Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-03-30
Have Dogs Instinct ,r Reason.
London Truth.

Dogs, for instance, have a reverent
awe of the unknown-correseondiug,
probably, to the sense of religious
reverence in man. To the dog, omne
ignotum pro magnifico, and, for the
matter of that, pro miraculo.
Mr.. Romanes gave his dog a bone,
which the sagacious and imaginative
creature kept throwing up and worry
ing, pretending to believe that the bone
was alive, presently long, thin thread
was quietly fixed to the bone, and, as
it lay on the carpet, on the dogs ap-
proach the bone began to move off it.
self; the dog then stood, and the bone
stopped; the dog cautiously advances
the bone begins to jump; the dog now
trembles, and as the bone continues its
unnatural dance of death the dog, who
had so enjoyed crediting the bone with
imaginary life, sinks off in the creates
alarm, and cannot be. coaxed to play
with bone which is really alive!
A monkey dressed up like a soldier
is next brought in--clearly monkey,
and as such is to be worried by any
dog. Dogs are seen with cloth on,
yet they remain dogs, and can be fought
with. One rag more or less on mon
key makes no difference. The dog
growls, and approaches for a tussle,
when-oh, horror!-the monkey polite
ly takes off his hail This is too muchl
Never was such thing known; and the
dog, unnerved with amazement, turns
tail, and leaves the unnatural monster
to his ghastly pantomine.
Dogs, it appears, have the keenest
sense of ridicUle. A story is told of
poodle, whose favorlte pastime consist
ed in catching flies ON the window pane.
OF course, he missed sometimes where
upon his master would deliberately
jeer at him and burst into fits of deri-
sive laughter. This made the poodle
miss more, and az last his shame and
annoyance evidently became extreme,
while the heartless outlaws of his mas
ter continued louder and longer. Sud
denly he stopped and pondered, and
presently, with the full consciousness
of being watched, he deliberately pre-
tended to catch and enjoy several flies,
one after the other. This was plainly
zone III OTueT W u6CelNt his lOfE1euUDl
and restore his own credit. That dog
would have made his fortune CD the
Stock Exchange, ii he had been on two
legs, or even if che had not leg to
stand upon
But the last dog, with moral sense
of Justice" rises above the awe of the
savage felt by the first two specimens,
and above the cunning of the charletan
reached by the last in his encounter
with the visionary fly. This was turn
spit dog in France, who worked for hall
an hour alternately with another dog.
His half hour done, he was unharness-
ed, but on one occasion his successor
was nowhere to be found, whereupon
the cook was for clapping him on for
another half hour. But no; this was an
invasion of the dogs rights which no
we'll. constituted animal could submit
TO. No blows or entresties could IN
duce that dog to go on for two conse-
cutive half hours-"it was the other fell
ler's turn" The cook gave it up, and
the truant dog, now appearing, was at
once put to work. At the end OF his
half an hour, "the dog with the sense
of Justice" did not wait for summons,
but cheerfully leaped up, and was put
into harness without a murmur. bis
time was come, and he knew 1t; but
his own half hour was as sacred to him
as any Beety James Sunday out