The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-02
SOME BRAINY DOGS.
ACTORS THAT PLAY
TO HOME AUDIENCES.

From the New York Mail and Express
A big gray morse and a little brown dog
attracted the attention of many people as
they passed along Park Row the other
morning. Most dogs are content to take a
drive seated comfortably alongside Of the
driver, but this ambitious animal was TAX
ing his airing on horseback. The gray
shoulders were big and broad, yet often
the four-legged equestrian had to exer-
else great tact TO keep his place as the
outfit jolted over the stones. woman
In the throng spoke 10 the driver as ne
halted moment for a passing car. say,
driver" she said, seems to me you re
treating that little animal pretty shabbily.
He must be tired out trying TO stick on
there
"Oh. not a bit, ma am," said the jehu.
He do cry to get there; he's just like a
child about 1t and / let him have his way.
He'll crawl back by me when he's tired -
oh" said the lady.
"Ail right, ma am said the driver. And
they both passed on.
In the woman's mind there remained the
thought that after all dogs could do about
as much and think about as cleverly as
human beings. She passed the dogs Of
her acquaintance and her friends &C
| qualntance in review and she recognized
the dramatic dog, the heroic dog, the am
bilious dog, the impairment dog and many
more
For instance, she thought, there's Hec-
| ter. He is both an actor and a detective.
| Let me tell you the story OF now he caught
a four-legged thief and see II you don I
| agree with me. Hector is collie whose
home is on Madison avenue. Early in the
| season he was sent out of town for the
summer. and while on this visit he had
an adventure. The first week of his va
cation were made miserable by thiev-
| Ing canine who lived in a washerWoman
! cottage a short distance from his hand
some home and who soon learned tina,
| Hector's dinner bones were choicer in
| quality and larger in quantity than those
that fell to his own lot.
In fact, Hector was so wen supplied with
bones from choice cuts that he often had
one left over from a meal, and this ne
would bury in a convenient place, where
| II would be ready for a hungry spell. One
fatal day the country dog saw Hector in
terring his leftover bone. and as soon as
the big fellow was asleep on the piazza
=, the little cur stole the treasure and carried
1t off home TO enjoy at leisure.
! About two hours afterward Hector s
! hungry spell developed and he stalked
majestically to the flower bed where he
| had hidden his meal Only a hole was
| there, and the dogs actions, when he dis
covered his loss, would have made him a
dog star of the first magnitude on any
| stage. He suuffed around the upturned
/ earth as though getting the scent of the
| marauder, then he dug furiously deeper
! 10th to think he had been robbed; finding
nothing, he stood moment like a statue
then, putting his nose to the ground, he
was off on a scent. over the lawn anc
out on the road he bounded Here h'
paused a moment, then headed for tho
! cottage, and in a short time wild wall:
and howls proceeded from that direction
Hector had caught his thieving torment0
red-handed, and he soon reappeared, car
rying the bone in his mouth.
But the little country cur was hungr.
and brave and his punishment did not de
ter him from continuing his depredatione
Every day or two Hector lost a bone, ant
his foe was too willy to be caught with |
a second time. At this period the Who'll
family had become interested in the &C
tlens of the dogs and were awaiting devel
opfnents. They noticed one morning tina
Hector seemed TO be in a brown study, an
Ii soon became apparent by his action
that he was working out the bone prob
III. Il
which he wished to protect and he left
on his plate while he went on an explorin
expedition. He dug a hoge in a conspicuou
place, and 1t seemed as though he wer
purposely advertising his secret to his ri
val. After the hole was dug he returned t
his platter, and taking the big bone and
little one which he had picked clean, i
his mouth, he hurried TO his burial site.
few digs made the hole larger, and in wen
the choice bone, then a portion of the cart
was tumbled in and patted down, and tn
small bone followed; on top of that wen
the earth which was left. Then Hector la
down where he could keep an eye on tn
spot and pretended to sleep, Soon his 70
| appeared and a slight waving of Hector:
tail indicated his alertness for the success
of his strategy. The thief scraped ava
the loose top earth, secured the small bon
and departed, and then Hector jumped u
and barked for JOY His delight over tn
success of his scheme was human an
from that day every bone he buried ha
a decoy on top of 1t, and his tormentin
visitor never discovered the trick playe
upon him.
"When l came home from business on
day last spring" said a well-known Yves
End avenue man, II found my wife
tears. oh, Fred, she said, Nancy ha
been stolen
'stolenp I exclaimed.
|
O'Clock, and you know she never leaves ms
| let ner out for a run and saw her tea
round the corner in a queer way. l al
fully convinced now that some one lure
her away with candy. In about ten mir
utes, when l called her. there was no re
Spouse, and l fear III never see he
again
Never mind, little woman said
| Nancy owns a trico3or of virtues She
loyal. loving and quick witted and she
outwit her captors and find her way HON
or die In the attempt. In the meantime
| I'll do what / can TO find her!
Then the telephone was brought int
service and half an hour afterward polio
stations had been notified and ever
morning paper was in possession of tn
following advertisement:
| "Lost-From No. - West END avenue
a fox terrier wearing a silver mOunte
leather collar. Nancy engraved on tn
nameplate. Twenty-Five dollars reward fc
her return within twenty-four hours n
questions asked.
1T was a sorrowful family which retli
ed that night, for Nancy was the pet {
the household. But saddest of all was tn
heart Of the mistress. She best knew Mar
| cy's disposition. She knew how the genta