never changed> He is un-
acquainted with the doctrines and ceremonies of
the Catholic Church, and has never attended
the services of that church, with two or three
exceptions, when curiosity, or some either intrln-
sic reason, led him as a witness. We do not
state this upon vague belief We know whas
we say. We say it upon our own personal
honor and proper knowledge. Col. Fremont
never was, and is not now, Roman Catholic.
lie has never been wont to attend that church.
Nor has he in any way, directly or indirectly,
given occasion for this report.
It's "a gratuitous falsohood, utter, barren, ab-
solute 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
sheer, unscrupulous falsehood from top to bot
tom. from the core 10 the skin, and from the
skin back to the core again. In all its parts,
in nuln. tcgument, rnd, cell and seed, is is
thorough and total untruth, and they who spread
it bear false witness. And as to all the stories
of Fulmer, ETC., as to supposed conversations
with Fremont, in which he defended the mass,
and what not, they are pure fctions. They
never happened, The authors of them are Sian
derers; the men to believe them are dupes; the
men who spread them become endorsers OF will
full and corrupt libelers.
But the Express, like Noble, has opened on
the hole in the wall, and can never be done bark
ing atit Day after day it resorts to this empty
hole. When everything else fails this resource
remains There they are, indefatigably-the
Express and Noble--a church without FIRE.
mont, and hole without a squirrel in in
In some ,cspects, however, the dog had the
advantage. Sometimes we thought that he re-
ally believed that there was squirrel there
But at other times he apparently had an inkling
of the righteousness of his conduct, for he
would drop his tail and walk towards us with
eyes little aslant, seeming to say, My dear
sir, you don't understand dogs feelings. I
should of course much prefer squirrel, but if