The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-27

Fidge growled, but did it. He then told
him to open the door and to shut the front
door, and Fidge did this. He told him to
sit up on his hind legs and Fidge. evil
IDENTIFY approaching thoroughly the mean
ing of the word. did so. The dog was then
asked to lie down and roll over. to go out
of doors, to jump up Into chair and lie
down, and several other things, all OF
which he did without single motion of
direction As we looked at him, Amos
Cummings SAID THAT is the most won
derful dog have ever seen, and he is
good deal smarter than the dog of a story
which once published in the Sua, and
which every one said was lie, but which
was the truth
What was that7" said I.
1T was about dog which I saw during
a fishing vacation that | spent in the
Adiropdacks. ! was stopping with an old
farmer, and the night / arrived / found it
quite cold and the farmer had good fire
for me. During the course of the evening
the wood-box got empty, and the old man,
looking at his two sons, said: Boys, one
of you go ont and get some wood. 1t
amt my turn. said Jim. i filled the box
last time We'll. you can I'll it again.
said Sam. for fed the horses this even
ing, and so the two boys went on wrang-
ling for at least i've minutes. All this time
big Newfoundland dog was sitting at the
Ere, and he looked IN apparent disgust all
the time from one boy TO the other. AT
the end Of the five minutes he got UP and
went out. and a moment later appeared
with stick OF wood in his teeth and
dropped it in the wood-box. He then
went out and got another stick, and so
continued till the box was full. Then,
without bark, but with a self-satisfied
grunt, he laid himself down in front of the
fire. WELL" Congressman Cummings
went on, II saw this thing with my own
eyes, and it struck me as so remarkable
that published it. My readers laughed
at it, and know that many OF them dis
believe it to this day."
You can never tell what you can do
with dog" Amos Cummings went on.
You can't tell as to where their intelli-
gence begins and ends and the stupidest
locking beast may have a wonderful soul
within him. had long dog with short
legs. His barrel was about three feet long
aid his legs would not measure much
more than SIX inches. / bought him,
thinking how funny he would look If |
could make him stand on his hind feet, and
tried TO teach him again and again. He
would not understand, ard though / set
him up and propped him up for hours at
time, he would not get up himself. and as
soon as let go of him he would go down
on all fours. gave him several whippings
but these apparently did no good, and one
day, while trying TO teach him in my fourth
story fiat, grew SO disguised with him
that | picked him up by the nape of the
neck and hung him out of the window,
saying, You blasted cur, I'm not going
to fool any longer with you, and I'll just
drop you down on the stones The
dog looked down and appreciated the
situation. He howled as though he were
crazy, and when / took him back in he
shook like a leaf. | went on talking to
HIM, and told him / was going 10 throw
him out the window, and then / again
ordered him to sit up. He got on his hind
legs quicker than / could say the words,
and looked at me in the most piteous way
His spirit was brosn. After that | had no
trouble with him. He learned lots of
tricks, and Charles A. Dana thought he
was the smartest dog in creation. The
dog got to know the Sun newspaper, and he
would bring it TO me every morning while
| lay in bed. / came home very late, and
usually awoke about 10 O'Clock in the
morning and looked over the newspaper
before got mp to my breakfast. The dog
was very anxious to get in to me, and /
usually let him lie on the bed beside me
while l read. He would get the Sun and
sit outside until / awoke, and then he
would bring it in. One day / remember
he brought the Tribune. He offered it to
me hesitatingly, as though he were not sure
that he was right. l looked at him sternly
and asked him what he meant by bring
ing me such a sheet as that, and he
grabbed the paper again in his mouth, put
his tail between his legs and skunk out,
soon returning, holding both the Sun and
his tail in the air. He never made q mis-
take about the paper after that.
~ shall not soon forget" continued Mr..
Cummings, chow lost this dog. took
him with me to the Office one day, and
dropping into store on the way, while /
was making a purchase. the dog disap-
peared. looked everywhere for him. /
wkistled and called, but the dog did not
appear. l then went on to the Sun office,
and was there talking with Mr.. Dana when
some one came in laughing immoderately
and telling the story of dog-fght he had
just seen, in which black dog was fight.
ing two bull terriers. What shape was the
black dog?' asked. He had long body
and very short legs was the reply. It's
my dog. said /. and rushed out of the Of
flee. When got to the place l found out
that the crowd of 5000 people, which the
man had said was watching the fight, had
disappeared, and / could see nothing of my
dog anywhere. j saw nothing of him until
the next night, when he crept into my
house. away up town. so weak that he
could hardly stand. He was one mass of
bites, and 1t is no exaggeration to say that
he had at least 100 wounds on him. He
had been wandering about New York try
ing to find ME all this time, and had evil
gently had fight on every street corner.
/ can only see how he could have discov-
cred the house on one theory, and that is
that he must have counted the streets on
each side of the one lived from the river,
and by maintaining this in his mind, have
gotten his directions. Well, l washed his
sores and offered him something to eat,
but he was too sick TO touch anything. The
next morning he brought up the Sun, as
usual, and as sore as he was. jumped up
on the bed. His sores hurt him so that he
could not lie quiet, and l spoke GROSSLY to
him and finally gave him knock and sent
him off on the floor. He looked at me pit
fully and tried to get up again. but could
not. He got his short front paws on the
bed and caught hold of his neck and
lifted him up ana laid him down,
and told him to be quiet or he
would have to leave the room. He
kept moving around, and finally