The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-11-25

We are fully satisfied now that the Dog
Law should be repealed, notwithstanding
about $4,000 in the way of revenue Is re-
celyed annually from taxing the CANNES
Here Is where the misery comes Into be
taxed upon animals that are a tax III
themselves. For instance: we nave
little pup at home, and we have named
him Tax. TO commemorate the Act by
which the last Legislature rendered itseli
infamous, Tax is aboutthree months Old
growing fast. and full of promise, and
generally he is full of meat. We have
never known his appetite to fail. Posi-
lively we gave him four pounds of raw
beef at one feeding the other day, and hc
d%evoured it without the least regard to
mastication. In fact he never used his in
cisory or molar teeth at all, and after
'gulping" it down, stood. with sparkling
eyes and wagging tail. fondly expecting
more, while we stood wondering upon the
capacity of the stomach and its cXtraordi-
nary powers of extension. We have Won
dcred equally as much very often when
witnessing the efforts ofhuman ~aniInals.to
crafty their appetites, and have come to
the conclusion that there Is a close kin
ship between the mans and the brute's
ventricle for the digestion of food. This
pumpkin-colored pup of ours is a severe
tax upon us. Already he has torn into
shreds two fine door.mats that cost us So;
five pairs of hose worth $3.50; carried one
of our velvet slippers under the coal-llouse
floor, where it cannot be had; ruined
some nice grape-cuttings for which we
paid Mr.. Vogclgesang So; destroyed a
beautiful little magnolia we got from Dr.
Houghton, and the only one we had in our
ward; gnawcd the bark from several thrift
ty little peach trees; killed more than a
dozen young chickens of fine breed; torn
up two of our baby's little dresses that
made her look "cute and cunning" as her
said and the other day the store
room door was left open and Tax got in
and ate up 'clean and NICE" over seven
pounds of lard that cost us Is cents per
pound. We read that Greece, ofold, paid
considerable attention to the training of
dogs, and we think that grease has paid a
considerable tension to TaX-hc ate so
much. When our cook came to us and
said that the "nasty pup had got all the
rat" we told her we reckon he'd get fattcr
for it, and this jeu dc mOtS assauged our
anger and made more palatablc the tough
biscuits onr folks had to eat for several
days in consequence Of the ldrdcr being
empty. Tax gets fattcr every day, and
we ret poorer. He is naturally carnivo'
rous, but does not refuse %farinaceous food
He can eat "a biscuits within two seconds
by George Martins time, and his sense o
smell is so refined that lie knows where
everything is kept, whether solids or liz
uids. We have devoted much of our tint
to studying the general management o
dogs in order to see if we could manage
Tax. w have read that he could be cas-,
lily taught good manners, as, for example
to be silent and lie down when hidden, e
refrain from leaping on the knees of per-
sons visiting our family, and not to 81
staring at meals, watching every bite tina
is put in the mouth. We have employed
iudicious mixture of severity and gentle
ness with him, to make him aware that HI
must do as he is bid-tllat if he does no
he will be punished, and, if he obeys tina
he will be rewarded. We have tried t.
make him know the meaning of a look,
sign, or a word, and to act accordingly
But all our efforts have turned, like Dea'
Sea fruit, to ashes. Tax returns to hi
practice as surely as the dog spoken OF i
Che Good Book. lie continues to bring in
to the house all the old shoes and bones h
can find, and this morning he "went' 70
a buttered biscuit in baby's hands, and j
his effort to get it nearly scratched he
ewes out. This cowardly attack upo
helpless infancy has topplcd Tax from tn
pedestal he occupied in the affections {
baby's mother, and strengthened curse
in the opinion that dogs are a sufllcier
tax in themselves, and that it is an outrre
for the law to step in and levy a dollar VI
on each dog q person has. However
may be with others, we feel assured til;
our pup is a Tar.