Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-01-11
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! 4 1qeenn sinR. We G1noo1ke fsct uu-
'qralias1ly. ~ a.i.al q seiap is .
l.rgs, nssss ssassed sreyh -psrhaps
Isbout - - ssvss yeass His a.-
leml11 = d1gine. Sos0k - arc GER
and ~ keys - s1lss1 - he iSni-
Ely - tks - tue = three 9sars. He
doescot - alone. but vhoo Be hears
eersain usnbes u the family iaeins. he
I..joins il" This , mors p6r1oulariy the
esss With ose lady of ths No. vko. If
s.te ls9ins 81 sing 4hen the<E - any-
~.,i.ea .eascyBthe uESs 4 prelt& 49, ie
obtasS s canine accompsnimenx II she
/ i heard singing up stairs. and the dog il
shut out below. he will raise . rumpus till
be is admitted to the room where she is,
when he will "join in" keeping very good
time. and actually keeping-so We are as
sured-on the same key, rising with the
singer to the higher notes. in a kind of
blended whine and howl. that is yet neith-
er like the voice of dog nor anything
else, but showing something Of musical
ear. When he reaches . note too high
for him. he will stop. and wait for the
cadence of the song to reach the lower
notes again. In his rising notes he lifts
his head as we'll as bis voice. When his
owner enters the room, he will suddenly
stop. and not another note can be got out
Of him while his master remains. In fact
he dislikes to have anybody present ex-
cept the one with whom he sings. His
voice is improving, and he sings better
than he did. He may yet sing with Nils
son. There are a good many puppies fol-
lowing 10 his wake who have neither the
music nor the sense Of this one.
In proof of this we will state some 9TH
er performances by this dog. These will
show that some. at least, of the brute cre-
alton can, and do. reason from cause to
effect. and vice versa, precisely as a man
reasons.
This dog has long made it a practice,
after the family has gone up stairs for the
evening, of getting into the sitting-room
below and making his bed on the sofa
He knows this is a forbidden thing, and
seems to do it out of what the Hoosiers
call '.purc cussedness"-fo he has much
more comfortable bed of his own, in the
rear of the kitchen. His practice was dis
covered by the disarranged condition of
the sofa-pillow. and the marks of muddy
feet. Coming suddenly down stairs. at
late hour, on purpose TO see il they could
; find him on the sofa. the master or mis-
tress Of the dog have never been able to
.:catch hiSf in the act" The sofa would
be disarranged. and quite warm where the
animal had lain on it, but the dog himself
would invariably b. found in his own bed,
his eyes shut. and he (apparently) fast
asleep! He is only aroused as if from a
sound slumber. and puts on all the stretch
ing attitudes and sleepy airs of dog new
ly aroused from a sound nap.
One night, determined to catch the gen.
.leman in the act, and at the same time
cure him of the trick, the owner Of this
intelligent piece Of property so fixed a
loaded pistol to chair. which was placed
near the sofa. that by pulling a string the
weapon could be discharged. Then hid
ing himself in closet. extinguishing the
light. and leaving the door open just far
enough to enable him to see out. he wait
ed. The room was not so dark as to pre-
vent him from seeing all that occurred
After the sounds of the family retiring. in
the rooms above. had all ceased, the door
to the kitchen (Which was always left uu-
latched) was slowly and noiselessiy pushed
open. and in came the dog. He stopped
and listened. long and attentively. Then
he went to the parlor door and cautiously
looked into the parlor. Then turning
back. he stopped in the sitting room and
harked once more. Hearing nothing. he
suddenly dropped all bis guarded and
sneaking manner, and bounded boldly
upon the sofa-pawed the pillow down to
the spot where he wanted it, and settled
himself down solidly and comfortably for
the night. At this juncture the string
was pulled from the closet, and the pistol
went off with terrific bang! close to the
dogs head.
The frightened animal made one leap.
such jump as greyhounds alone can
make. and landed, at one bound. in the
middle of the parlor. There he stopped.
aud stood. with eager gaze and pointed
ears. looking back at the sofa in the sit
ting-room. Then his owner came OUT
and that dogs demeanor underwent sud-
den change. He dropped his ears. head.
and tail. and with an air which fairly said
You've 60, me this time" be sneaked
Of TO his own bed.
| Nor did he again go near that sofa for
many weeks. Gradually, however, he be-
gan to resume his old tricks: and one
night his owner curious to see how the dog
always managed to get away so quick
whenever any one came down stairs. again
hid himself in the closet, having first ar.
ranged with one of the family to star,
quietly from up stairs. late. and after all
of the house had become still. and star,
down stairs. so that he could see if the dog
heard it. The dog. after waiting long tt
assure himself that the family had gone Il
bed, came in. In the middle of the foo,
he stopped and listened. In accordanc,
with the arrangement. some of the folk,
mp stairs walked across the foor. Th,
dog did not move. The instant. howev
er, that the person up stairs took hold o
and turned the knob 20 the upstairs doc
Indicating purpose TO come down stairs)
L. H. 4 IL - L h