Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1884 — Two Knowing Hogs. [ARTICLE]

Two Knowing Hogs.

At a convent in France twenty poor people were served with dinner at a given hour every day. A dog belonging to the convent was always present at this meal, watching for any scraps that might be thrown to him. The guests being very hungry themselves, and not very charitable, the poor dog did little more than smell the food. Each pauper rang a bell, and his share was delivered to him through a small opening, so that neither giver nor receiver could see each other. One day the dog waited till all were served, when be took the rope in his mouth and rang the bell. The trick succeeded, and was repeated the next day, with the same success. At length the cook, finding that twenty-one portions wore doled out instead of twenty, determined to find out the thief, and at last the clever dog was detected. But when the monks heard tl\e story, they rewarded the dog’s ingenuity by allowing him to ring the bell every day, and a mess of broken victuals was thenceforth regularly served out to him in his turn. A dog had been worried by another of greater strength, and, when he returned to his home, it was observed that he abstained from half the proportion of his allotted food, and formed a sort of store from his savings. After some days he went out, and brought several dogs of the vicinity back and feasted them upon his hoard. This singular proceeding attracted the attention of his master, who, watching the result, observed that they all went together. Following them, he found they proceeded, by several streets, to the outskirts of the town, where the leader singled out a large dog, which was immediately assau tod by all his guests, and very severly punished.— Prairie Farmer. "Wickedness may well be compared to a bottomless pit, into which it is easier to Keep one’s self from falling, than, being fallen, to give one’s self any stay from falling infinitely.— Sir F, Sidney.