Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1896 — FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS. [ARTICLE]

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.

DOGS RESCUED BT OTHER DOGS. One of tlie most peculiar incidents in the annais of animal instinct occurred at Santa Fe, the facts of which are reported as follows: Squire Thorne, of that village, is one of the best-known characters in that part of the state. A few days ago he (hissed two of his best hunting dogs, and his supposition was that’they had been stolen. However, he was surprised to see one of his dogs walk into the house, followed a minute later by the other, both wearing the appearance of utter destitution. Investigation showed that while out hunting a neighbor came across a broken bank on Pipe creek, and two of his dogs showed uneasiness at a hole in the ground. Nothing he could do would induce them to leave the spot, and he finally secured a spade and began digging for the cause of the trouble. Eight feet of earth was dug away before the cause was found. Then he found the two dogs buried from their own exertions in endeavoring to secure a rabbit. They had been there for thirteen days and were nearly famished. Prompt treatment saved the lives of both. WHAT ONE BRIGHT GIRI DID. An agreeable field for money-making is one which Lilian Q has found, or rather into which Lilian walked one summer morning. On her way to school she bad to pass the house of two very dear old ladies, who lived by themselves, and pottered about in a pretty old-fashioned garden. Miss Betsey and Miss Annie were fond of the bright girls who two or three times a day walked past their door on the way to and from their class-rooms, and they had their favorites among them, often stopping Lily, for instance, and giving her a flower or two to fasten into her button-hole. One morning Lilian observed that Miss Betsey groped a little and felt about with her stick, instead of stepping briskly around the garden as she used to do. “My sister,” Miss Annie confided to her, “is growing blind. We went to Dr. N yesterday, and he confirmed our fears. It is a cataract, and it cannot be operated on for a long time. What poor Betsey will do I don’t know, for reading has been her great occupation and her one pleasure. I cannot read to her, for it hurts my throat to read aloud.” “Let me come every afternoon, dear Miss Annie,” said Lilian. "I’ll read to Miss Betsey from four to five every day, and on Saturdays I’ll come twice—an hour in the morning and another in the afternoon. I can do it just as easily!” Miss Annie’s face lightened. “You sweet child!” she said. “If you will come, and your mother will let you come, Betsev and I will pay you two dollars a week for reading to us both.”

CAT-AND-DOG FRIENDSHIP. A curious event in cat-and-dog life, in which a hen was also associated, is de•cribed by a correspondent of the London Spectator. In the back-kitchen premises of an old manorhouse, amongst hampers and such odds and ends, a cat had a litter of kittens. They were all removed but one, and as the mother was frequently absent, a hen began laying eggs in a hamper close by. For a time all went well, the hen sitting on her eggs and the cat nursing the kitten within a few inches of each other. The brood were hatched out, and almost at the same time the old cat disappeared. The chickens were allowed to run about on the fl >or for the sake of the warmth from a neighboring chimney, aDd the kitten was fed with a saucer of milk in the same place, both feeding together frequently out of the same dish. The hen used to try to induce the kitten to eat meal like the chicks, calling to it and depositing pieces under its nose in the most amusing way. Then she would do all in her power to induce the kitten to come, like her chicks, under her wings. The result was nothing but a series of squalls from the kitten, which led to its being promoted from the back to the front kitchen, where it was reared until it was grown up. At this time a young terrier was introduced into the circle, and after manv back-risings and much bad language on pussy’s part, they settled down amicably and romped about the floor in fine style. Eventually the terrier became an inveterate rabbit-poacher, —killing young rabbits and bringing them home, —a proceeding to which the cat gave an intelligent curiosity, and then a passive and purring approval; and finally, her own instincts haying asserted themselves, she went off with the dog, hunting in the woods. Our own keeper reported them as getting “simply owdacious,” being found a great distance from the house; and keepers of adjacent places also said that the pair were constantly seen hunting hedgerows on their beats. On one occasion I saw them myself hunting a short hedge down systematically, the dog on one side, the cat on the other; and on coming near an open gateway a hare was put out of her form, and bounding through the open gate, was soon off. The dog followed, till he came through the gateway, where he stood looking after the hare; and the cat joining him, they apparently decided it was too big or too fast to be successfully chased, and so resumed the hedge-hunting, each taking its own side as before. They frequently returned home covered with mud, and pussy’s claws with fur, and would lie together in front of the fire; the cat often grooming down the dog, licking him and rubbing him dry, and tiie dog getting up and turning over the ungroomed side to be finished. Tbia curious friendship went on for six

months w more, till the dog had to be kept in durance vile to save him from traps and destruction. The cat, nothing daunted, went on with her poaching until one day she met her fate in a trap, and so brought her course to an end. TALK TO TOUR ANIMAL FRIENDS. The most important kindness we can do any animal that lives with us or that works for us is to talk to him. It is all very well to give our pets proper food and care, but it is not enough. If “man doth not live by bread only,” the animal friends of mao also have higher requirements. Tbev need companionship; they need conversation. A team of horses that work regularly together have their way of talking with each other. A cat and her kittens, a pair of dogs, any of our home pets which are fortunate in the companionship of their own kind, or in making friends with one another regardless of kind, do not really need our intimacy; but they will never learn to love us unless we take the trouble to be agreeable to them, and they will never be half so intell gent in understanding what we expect them to do, if we omit to say clearly what we want and if we are unwilling to bear our part in a friendly conversation You talk to your pets, of course, boys and girls; we have not supposed that you do not. Was there ever a boy who wouldn’t talk to his dog? The doganswers yo;i. He wags his tail, looks up into your face, licks your bands, jumps about you, and when, in his opinion, the conversation grows too exciting to be carried on in an ordinary mauner, he barks as loud as he can to give fuller expression to bis feelings. Now, a boy may have a dog for a pet, and some other member of the family may have a canary. The boy considers his dog the finest, cleverest fellow in the world; a canary he thinks is a stupid little thing that cares for noboby. and is easily frightened. Let him go up gently to the canary and talk to it for a moment. The little bird will cock its head first on one side, then on the other, and will chirp a delighted answer, ending, very probably, in a burst of happy song. After a while it will know that boy’s voice and will show the greatest joy whenever he enters the room. He can soon teach the little creature to come at his call, and to take its favorite hemp-seed or a morsel of fruit from his fingers. If one pays no attention at all to an animal, it cannot be otherwise than stupid. We know a sad story of a canary that had scrupulous care, but was left constantly alone. Its cage hung where it could not look out of the window, and no amusement of any sort was provided for it. The poor little mite died of nothing in the world but solitary confinement. A yet sadder story is told of a child. A woman who was not her mother simply fed and clothed a little girl. Day after day she let the child crawl around the room where she took in washing for a living. Not only did she never pet her; she never even spoke to her I Some good people noticed that the little girl showed no intelligence and could not talk. It was because she had never been taught a Bingle word. The little girl is now bright and happy with kind friends.