Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1856-08-22
The Dog Noble and the Empty Hole.

L nc HrSL SUMMER WHICH We spent III Geli-
OK, we had along a very intelligent dog
named Noble. He was learned in many
things, and by his dog-lore excited the un-
dying admiration Of all the children. But
there were some things which Noble could
never learn. Having on one occasion seen
red squirrel run into hole in a 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 would come down from tho
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 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. s
On one occasion Noble was so close upon
| his red-baeked friend that, unable to get up
the maple tree, he lodged into hole in
the wall, ran through the chinks, emerged
at little distance, and sprang into the tree.
! The intense enthusiasm Of the dog at that
hole can hardly be described. He filed it
full of barking. He paved and scratched
+ as if undermining a baStion. Standing off
at little distance be would pierce the holo
with a gaze as intense and fixed as if ho
were trying magnetism on it. Then, with
tail extended, and every hair thereon cleo
trifed, be 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 in the tree,
and crouched in crotch, would sit silently
watching the whole process of bombarding
> the empty hole, with great sobriety and rel
ish. But Noble would allow of no doubts.
His conviction that that hole had SOUR
r rel in continued unshaken 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 remp 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, stretched himself, and then look visit
fully at the hole, as if thinking to himself,
f "Well, as there is nothing else to do Imay
as well try that hole againI'
D We had almost forgotten this little trait
until the conduct of the New York Express,
I in respect to Col. Fremont's religion, brought
$ it ludicrusly to mind again. Col Fremont
r is, and always has been, as sound Prot
e estant as John Knox ever was. He
5 was bred in the Protestant faith, and has
never changed. He is unacquainted with
: the doctrines and ceremonies of the Catho-
+ lie Church, and has never attended the ser
vices of that Church, with two or three ex-
ceptions, when curiosity, or some extrinsic
reason, led him as a witness. We do not
say this upon vague belief We know what
we say. We say it upon our own personal
$ honor and proper knowledge. Col. Fre-
; mont never was, and is not now, q Roman
e Catholic. He has never been won't to at
= tend that Church. Nor has he, in any way,
: directly or indirectly, given occasion for this
report.
$ 1t is a gratuitous falsehood, utter, barren,
!. absolute and unqualified. The story has
z been got up for political effect. It is still
: circulated for that reason, and ike other po-
e litical lies, it is a sheer, inscriptions false
: hood, from top to bottom, from the core to
: the skin, and from the skin back to the
It core again. In all its parts, in pulp, tegu-
: ment, riud, cell and seed, it IS a thorough
: and total untruth, and they who spread it
0 bear false witness. And as to all the sto-
e ries of the Fulmer, etc, as to supposed con-
J versations with Fremont, in which he de-
o Tended the mass, and what not, they arc
e pure fictIons. They never happened. The
= authors of them are slanderers; the mer
q who believe them arc dupes; the men who
IS spread them become endorsers Of willful and
corrupt libellers.
/, But the Express, like noble, has opened
/ on tins hale in tho wall, and can never be
/. done barking at it. Day after day it resorts
I to this empty hole. When every thing else
' fails this resource remains. There they are,
indefatigably-the Express and noble--a
: Church without Fremont, and hole with
!. = out a squirrel IN it
/ In some respects, however, the dog had
is the advantage. Sometimes We thought
j. that he really believed that there was q
i squirrel there. But at other times he ap-
c parently had an inkling of the ridiculousness
ofhis conduct, for he would drop his tail,
/; and walk towards us with his tongue out
and his eyes little sslant, seeming to say,
any dear, sir, you don't understand dogs
d feelings. should of course much prefer o
e sonirrcl, but if can't have that an empty
d hole is much better than nothing. l imag-
inc how would catch him if he Uas there.
:, Besides, people who pass by don't know the
4 facts. They think that I have got some
! thing. It IS needful to keep up my repu-
' tation for sagacity. Besides totell the truth
? l have looked into that hole so long that
i have half persuaded myself that there IS a
+ squirrel there, or will be, if I keep on"
: !, Well, every dog must have his day, and
o every dog must have his way. No doubt
if we were to bring back noble now, after
t two summers absence, he would make
Z straight for that hole IN the wall with just
II as much zeal as ever.
= We never read the Erpress, nowadays.
J. without thinking, involuntarily, Goodness
t the dog is letting off at that hole again. p
II Ecu York Independent.
= As IN the alternative of voting for FIRE.