The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-11-13

his slenderly compact little
- Dobermann Pinscher dog along
with him to Vine street that day. for
companionship in his tiresome round
of lawn-mowing.
At noon the old man parked his
lawnmower under tree in the Vree-
lands spacious back yard and sat
down beside it to sample the contents
Of hisf dinner-pail.
The grass had been left to grow
long In this part Of the grounds. A
little later 1t was to be cut for hay.
At present 1t was wavy and starred
with daisies.
The two Vreeland boys and school
friend of theirs sauntered past, toward
the house, and stopped to say hello
to the old man.
AS they did so the Dobermann Pin
scher decided to initiate his masters
example by coming to rest in the tall
grass. The dog turned carefully
around, twice, before lying down.
II wonder why he did that" said
Phil Vreeland. "Why he turned
around, mean, before he lay down.
I've seen lots Of dogs do it. It's
silly"
"Yes," agreed Old Man Negley. sits
silly. Just as silly as for you and me
to dream we're falling off some high
place and wake up with start. But
once it wasn't silly for folks to dream
that. Our ancestors, a million years
ago slept in high trees or on high rock
hedges to keep out of the way of wild
beasts. The fellow who fell down
from that height in his sleep was due
to get a broken neck or be eaten by
those same wild beasts.
''That was their worst terror for
maybe thousands Of years. That's
why we keep on dreaming it; so pro-
lfessor-chap told me once.
4 "Well. my dog turns around for a
reason something like that.
"For millions Of years his ancestors
used to sleep in the high grass at
night. The grass stems were stiff.
The ground was likely to have snakes
or scorpions on 1t. BY turning around
the dogs brushed the stiff grass into a
bed. and they scared away the snakes
or the scorpions that might have
stung them.
dogs, today, get that trick from
their ancestors. Some Of them turn
around like that, even If its only a
hearthrug they're going to lie down
on.
"It's what the science sharps call a
'throwback.' It may be silly (now).
but once 1t was life-saver.
'There are lot of things our dogs
do because their ancestors did those
same things for so long. For in
stance:
"Wild dogs and their wolf-brothers
were about the only animals that ever
have hunted in packs. They would
pull down deer or buffalo or some
other prey, and then the whole pack
would fall upon 1t and eat It They
were half starved.
"Often there wasn't enough to go
around, so the dog with dainty table
manners didn't live long enough to
have any descendants. He died of
hunger.
1.-THE strongest dog was the dog that
could bolt his food fastest and in that
way get the biggest share of it He
was the dog that left his traits to his
descendants-his traits Of gulping
down his food in big mouthfuls with
out half chewing 1t. among other
things.
That's why dogs today bolt their
food faster and with less chewing than
any other animal does. A cat eats
daintily. A dog gobbles. That is why
it is twice as easy to poison a dog as
it is to poison cat. The cat ex-
amines first. The dog inherits the
habit of boiling his dinner without
stopping to figure out what is in it.
Mature has helped out this trait of
his by giving him gastric juices that
dissolve almost anything, except poul-
try bones, that gets into his stomach.
If you or l should eat the things a
dog eats, and eat, them as fast and
without chewing. we'd be dead.
Another thing about the old-time