Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1876-03-10
The Dogs of Constantinople.


Free from the cravings of hunger after
his frugal meal with Duke Humphrey,
the Constantinople dog becomes social
being, and attends to the affairs of the
commonwealth. At every street crossing,
utterly deserted by men after nine or ten
o'clock at night, you find dogs council.
Much as visitor to Constantinople may
have cause to lament his ignorance of
Turkish, Arabic and Roman Greek, he
ought to feel more put out by his inability
to understand these dogs Latin. Had I
the rudiments of their language, could [
acquire the means Of communing with
these demure and, apparently, unsympa-
thiZing animals, who knows what inter
esting particulars I might learn respecting
the laws and institutions OF their canine
republic2 Perfect gravity and solemnity,
what one might describe as OminOus si-
lence, prevails sometimes for hours in
their busy assemblies. Knowing glances,
conventional signs, seem 10 suffice for
their exchange of ideas The occasional
looking in or pairing off of honorable
members adds importance, or gives new
zest to the dumb discussion
Under the leadership of some President,
or on motion from the Right or Left, the
meeting is, now and then adjourned; in
comes, now message, now deputation
from some Upper House, now report
from some Select Committee. But, again,
all at once some unexplained commotion
seems to rouse the violent passions of the
hitherto 80 calm, so deliberate and or
derby Parliament. There ensues a gener-
al rush, scamper down one street, up
another, sharp yell, ringing chorus of
yells. Is it message of peace a shoutof
defiance ? a cry of distress? No man can
tell; but there is immediate response
From street to street, from ward to ward,
from hill to hill, the alarm spreads with
the swiftness of the Highland Cross of
Fire. The. uproar is as of myriads of
unclaimed hell-hounds securing the town,
in the din of which dull, impressive man
sleeps-as he best can The savage bark,
the dismal howl, swell and subside like
the ocean tide. 1t is Earring discord in
the immediate neighborhood, heavenly
music, as all sound is, when mellowed by
distance. e.....ee.-.. e1
Sometimes, as at this very moment,
nothing can be imagined more overawing
than the stiffness of the midnight air from
my open window; nothing more death
like than a vast abode of men when
wrapped in univeral sleep. 1t is that
audible silence" that appalling ''yoice
of hushed-up life," which is all unlike
the natural repose of forest, sea or desert,
and strikes us as paralysis of our own
sense Of hearing. Suddenly across the
deep, from the border of the cemetery at
Sentari, Or from the precincts of the Seven
Towers at STEAMBOAT, the far-away dogs
concert, faint and indistinct, is waited to
my ear; faint and vogue and dream-like
at first, yet multitudinous, as if the Spec
ter Huntsman were driving his demon
pack in full cry, yap-yapping, from their
kennel in the neither regions. That faint
wave of sound WAKES and heaves and fills
the space as it rapidly advances, and in a
few seconds the empty haunts of men be-
come the scene of indispensable wrath and
strife.-Cor. London Times.