Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1882-03-18
SagaclOus Animals.

stt stories are the more widely are they cir
culated. For example, there is the an
ecdote OF the sagacious elephant to
whom wicked boy in the circus gave q
s'' large piece of molasses candy in the
center OF which was concealed an ounce
40 OF red pepper Instead of swallowing it
ana undergoing pleasing agonies, the
s@7e beast wound one leg around the boy,
49, pried open his mouth with tusk, and,
e holding the candy with the extremity of
his trunk, sifted the entire lot of pepper
e's down the boys throat amid the cheers
OF the assembled people. There, too,
& Is the story Of the sagacous horse who
was carrying on his back WORKOUT
Methodist preacher and travelling in the
r thickest of darkness over a wretched
no Western road The minister fell asleep
90 and the horse, on reaching a swollen
Np river and finding that the bridge had
been carried away, crossed the raging
-. torrent by walking carefully over tee-
graph wire that had been blown from
the poles and stretched from bank to
80 bank. And then there is tie story of
the sagacious dog who had lost an entire
litter OF pups just at the time that hen
OF her acquaintance ventured too near
acolored camp-meeting and left a family
D. - OF fifteen young chickens to mourn her
loss: The dog instantly adopted the
chickens, nursed them with great as
sldulty, and brought them all to matur-
rity, although they ever afterward be ,
trayed an abnormal fondness for bones
and Insisted upon sleeping on the front
~ piazza and cacklng loudly at the moon.
s,aa Undoubtedly the following incident,
illustrating the extraordinary intelli-
gence of a cat, will be disbelieved by a
few bold spirits, but there is no reason
10 doubt that 1t is as true as fully three
- tourths of the animal stories with which
The public is already familiar. Mr. Mar.
TIN, OF Ihlrty-nnth street, recently had
the electric light put into his house, and
for time it afforded him great satisfac.
ton, although he has never felt that he
sa.r@l''-tuly understood it, and was never quite
certain that it was perfectly safe thing
to have in the house. During the late
intensely cold weather Mr.. Martin went
to bed at his usual hour, and was sub
jected to the usual questions in regard
''. to the locking up of the house, with
which all married men are familiar. To
"a these, however, Mrs. Martin added a
new question. She asked "Mr. Mar
tin, did you think to turn the electricity
on before you came to bed?n and Mr.
b1a Martin replied that he didn't know as
sa.l he had" "Then," said Mrs. Martin,
49, arranging her pillow, 'Lhat electricity
OIL will be sure to freeze and burst, and we
shall have it all over the house before
morning." In vain did Mr.. Martin re-
mark that the men who put the cleo
tricity in the house never told him that
lo 1T would freeze, and that he didn't be.
yo lieve there was any danger His wife
-m7i lnf1exibly maintained that he should
t'- nave let the electricity run just as he
.- had let the water run in the bathroom
ana That II he was not perfectly selfish
DE- and brutal he would get up at once and
attend to the matter. Now, Mr.. Martin
was wel-meaning but an obstinate
Y man, and he totally refused to get up,
t and went to sleep, remarking that the
electricity mi ght burst and blow the
house up for all he cared
1t happened that in the course of the
night the therm Dmeter descended far
sell below zero, and, as Mrs. Martin had
tr, predicted, the electric wire burst and the
electricity began to leak. The leak was
IN the bathroom, and when morning
came and Mr.. Martin awoke, he smell
such strong smell of electricity that he
nj once knew something was wrong.
His nose guided him to the bathroom
door, under which small stream OF
electricity was flowing; but, compre-
hending that the room must be filled
with the escaping fluid, he wisely for
bore to open it. He went downstairs
into the buffers pantry, where he found
that the electricity had ruined the cell. |
ing, and he was about to 90 down to the |
cellar, when as he opened the door the |
family cat sprang to meet him. Knowing |
the sagacity of cats and their intimate
connection with electricity, he resolved |
to watch the animal and see what she |
would do.
The cat smelled the escaping electrici- |
tV0 and tool -, 10 "a.
She examined the whole house, and |
then, with expressive gestures, asked to
be let out of the back door. Mr. Martin |
let her out To his unspeakable astonish |
ment she instantly climbed up an iron |
WaSte'plpe that ran from the roof to the |
ground, passing close by the bathroom |
window. When she reached the window
sill she placed her tail close against the
o. metallic ''catch" intended for the win
dow blind, and placed her forefeet
against the waste-pipe. Instantly Il
stream of electricity flowed over her
back from the bathroom to the waste
pipe, and so to the ground. For few
moments the cat was enveloped in a
shower of sparks, but-to be exact-in
precisely two minutes and thirty -four
seconds by Mr. Martins watch, the in.
9enlous animal empted the bathroom
OF electricity so that her master could
safely enter and stop the leak Temporal
rily with whitehead. 1t is needless to
- say that Mr.. Martin is proud of his cat,
and that he regards her as the most sa.
gacious animal of her species that has
ever yet appeared.-N. Y. Times.
EH NJ
The electric light has found its way
into India. At Calcutta the public gar
dens are lighted by it, and the Elgin
mills at Cawnpore also are Perhaps
the large mills in Bombay will take M