The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-12-04
Dog Stories.

The Providence Journal tells the fol-
lowing stories:
There were two singular circumstan-
ces connected with the burning of the
dwelling house occupied by Mr.. Peter
Riley, at KnIghtsville,, on Sunday NOR
ming, the 9Th inst The FIRST Is that at
FIVE o'clock in the morning fire should
have commenced between the plastering
the outside boarding and under the sink.
The only explanations of it can be sug-
gested are either spontaneous combustion
or matches carried thither by rats
The second is that dog should have
discovered the FIRE before its actual ap-
pearanee, and given the alarm. Mrs.
Riley and others in the family state that
the dog, which was part bull, after be-
coming suspicious that fire was begin
ming, ran up stairs where the little Ri
leys were sleeping, and jumped upon the
bed. and whined and licked their faces.
Failing to waken them he again ran
back again to the fire, and finding his
suspicious verified, he bounced violently
up stairs again to the bed of Peter, Jr,
who was sleeping soundly, and took
hold of the'dauphin's ear with his teeth,
and shook it till he had him sitting up
in bed. The screams of the boy had
reused the patriarch also, and the good
woman, who came upon the scene from
another part of the house to quset the
dog. Whereupon the cur conducted the
head of the family, clothed in his robes
of the night, to the incipient fire, that
was then just beginning to make its ap-
pearance through the plastering, thus
probably by his intelligence and reason
saving the life of the children with
whom he was in the habit OF sporting.
Michael Conley, the sewer contractor,
is the possessor u four greyhounds,
which were yesterday morning the means
of saving a mans life. Felix Prior and
James Carroll were at work in an excav-
alton about seven feet deep, but obout
$50 o'clock Carroll went away, and
while Prior was at work alone the banks
caved in, completely covering him up.
The dogs happened to be in the vicinity,
and all four of them at once commenced
to scratch away the dirt from over his
head vigorously, the same time yelping
loudly. Mr.. Conley, who was the first
to arrive on the scene, drove his dogs
away, but they returned and commenced
to dig and yelp again. He commenced
to dig also, as did some of the neighbors
who had been attracted to the spot by
the cries of the hounds, and it was not
long before the head of the buried man,
who was standing up, was reached, and
he was permitted once more to breathe
the air of Heaven, of which, had he been
deprived few moments longer, he new
er would have breathed again. He was
taken from the sewer unharmed.
A friend of mine hrs dog which al
ways runs with the wagon. On week
days the wagon turns to the right from
the gate and goes down to the factory.
On Sunday it turns to the left and goes
to church. The dog runs ahead. On
Sunday he turns to the left, and no inti-
nation is given. Six days the sagacious
animal runs on in advance toward the
factory. Even the horse understands
the day as well as the way to church,
No one that has passed a week day in
Venice will have failed to have seen the
pigeons fed at the hour of noon. Far
more than one hundred of these little
animals have come at noon for their food.
They never mistake the hour. They
never come at 10 or IL. When the bell
of ST. Marks begins to clang out the
hour of noon, not a bird could be seen.
Before the bell ceases, the air will be
black, and doves by the hundred fly to
the windows. On Sunday no grain is
given. The old bell jars out II o'clock,
but no birds appear. They can count;
they know when Sunday comes.-["Bur-
leigh's" Letter.
An English paper has the following:
A striking exemplifcaion of the sagaci-
ty of shepherds dog has just come
under notice on the farm of Higham,
near Newburgh, in Fifeshire. The dog
belongs to Mr.. John BallingalL The
shepherd on the farm happened to lose
pound note, and after many hours
fruitless search for the banknote it was
given up as lost. A collie pup, only
four months old, made its appearance in
the field where it was supposed the note
had been lost, and with much impor-
tunity endeavored to make himself no
ticeable. The shepherd could not be
bothered with its caressings, so grieved
was he at his loss. After being ordered
off some half-dozen times, the dog even.
tual1y stood up on its hind-legs, opened
its mouth, and there was the note, fold
ed just as it was when it went-a- miss-
ing! With much wagging of its tail,
the animal laid the note at the shep-
herds feet. The animal was once de-
spised one, but now it is a household
pet.
Fireworks.
; A popular belief exists that the pyro.
technic art is due to the ingenuity of the
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