The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-15
INSTINCT or DOGS.
Col. Hisbie's Rory and Kathleen. and Their
Reasoning Powers a. He Told Of Them.

The late Col. Rowland Higbie Of what used
10 be st. Ambrose's, but by the grace Of the
Board on Geographic Names Is now officially
st. Ambrose. was a famous Judge and lover
OF dogs, and indeed OF all other animals.
Long before sniseed dogs were In
vented In this country. Col Higbie
had his pack OF llve-fox hounds, and he
took prizes galore long before the Vest
minister Club began to hold yearly exhibits
Of gowns and hats. His horses outclassed
anything at the horse show. even though they
were trotting nags; and as for cats and other
animals! The Colonel hardly ever slept at
home, for lear that some jealous animal or
other might destroy him to prevent another
over-afec,ionate animal from securing him.
1t might be expected that the Colonel had
some good stories 10 tell Of the intelligence Of
his favorites. He had. Only his unexpected
death prevented him from confding them
to the columns OF his ~favorite weekly As II
Is. here are two OF his stories. noted down from
his accounts OF his pets, Rory and Kathleen.
two dogs.
! preface his tale, these two dogs were not Irish
settlers or anything else Irish. Rory was
whelped on Dec. n and Kathleen on March 3.
mother. Queen Anne. was a ~fayorite Of mine.
ne s. ddaS Sssn ys OF 2 'o very tine animal hsIoe Of which
McFarlane. who li!yed in, Varsovie, about 800
miles away, in PENNSYLVANIA. There Rory
vas whslpedd: ana there 3ueen, Anne died,
Anne died she was run over by a train"
Here. as a rule, the Colonel would interrupt
himsel! 70 reviie modern Iailroads. Yes,
New York In a day. but what ot THAR They
killed more good dogs in a year than they were
Rory, as I said, " the Colonel would continue.
was. whelped on Dec. II, and his mother was
killed late In January. Early in March ! was
s9sPr disfep !" ssr a d R1npsDYk;i % @lr,S' u aTa iS my aos1
and lie down on the mat. ! did not recognize
the little beast. but went 10 the door and let
the oid-fashioned clothes press at the end Of
the hall. where I was wont 20 keep a lot of old
rugs and things. and there sat up and begged
what queen Anne had been accustomed to do
when she wanted TO go e, sleep; I took out
an old rug red on ono side and gray on the
threw u in, a corner; the puppy looked at II
and whined. could hardly see TO do Il. my
ewes yves were ,e ,s so full nnrn of tears ws.r but ! carried the rug
slept and the puppy lay down and slcpt con-
IT, wasn't 70, s%eve,sl days that | learned all
death. Rory, who had seen II, pined and moped
a good deal After about a week he disap-
peSred and y wa; thought that he had been
ot'h Va ios Nv b''iV nv ~ Ionnu
his way TO his mother old home He had
never been there: but the wonderful instinct
impaired to dogs. had enabled him to find his
way over 500 miles Of tortuous route to his
NJ one can tell me that dog haven't more
than instinct"
Kathleen possessed even moro wonderful
powers OF instinct or reason than Rory. A
Col. Hirbie said. she. was whelped on March
s, Of pure breed, She was a small nnimel.
liver and white in color. and noted az IN. Col
onel's for her exceptional, intelligence. For
the same reason that led Col, Higbie To dis-
pose Of Queen Anne. Kathleen was 10 he sent
from St. Ambrose. This Is Col. Higbie's ac-
count Of whit happened.
IL was was in EoI lso G:o y Nay y the colone, would
kathleen made BY a dealer IN Bremen, and eat
,errnptinE my, sEo from time t. time to freak
suppose ! must have read aloud whit ! had
written. Kathleen, who had been lying in
front Of the Are, begnn TO get very, uneasy.
She got up. looked around, went TO the door.
Mrs. Hiebie ordered her to stop. Finally I
Jet her out, and Locking at my ws,ch remarked
habit 70 turn oil the house dogs out about 10
O'Clock, and il was then only 0.
back rknt tsn rea aId d nSt rs WRn, GSG d hsr sss cone re
her could, not Imagine. until the day after
ward, that is the second day after I had writ
s e p ,ss %'s,'s ,5,, Ts Ss,b ! s%5 ward ,f 5rr% the dealer
i, investigated the matter, and found that
she had reached Bremen on the train that left
81. hmhrose AZ 0.30 in the morning. md that
she had been seen at the station In st. Ambrose
all night before that train went. Then the
truth flashed across me- She Ind heard ne
read the letter. in which ] said tint J. should
sand her by the e:W A. NJ. train. She had IN
derstood $50 Int not 4, NJ. unless she
Thought II meant Immediately she Ind tried
To- yet ont ~ the room In tipe to get the train
which she thought went at 80 AZ night. had
hung around the station all night. and had
taken the train to the right place the next day,.
To the day Of his death Col, Higbie main
tanned With much JUSTIFICATION that animals.
reason; and who can deny 1t, after bearing
! these stories? =