Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1894 — The Dog Had to Climb. [ARTICLE]

The Dog Had to Climb.

We were comfortably seated around the hearth at Porter Lake, in Pike county. Pa., and the spirit of story--telling was strong upon us, because the fishing had been unusually good and the supper bounteous. The flash and sparkle of witrfilled the upper air of the room as with a tine aurora, and a halo of calm bliss encircled the brow of each entranced, listener. But first the drug and then the antidote. The benevolent Colonel drew us down gently from the giddy heights with a story of a coarse plebeian, locally known as a catfish. Thus run his tale: "A man and his dog went fishing in the Mississippi. In a short time the man felt a mighty pull on the line, and he knew that a catfish had taken hold. The giant came along peacefully enough uptil he happened to change his nrind, and then he decided to double on his course and take the man along. The faithful dog, seeing his master’s danger, rushed to the rescue bravely enough. - The wily catfish, when he found tho dog pursuing, turned upon him and terrified the dog. who incontinently turned tail and swam vigorously toward the dry land, the catfish hotly following. Presently the dog gained-the land and ran hastily, the cat-fish madly surging after him. The dog, sorely pressed and fearing a painful death, in his extremity climbed a tree, the catfish still pursuing. ’’ "Hold on!” we cried in chorus; “dogs can not climb trees.” "Can’t climb a tree?" responded the Colonel. “But the catfish was close upon him, and this dog had to climb.” .barest, and Stream.