Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1856-08-21
The Dog Noble, and the Empty
Hole.
BIZ REV. HENRY WARD BRAcHER.

luc log NODlcs anu SHc CMPsy
Hole.
/ BIZ REV. HENRY WARD BEACHER.
The first summer which we spent In
Lenox, We had along a very intelligent
dog named Noble. He WAS learned in
many things, and by his dog-lore excited
the undying admiration of all the chill
dren. But there were some things which
Noble could never learn. Having on one
occasion seen a red squirrel run into a hole
in stone wall he could not be pursuaded
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 well-timed calculation under all
this apparent rashness, that Noble invaria-
bly, arrived at the critical spot just as the
squirrel left it.
On one occasion Noble was so close up
on his red backed friend that, unable to
get up the maple tree, he doeiged 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 describ-
ed. He filed it full of barking. He
paved and scratched as if undermining a
bastion. Standing off a little distance he
would pierce the hole with gaze as m
tense and fixed as if he were trying mag
netism on it. Then with tail extended,
and every hair thereon electrified, he would
rush at the empty hole with a prodigous
onslaught.
This imaginary squirrel hauted Noble
night and day. The very squirrel himself
would run up before his face into the tree,
and crouched in crotch, would sit silent
ly watching the whole process of bonn
harding the empty hole, with great sobrie-
ty and relish. But Noble would allow Of
no doubts. His conviction that that hole
had squirrel in continued mistaken for
six weeks. When all other occupations
failed this hole remained to him. When
there were no more chickens to worry, 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 in the yard, yawn and stretch
himself, and then looking uistfully at the
hole, as if thinking to himself "Well if
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 En-
press, in respect to Col. Fremont's Religion
brought it ludicrously to mind AGAIN.
Col, Fremont is, and always has been, as
sound Protestant as John Knox ever
was. He was bred in the Protestant faith
and has neverchanged. He Is unacquaint-
red with the doctrines and ceremonies of the
Catholic Church, and has never attended
that Church with two or three exceptions,
when curiosity, or some intrinsic reason,
led him as witness. We do not state
this upon vague belief. We know what
We say. We say it tupon our own personal
honor and proper knowledge. Col. Ere
mont never was, and is not now, a Roman
Catholic. He has never been wont to at
tend that Church. Nor has he in any
way, directly or indirectly, given occasion
for this report.
1t is gratuitous falsehood, utter, bar
rem, absolute and unqualified. The story
has been got up for political effect. 1t is
still circulated for that reason, and like 9th
er political lies, it is a sheer, unscrupulous
falsehood, from top to bottom, from the
core to the skin, and from the skin back TO
the core again. In all its parts, in pub,
tegument, rind, cell and seed, it is thor
ough and total untruth, and they who
spread it bear false witness. And as to all
the stories of the Fulmer, etc, as to sup
posed conversation with Fremont, in which
he attended the mass, and what not, they
are pure fctions. They never happened.
The authors of them are slanderers, the
men to believe them are dupes; the men
who spread them become endorsers of viii
full and corrupt libellers.
But the Express, like Noble has opened
on this hole in the wall, and never
can be done barking at it. Day af-
ter day it resorts to this empty hole. When
everything else fails this resource remains.
There they are, indefatigably-the En-
press and No6lc--a church without FIRE.
mont, and hole without a squirrel in It I!
In some respects, however, the dog had
the advantage. Sometimes thought
that he really believed that '.lere was a
squirrel there. But at other times he ap-
parently had an inkling of the ridiculous
ness of his conduct, for he would drop his
tail, and walk towards us with his tongue
out and his eyes little aslant, seeming to
saw, "My dear sir, you don't understand a
dogs feelings. l should of eourse much
prefer squirrel, but if can't have that,
an empty hole is better than nothing. l
imagine how would catch him if be was
there. Besides, people who pass by don't
know the facts. They think that l have
got something. 1t is needful to keep up
reputation for sagacity. Besides, to tell
the truth have looked into that hole SO
long that l have half persuaded my
self that there is 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, after
two summers absence, he would make
straight for that hole in the wall with as
much zeal MS ever.
We never read the E1press nowadays,
without thinking involuntarily, "Goodness
the dog is letting off at that hole again.