The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-03
RIJ,J.IE RAIL,


 Two dogs there are In the world which can talk, and no third.
 The name of one Is Don and his owner is Herr Herman Evers, royal gamekeeper of the German empire.
 The name of the other is Buster" and he belongs to Billie Ball of Bir- mingham. Dog and master live at 21o1s North Twenty street
 The gifted dog Buster" even more than his brother In the family canidae across the waters claims the title to distinction as linguist for the dog Don" speaks only one tongue, Ger man, while the dog Buster" speaks two, English and French.
 There are three words in the vocabu- lary of "Buster"--''umh humh, col loquial for yes" mama" and 'mou- choir" French for handkerchief"
 However limited this number may seem, it is more than a sufficient me- dium through which Buster" and his blind master, Billie Ball, have learned to converse with each other
 Says Billie: Our language is sim pie and from the heart, and my dog and I have no wants that we can not make known to each other" He believes that his dog was made to speak through an exigency like that in which the ancients said the dumb son of Croesus was restored to speech to save the life of his father. -t..sa
 Buster" is black and tan cochrel spaniel and his age is four years. When tiny pup he fell into the hands of Billie Ball only short while after his newly acquired master had been af- flicted with blindness.
 A Comfort in Distress
 During, four years the dog and the man have been constant companions and their mutual understanding has come about through sympathy.
 It was not long before the dog had learned the haunts of the man and his habits-learned them so thoroughly that now he can recognize them merely by verbal designation.
 If Billie wishes to go to a certain restaurant for his dinner he tells Bus ter" and Buster leads him there. If Billie wishes to be led to any room in | the house where he lives, he tells "Buster" and Buster" guides him with out miss. Buster gets Billie his clean shirt from the bureau drawer, and Buster" closes the door, and only needs to be told to do these things. He never has to be shown nor asked second time.
 Articulation Perfect But most wonderful of all is the dogs power of perfect articulation He does not slur his words and does not stutter. He does not mince them, but utters them clearly and distinctly. He takes more pain with the kings Eng fish than most men do, because he has only three words and is proud of them. He always sits up when he talks and looks his master squarely in the eye with out equivocation.
 Billie finishes his meal at the lunch | counter, turns around on the stool and gropes for the dog waiting patiently un- der the seat for his time to come. Are you there. Buster'?" says Billie, and there comes plaintive answer like | child's "Umh-humh.''
 | It is at this moment that the emotions of the dog are most sympathetic and re- | sponsive and he can be made to exercise his vocal organs to the full extent of | their development.
 Time after time he will repeat for his master mama and ''mouehoir' without tiring, and he loves to say 'umh-humh,' . | especially when asked if he'd like to have piece of beef.
 Chesterfieldian Polish ! One other notable characteristic of the