The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-12-14
My Ravens.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.

| AS it is Mr.. Waterton' $ opinion that ravens
are gradually becoming extinct in England,
| | offer Il few words here about mine.
The raven in my story is a compound OF
two great originals, of whom | have been,
| at different times, the proud possessor. The
first was in the blossom of his youth, when
he was discovered in modest retirement in
London, by friend of mine, and given to
me. He had from the first, as Sir Hugh
Evans says of Anne Page, good gifts"
which he improved by study and attention
in a most exemplary manner. lie slept IN
stable, -generally on horseback, and so
terrified Newfoundland dog by his prefer
natural sagacty, that he has been known,
by the mere superiority of his genius, to
walk off unmolested with the dogs dinner
from before his face. He was rapidly rising
in requirements and virtues, when, i'll an
evil hour, his stable was newly painted
He observed the workmen closely: saw that
they were careful Of the paint, and imme
diately burned to possess it, On their going
to dinner, he ate up all they had left behind,
consisting of u pound or two of white lead !;
and this youthful indscrotion terminated in
death.
While l was yet inconsolabe for his loss,
another friend of mine In Yorkshire discov
cred an older and more gifted raven at a
village public house, which he prevailed up
on the landlord to part with for consider
alton, and sent up to me. The first act Of
this Sage was, to administer to the effects Of
his predecessor, by disenterring all the
cheese aud half-pence he had buried in the
garden,- work of immense labor and re-
search, to which he devoted all the energies
of his mind. When he had achieved this
task, he applied himself to the acquisition
of stable language, in which he soon became
such an adept, that he would perch outside
my window and drive imaginary horses with
great skill, all day. Perhaps ] never saw
Lin at his best, for his former master sent
his duty with him, ''aui f wished the bird
to come out very strong, would be so good
as show him drunken man, (which
never did, having unfortunately none but
sober people at hand But could hardly
have respected him more, whatever the slim
yating influence of this sight might have
been. He had not the least respect, | am
sorry to say, fer me in, return, or Tor any
body but the cook to whom. he was attach
ed, but only, fear, as u policeman might
have been. Once ] met him unexpectedly,
about hall mile off walking down the pub
lie street, attended by u pretty large crd:%d.
ond spontaneously exhibiting the whole of
his accomplishments. His gravity under
those trying circumstances | never can for
get, nor the extraordinary gallantry with
which, refusing to be brought home, he de-
Tended himself behind Il pump, until over.
powered by numbers, 1t may have been
that he was too bright genius to live long,
or it may have been that hetook some per
nicious substance into his bill, and thence
into his maw,-which is not improbable,
seeing that he newspointed the greater part
of the garden wall by digging out the NOR
tar, broke countless squares of glass by
scraping away the putty all round the frames,
and tore up and swallowed, in splintcrs, the
greater part of a wooden staircase of six
steps and 1anding,-but after some three
years he too was taken i'll. and died before
the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the
last upon the meat as it roasted, and sud
denly turned over ON his back with scpul-
chlal cry of "Cuckool"
After this mourntul deprivation, was.
for long time, ravenless. The kindness OF
another friend at length provided me with
another raven; but he is not y genius. He
leads the life of hermit, in my little or.
chard on the summit of Shakcspcare's
Gad's Hill he has no relish for society:
he gives no evidence Of ever cultivatng his
mind; and he has picked up nothing but
meat since have known him-eycept the
facility of barking like dog.