The record-union., 1898-01-12
GREAT FEAT OF A DOG.
He Pushed a Child Overheard and
Then Rescued Her.

| In order to convince skeptical friend
that certain animals have wonderful
reasoning powers, a contributor tells
this story:
One Sunday evening CHANGED to be
lolling on a beach, about fifty feet from
the shore of a small lake in Alabama,
watching some four or five children
playing on the edge of the water, anus
| ing themselves by throwing pebbles
upon the CLASSY surface.
While engaged in this pleasant occu-
patton / noticed a magnificent New
| foundland dog prowling about.
The shouts and laughter of the chill
dren soon drew him to the spot, and af-
| ter gazing lazily at them for a mo-
ment, he turned to leave the place.
Just then one of the little girls who
had made an effort to throw quite a
large stone into the water was over
balanced by its weight, coupled with
| the force she had exercised in endeav-
oring to hurl it from her.
In consequence she fell headforemost
into the lake with scream.
| The lake was quite deep, and the
child, # left to her fate, would have
certainly been drowned. Realizing
this, l rushed toward the shore, di-
vesting myself of my coat and vest as
l ran. Although 1 had moved very
quickly, the dog had been even quicker
In an instant he plunged into the water,
and diving, soon reappeared, grasping
the little one by the back of the dress
AS he sprang upon the beach he was
hailed with a shout Of delight by the
children He laid the little lady gen.
thy down upon the grass, and, after
shifting her from head to foot, finally
came TO the conclusion that she was
not any the worse for her wetting than
a good fright. He then shook himself
as free from the water as he could and
laid down to dry in the sun, which was
shining brightly at the time.
| Il was satisfied myself that the child
| was in no way hurt, and then went over
and patted the noble old fellow upon
the back. He raised his head and,
giving me look of great intelligence,
seemed to say by the expression OF
his co,lntenance, 1t was a good thing
l happened along here-otherwise that
little girl might have been drowned
AT this moment one of the tots came
up. and began to feed the dog some
candy which she had with her Rover
as l afterward learned was his name,
ate the sweets with great relish, and
when they were gone looked as if he
would have enjoyed more. When he
found there was nothing more for him
! he got up and began to romp with the
/ child that had fed him. He would
/ bound away and then return suddenly
pushing her backward with his head
| hi +, 80
returned to the little one who had re-
ceived the ducking and began to ques-
ton her as to who she was and whether
I had not better take her home She
consented that I should go with her
and / had just taken her hand when ]
turned toward the lake to call the rest
of the party. and saw the dog deliber-
ately pnsh the little girl he had been
frolicking with into the water
After a moment during which !
stood aghast) he jumped in and
dragged her out and then, laying her
down upon the turf, as he had done the
| other, he came UP to the rest of the
children who had gathered about me,
and, sitting upon his launches with
his fcrepaws dangling in the air, he be-
gan to wag his tail and whine
Again the intelligent look came into
his eyes, and he seemed this time to
say, 1 have rescued another victim
from watery grave; now where is my
second reward There was no more
candy for him, but after such a rascal
ly piece Of business he would not have
gotten any had there been bushels of
it. / tried to scold the old fellow, but
the memory of his first noble deed was
so fresh in my mind that I hadn't the
heart to do so.'-Atlanta Constitution