Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 March 1877 — Anecdotes of Clover Dogas. [ARTICLE]

Anecdotes of Clover Dogas.

Tkb following dog stories are told in « recent number of the London Spectator: I should like to be allowed to help preserve the memory of a moat worthy dogfriend of my youth, well remembered by many now living who knew Greenwich Hospital thirty or thirty-five yean ago. At that time there lived there a dog-pen-sioner called “Hardy," a large'brown Irish retriever. He was so named by blr Thomas Hardy when Governor (Nelson's Hardy), who at the same lime constituted him a pensioner, at the rate of one penny per diem, for that he had ene day saved a rife from drowning just opposite the Hospital. Till that time he was a poor stranger ana vagrant dog—friendless. But thence, forward he llred in the Hospital, and spent his pension himself, at the butcher’s shop, as he did also many another coin given to him by numerous friends. Many is the halfpenny which, as a child, I gave “ Hardy,” that I might see him buy his own meat—which he did with judgment, and a due regard to value. When a penny was given to him, he would, on arriving at the shop, place it on the counter ana rest his nose or paw upon it until he received two halfpenny-worths; nor would any persuasion induce him to give up the com for the usual smaller allowance. I was a young child at the time, but I had a great veneration for “ Hardy,” and remember him weil; but, lest my juvenile memory might have been in fault, I have, before writing this letter, compared my recollections with those of ray elders, who, as grown people, knew “ Hardy” for many years, and confirm all the above facts. There, indeed, was the right dog in the right place. Peace to his shade! J. D. C. When a student at Edinburg, I enjoyed tire friendship of a brown retriever, who belonged to a fishmonger in Lothian street, and who was certainly the cleverest dog I had ever met with. He was a cleverer dog than the one described by ”A. L. W.,” because he knew the relative value of certain coins. In the morning, he was generally to be seen seated on the step of the fishmonger’s shop-door, waiting for some of his many frjends to give him a copper. When he had got one, he trotted away to the baker’s shop a few doors off, and dropped the coin on the counter. If I remember rightly (it is twelve or fifteen years ago), his 'weakness was “ soda scones.” If he dropped a halfpenny on the counter, he was contented tyith one scone; but, if he had given a penny, he expected two, and would wait for the second, after, lie had eaten the first, until he got it. That he knew exactly when he was entitled to one scone only, and when he ought to get two, is certain, for I tried him often. Lawson Tait.

A correspondent favored your readers last week with an interesting anecdote of a dog’s intelligence in reference to the use of money. Permit me to relate an instance of a dog’s intelligence in reference to the day of the week. Some three-and-twenty years ago, in the infancy of the Canterbury Province, New Zealand, there lived in the same neighborhood as myself two young men, in the rough but independent mode of life then prevalent in the colony, somewhat oblivious of old institutions. These men possessed a dog each, affectionate companions of their solitude. It was the custom of this primitive establishment to utilize the Sabbath by a ramble, in quest of wild ducks and wild pigs, about the swamps and creeks of the”district. It was observed that, long before any preparations .were made for starting, the dogs always seemed to be more or less excited. This was remarkable enough, but not so much as what followed. One of these men after a while left his friend, and, taking his dog with him, went to live with a clergyman about four miles off. Here ducks and pigs had to be given up on Sundays for the church service. It was soon noticed that this dog used to vanish betimes on Sundays, and did not turn up again until late. Upon inquiring, it was found lhat the dog had visited its old abode, wluere on thatdayof the week sport was not forbidden. The owner tried the plan of chaining up the animal on Saturday evenings, but it soon became very cunning, and would get away whenever it had. the chance. On one occasion it was temporarily fastened to a fence-rail about midday on Saturday. By repeated jerks, it loosened the rails from the mortice-holes and dragged it away. Upon search being made, this resolute but unfortunate dog was found drowned, still fast to chain and rail, in a stream about two miles away in the direction ot its old haunts- The gentleman who owned the other dog is in England now, and went over the details of the facts herein stated with me quite recently. Alfred Durell.