National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-02-07

fore, slackened his pace and stopped
opposite public.house.
A news is never quite empty Tlere
are always grooms loaiing about in door
ways, or stable-boys going in and out
of 'washhouses. At the moment when
tho dog and ! appeared coachman
was Harvesting two horses to brou-
CHAM, and couple of men were help
ing him. Opposite, and exchanging
remarks with them from the threshold
OF the public-house, stood q servant in
breeches, smok ing long clay pipe ;
the dog was standing still but all ut
once, before had time to suspect what
was going TO happen, he rose up on his
hind legs and commenced walking
gravely round in circles.
The man with the breeches and the
clay pipe uttered cry of surprise.
The two others and the coachman raised
their heads, and, upon seeing this
strange sight, left their work and clus-
tered up 10 look. A few more people
attracted by the noise came and joined
us. We soon formed ring.
1t seemed to please the dog TO see us
all around him, for he gravely wagged
his tail once to and fro, and tried to
put more spirit into his exercise. he
walked five times round on his hinder
legs, looking fxedly before him like n
soldier on duty, and doing his best,
poor dog.-I could see that-to make
us laugh. For my part, seeing the
others remain speechles5 in their as
toniShment, | laughed aloud to encour-
age him but shall | say the truth ? l
felt more ready to cry. There was
something inexpressibly sad in the seri-
ous expression OF this lonely dog, per-
forming by himself few tricks that
some absent master had taught him,
and doing so Of his own accord, with
some secret end IN view that he himself
only could know Of. After taking n
moments rest he set to work again,
but this time on his iorefeet, pretend
lug 70 stand on his head. And what a
poor, intelligent head ii was, as almost
shaving the ground, it looked appeal
ingly Mt us all, and seemed to say:
PLEASE do not play any pranks with
me, for really am not doing this for
fun" When he had walked round
on his head until he was weary, he lay
down in the midst Of the Mng and made
believe to be dead. He went through
all the commissions Of dying dog,
breathing heavily, painting, suffering
his lower Jaw to fall, and then turning
over motionless. And ne did this SO
well that n stout, honest-faced woman,
who had been looking on without laugh
ing exclaimed, Poor beast" and drew
her hand across her eyes.
The rain continued to fall, but not
one of IT'S thought of moving, only the
dog, when he had lain dead minute,
got up and shook himself, to show US
all that the performance was ended.
He had displayed the extent of what he
knew, and now came forward to receive
his fee. He stood upon his hind legs
again and, walking to each OF us sep
arately, assumed the posture that Is
popnlarly known as begging" 4 was
the first to whom he came. He gazed
ut me inquiringly with his soft eyes
wide opened, and followed my hand pa
tently to my waistcoat pocket. The
basket round his neck WAS round one
with lid to it tied down with string,
and little slit in the lid through which
to put in money. / dropped in shill-
] lEE ana SlOOBtNt uONii W itatt u bib Va
crumpled paper saw hanging loosely
from the collar 1t bore these words,
written in n shaky hand: "This is the
dog If poor man who is bed-stricken ;
he earns the bread of his master. Good
people, do not keep him from returning
to his home" The dog thanked Inc
for my offering by wagging his tail, and
then passed on to my neighbor Human
nature must be kinder than people
think, for there was not one of the
spectators not even he with the
breecl es and the clay pipe, whose face
had impressed me unfavorably y but
gave the dog something. As for him,
when he had gone his round, he barked
two or three times to say good-by, and
then patted contentedly away at the
same iog-trot pace he had come.
He went mp the street, and l followed
him, but when we had reached Oxford
street he C.lickened suddenly, and be-
gan to run hard, as if his day was end
ed and he wanted to get home. Evening
had quite fallen by this time, and felt
it would be quite useless to go after my
four-legged mystery on foot, so l called
a cab and said: Follow that dog,
very much to the drivers astonishment
1t was long way from the part OF
Oxford street in which we were to Tot
tenham Court road, where the small
d, dog leg me. But / should have under
derstood the journey had it not been at
such n furious pace. The dog never
once looked round. Twenty times
thought he would be crushed by pass
ing vans or carriages but somehow he
got through it. He had an extraordl-
nary tact for finding passage between
horses hoofs, and like true London
dog rs he was, he showed intimate IA
miliarity with all the intricacies OF
crossing. Still it was some relief to me,
both on his own account and mine, when
saw him branch off at last. was be,
ginning to fear that he would never
stop, that he had something of the wan.
dering jew in him. 1t seemed impossl-
BILE that, without taking any rest, with
out even pausing for an instant to draw
breath, such lean dog should keep on
going so long. Tottenham Court road
(this was about eighteen months ago
used to be sort of fair at nighttime.
1t is lengthy highway running amidst
a tangled network of sorry streets, the
population of which, from dusk until
the hour when the public-houses close,
used to spread hungry and idle
amongst the countless booths which
had then not yet been swept away, and
where shell-fish, sour fruit, and indi'
gestible looking meat was sold by yell
ing costermongers. On the night in
question, when 1 went there in pursuit
of the dog, foresaw that should be
led to one of those sickly nests of fever
where poverty, disease, and misery
have their abodes set up in permanence
and 7 was NOT wrong.