Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1886-06-07
A wHTsT-PLAYTNG BOG.
New and Intellectual Type of CoIley
Found In England.

Found In England.
There are many wonderful things, said the
Greek tragedian, but nothing more wonder
full than man. If Sophocles could have read
story contributed by a correspondent to
the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News,
he might, says the Saturday Review, have
seen reason to revise his opinion in favor
of the dog. To come to the point at once
a process which is questionable, but has its
advantages is dog which sits up on
its launches and plays cards with his master.
Now, dogs have been known to show many
signs of great intelligence, and there are
not wanting those who think the human
difficulty of understanding them is due
to deficiencies in the human rather than in
| the canine mind. A dogs sense of humor,
for instance, Is very great, and he readi-
| ly appreciates the difference betw cen being
| laughed with and being laughed at, neith
| er of which statements can be unreservedly
predicted of tie bulk of N ankind. But
whsther owing to a dogs natural con-
| tempt for frivolous pursuits unconnected
| with bones, or to mere laziness, or to
| the possession of INTEL ect superior to
details, no dog has hitherto, SO far as
we are aware. been caught playing whist.
''Rapier," however, knows a man who
knows dog who appar emily does every
| thing but shuttle, from which exception
cynic might draw melancholy and inap-
propriate conclusions. "Rapier's" friend
| introduced his anecdote in the most ap-
| proved moral style. 1.-THE occupation of a
| shepherd" he says, ''is at all times more
| or less monotonous," and so we arrive at
the pith of a really admirable tale. Sun
| der the leeside of a hugh boulder, I
| came upon the shepherd and his canine
| assistant, remarkably handsome colley,
| of the true Dartmoor type. The shepherd
| had a pack of cards, and it happened,
unfortunately, to be his turn to deal He
was dealing them out on slab between
| him and his canine assistant, who was sit
| ting squarely on his launches" as "Rapicr's"
| friend roundly asseverates. Suddenly, the
| shepherd paused and asked the dog what
/ he was grinning at. 'sGot the ace again hasn't
a" But the dog, like Lord Charles Beres-
| ford's emu when challenged by the sentry,
| made no reply.
| The shepherd, who had certainly found a
| more cheerful occupation than the leech
gatherer on the lonely moor, responded
readily to the Wordsworthian question: how
| he lived and what it was he did. He fplays
form of double dummy, and, as he
| admitted with singular candor, he has
not yet instructed the colley in all the ins
| said, :I don't believe Ship knows the
| right valley of all on 'em, he knows well
| enough when he's got the ace of trumps, that
| he do" 1t might be thought that if Ship
| knew what were trumps and which was
| the ace, little would be hid from his ken
that what disclose. We must, how-
ever, take the story as we find it, and GER
| tainly it ordinary experience that the
veracious narrator enjoyed ''when rambling
about in the vicinity of Portland prison. P"
| Balaam's ass will soon have to hide her di
| minished ears, and even Jonah's whale must,
| to use a very inadequate expression, take
| back seat. We fancy that Ship, should his
master ever consent to part with him, would
| fetch very considerable sum of money.
| Double dummy is according to some author
| ities the most intellectual form of whist.
How charming to play with a companion
| who couldn't talk and who would consider
it beneath him to call for trumps by short,
sharp bark. If he won the rubber no doubt,
as i'll the case of Mr.. Uttertou over his wine,
something eminently human would beacon
| from his eye. Probably the next thing heard
of Ship will be that he has put the ace up
his sleeve. We congratulate the Sporting
| and Dramatic News. The Spectator is not
| in it. What is cat with moral sense to a
dog who knows the of trumps? Sir John
Lubbocks dog is said to understand proper
| tiona1 representation and the transferable
vote as well as the general public. But that
| is not saying much.