Litchfield enquirer., 1856-08-14
Henry Ward Beecher's Dog Noble and
 the New York Express.

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 admiration of all tho children But there were some things which Noble could not learn Having on one occa- sion seen a red squirrel run into hole in 8 stone wall he could not be persuaded that he was not there for evermore.
 | 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 coolness they would cock theirtails. and sail across the road to the barn and yet there was such well-timed calculation under all this apparent rashness, that Noble nyaria- bly, arrived at the critical spot just as the squirrel left it. G=E#tGffE$ .#-@ On one occasion Noble was so close upon his red-backed friend that unable to get mp the maple tree, he lodged into hole in the wal ran through the chinks, emerged at a little dis tance, and sprung into the tree. The intense enthusiasm of the dog at that hole can hardly be described. He filled it full of barking. He paved and scratched as if undermining Q bastion Standing off at little distance he would pierce the hole with gaze as intense and fixed as if he were trying magnetism on it. Then, with tail extended, and every hair there- on 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 crouclIed in crotch, would sit silently watching the whole process of bombarding the empty hole, with great sobriety and relish But Noble would allow of no doubts His conviction that that hole had a squirrel in it continued unshak- en for six weeks. When all other occupations failed, this hole remained to him, 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 that his dog-skiu would hold, he would walk out of the yard, yawn and stretch himself, and then look wist. fully at the hole, as if thinking to himself, "Well, as there is nothing else to do may as we'll try that hole again 1"
 We had almost forgotten this little trait, un- til the conduct of the Nem York Express, in respect to Col. Fremont's religion brought it !udcrously 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 unacquanted with the doctrines aud cere- monies of the Catholic Church. and has never attended the services of that Church, with two or three exceptions, when curiosity, or some ex- trSic reason, led him as q witness. We do not state this upon vague belief. We know what we say. We say it upon our own per sonal honor and proper knowledge. Col. Ere. mont never was, and is not now, a Roman Catholic. He has never been wont to attend that Church. Nor has he in any way, directly or indirectly given occasion for this report.
 It is a gratutous falsehood, utter, barren, absolute, and unqualified. The story has been got up for political effect. It is still circulated fer that reason, and Ike other political lies, it is d sheer, unscrupnlous falsehood, from top to bottom, from the core to the skin, and from the skin back to the core again. In all it's parts, in pulp, tegumcnt, rind, cell and seed, it is a thorough and total untruth, and they who spread it bear false witness
 And as to all the stories of the Fumer etc, as to supposed conversations with Fremont, in which he defended the mass, and what not, they are pure Actions. They never happened. The authors of them are sanderers the men to believe them are dupes the men who spread them become cndorsers of wiful and corrupt libcllers.
 But the Express, like NoJhe, has opened on this hole in the wall, and can never be done barking at it. Day after day it resorts to this empty hole. When everything else fails this resource remains. There they are, indefatiga- ble--the Express and Nodle--a church without q Fremont, and hole without squirrel in it
 In some respects, however, the dog had tho advantage. Sometimes we thought that he really believed that there was a squirrel there But at other times he apparently had an ink ling of the ridculousness of his conduct, for his tongue out and his eyes little aslant, seeming to say, "My dear sir, you don't understand a dogs feelings. ! should of course much prefer a squirrel, but if I can't have that, an empty hole is better than nothing. imagine how would catch him if he ,cas there. Besides. people who pass by don't know the facts.--- They think that have got something. It is needful to keep up my reputation for sagacity. Besides, to tell the truth, have looked into that hole so long that I have half persuaded myself that there is squirrel there, or will be, if keep on."
 We'll every dog must have his day, and every dog must have his way Nodoubt if we were to bring back Noble now, after two summers' absence, he would make straight for that hole in the wall with just as much zeal as ever. We never read the Enpress, now-a-days, without thinking involuntarily, Goodness the dog is letting off at that hole again.n