Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-11-03
BENJAMIN DINKIE.'
Juvenile Ethics Our Duty ia
Poor Dumb Animals.

Juvenile Ethics Our Duty TO
Poor Dumb Animals.
Children be kind to animals. There
was once boy in Burlington who
lived on Division street and took
great delight in teasing animals. de
would string curtain rings on the
cats tail and turn turtles over on their
backs and burn matches under the
chickens nose and fasten clothes pins
to the dogs cars or tie TN cans to
their tails just to see them run and
howl in terror Well, yesterday he
enticed a noble dog into the yard, and
after petting him until he secured the
confidence of the noble brute he tied
strong string to his unsuspectlng
tail and began to tie an empty oyster
can to the other end Of the string.
He was down on his knees, and had
made q slip-knot in the cord when q
butchers wagon ratified by, and gal
loping along behind 1t was dog that
at once called this other dog, whose
tail was being doctored, bow legged,
jimber ,iawed, wall-eyed son Of sea
COW, and this dog had been waiting
to catch him out alone ever since. So
the minute he saw him running by he
was up and after him like a house
afre. The first jump he made jerked
that slip.knot so tight on that bad
boys thumb that the bad 10y wasn't
| Just exactly certain whether he had
any thumb left or not, but before he
had time to look dawn and see wheth-
er it wasn't pulled out by the roots the
dog had made another bulge for the
gate, and the boy thought he might
as well 60 along a little ways and see
what was up. The dog felt the string
jerk on his tail, but, merely remarking
to the boy that he was as mad as a
wet hen already and he didn't need to
have his tail pulled to make him fight
ING mad, lit out in wild pursuit Of his
foe. The boy stretched his arm out
as fur rs it would reach and lit out al
so, howlng louder at every jump. The
dog thought he was encouraging him
and remarked that he was all right,
and if he'd come along he'd show him
little the wickedest fight he ever
saw since hair grew on Il dogs back
Down Division street they went,
thousand miles minute, boy and
dog, the dog a little ahead, but the
boy good second, and coming along
at 2:l4 gait, and the faster they ran
the louder that boy yelled, and the
more faces he made and the straighter
he stretched out his arm. And the
dog under the butchers wagon heard
the fuss after awhile, and when he
turned and recognized the dog he in
formed the butcher that he knew that
dog, and was going back to slap his
chops, and he trotted back according
| ly. "Who ye follerin?" he said, and
he raised his back hair into fine
tooth comb land turned his cropped
ears into exclamation points, and you
should have heard that bad boy howl
for the police, and the fireman, and
his mother, and Tom Raper, and
Mons Tell. The dog the boy was
with just stuck his tail up till it looked
like a crow bar with hair on, and he
said to the other dog: "What did
you call me names for that day." and
oh! children, if you had seen that
bad boy tug at that slip-knot and
heard him long for the good old days
when there were only two dogs in the
world and they were shut up in the
ark, you would have laid your sticky
little fingers on yonr innocent little
hearts and promised never to be cruel
to animals again And the butchers
dog, regarding the boy as an ally of
this other dog, said "Sh'up yer jaw,
r'ile smack yer snoot," and then he
lifted himself right up on his toes and
walked around in circle and put on
style. And the other dog couldn't