Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-08-22
From the Independent, August al
THE DOG NOBLE AND THE
EMPTY HOLE.
BY HENRY WARD BEEcHRR.

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 the chill
dren. But there were some things which
Noble could never learn. Having on
one occasion seen red squirrel run into
a hole in stone wall, he cannot be per-
suaded that he was not there for ever
more.
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 fences almost
within reach; they would COCK. their tails
and sail across the road to the barn and
vet there was such well-timed calcula-
ton under all this apparent rashness that
Noble 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
a hule 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 de-
scribed. He filed it full of barking. He
paved and scratched as if undermining
a bastion. Standing off at little dis
tance he would pierce the hole with a
gaze as intense and fixed as if he were
trying magnetism on it. Then, with tail
EXTENDED, and every hair thereon electri-
fed, he would rush at the empty hole with
a prodigious onslaught.
This imaginary squirrel haunted Noble
night and day. The very squirrel him
self would run up before his face into the
tree, and, crouched 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 squirrel in it continued
mistaken for six weeks. When all other
occupations failed, this hole remained to
him. When there were no more chick
ems to harry, no pigs to bite, no cattle to
chase, no children to romp with, no ex.
peditions to make with the grown folks
and when he had slept all that his dog
skin would hold, he would walk out O
the yard, yawn and stretch himself, ant
then look wistfully at the hole, as if think
n ing TO himself, 'Well, as there is nothing
d else to do 1 may as well try that hole
: again.
, Wehad almost forgotten this little trait
n until the conduct of the New York Er
press, In respect to Col. Fremnnt's rrli
III gion brought it ludicrously to mind again
y Col. Fremont is and always has been a
i, sound a Protestant as John Knox eve
was. He was bred in the Protestan
Ie faith, and has never changed. He is un
acquainted with the doctrines and cere
u monies of the Catholic Church, and ha
J. never attended the services of that church
Of with two or three exceptions, when curl
+ osity, or some other extrinsic reason, le
: him as a witness. We do not state thi
: upon vague belief We know what WI
o. say. We say it upon our own persona
re honor and proper knowledge. Col. Ere
n mont never was, and is not now, Re
st man Catholic. He has never been wor
to attend that church. Nor has he in an
,. way, directly or indirectly, given occasic
OF for this report.
Y: 1t is a gratuitous falsehood, utter, ba
lot rem, absolute and unqualified. 1t is SIT
circulated for that reason, and like 9th,
>" political lies, it is a sheer, unscrupulou
'Ty falsehood from top to bottom, from IL
on core to the skin, and from the skin BAG
to the core again. In all parts, in pull
for tegument, rind, cell and seed, it is tho
m ough and total untruth, and they wi
spread it bear false witness. And as
oh all the stories of the Fulmer, etc, as
a supposed conversation with Fremont.
or which he defended the mass, and VIII
wn not, they are pure fctions. They new
; happened. The authors of them a
AZ slanderers, the men to believe them al
ac- dupes; the men who spread them b
in come endorsers of willful and corrupt
belers.
,er But the Express. like Noble, has ope
-. ed on this hole in the wall, and can new
Jul be done barking at it. Day after day
ION resorts to this empty hole. When eve
lis thing else fails this resource remain
There they are, indefatigably-the 3
press and Noble--a church without Fl
mont, and hole without a squirrel in j
In some respects, however, the dog HI
DOL the advantage. Sometimes we thong
- that he really believed that there was
squirrel there. But at other times
apparently had an inkling of the ride
the lousness of his conduct, for he would DIR
at his tail and walk towards us with
ro tongue out and his eyes a little aslar
seeming to say, "My dear sir, you do
understand dogs feelings. / shot
IN of course much prefer a squirrel, but
les can't have that, an empty hole is bet
the than nothing. / imagine how won