THE DOG. 1. A water-spaniel, belonging to a neighbour, was a frequent, and always a welcome guest, in the family of Euphronius. Her placid looks, gentle manners, and assiduity to please, rendered her equally the favourite of the servants, and of the children. 2. It happened, that there was a general alarm, in that place, concerning mad dogs; and to guard against danger, Sylvia was closely confined to her kennel. A week elapsed, without a single visit from her; no one knew the cause of her absence, and all lamented it. 3. She at length returned; the children flocked with joy and eagerness around her, but they beheld her trembling, feeble and drooping. She crawled over the kitchen floor; looked wistfully at Emilia; then at Jacobus; then at Lucy Advancing a step forwards, she licked the hand of Alexis, which was stretched forth to stroke her, and expired at his feet without a groan. 4. The children, at first, stood silent and motionless; a gush of tears succeeded; and Euphronius, their parent, though pleased with the affection they showed, thought it necessary to soften grief, upon this occasion: This he did, by relating to them the history of the canine species at large. 5. I am not surprised, said he, that you should lament the loss of an animal, which nature seems to have designed to be the favourite and friend of man. The beauty of his shape, his strength, agility, swiftness, courage, generosity, fidelity, and gratitude, command our affection, and give him the justest claim to our care and protec tion. 6. In obedience and docility he surpasses every other animal; and so perfectly is he domesticated, that Mr. Buffon observes, he resembles in his disposition, the family in which he lives. Amongst the proud, he is disdainful, and churlish amongst clowns. 7. In Congo, Angola, and South America, where dogs are found wild, they unite in packs, and attack the fiercest animals of the forest. On the southern coast of Africa, it is said there are dogs that neither bark nor bite; and their flesh is highly valued by the negroes. 8. The flesh of this animal is also considered as a dainty by the Chinese, and public shambles are erected for the sale of it. In Canton there is a street appropriated to that purpose; and what is very extraordinary, when a dog butcher appears, all the dogs in the place pursue him in full cry. They seem to know their enemy, and persecute him as far as they are able. 9. The influence of climate, and the efforts of art, have produced many varieties in the breed of dogs. The British mastiffs were so famous among the Romans, that their emperors appointed officers to train them for the public combats. 10. Two of these were esteemed a match for a bear, and four for a lion. But an experiment was made in the tower of London, by king James the First, from which it appeared, that three mastiffs conquered that noble animal. Two of them were disabled in the conflict: but the third forced the lion to seek his safety by flight. 11. The British mastiffs were also educated for war, and were employed by the Gauls in their battles, as we learn from Strabo. Linnæus has delivered, in the following terms, the natural history of the dog. He 12. This animal eats flesh and some kinds of vegetables. His stomach digests bones. uses the tops of grass as a vomit. He laps his drink with his tongue. His scent is most exquisite when his nose is moist. He scarcely ever sweats: but when hot he lolls out his tongue. His sense of hearing is very quick when asleep. 13. He is the most faithful of all animals; is very teachable; hates strange dogs; snaps at a stone when thrown at him; howls at certain musical notes; and barks at strangers. animal is rejected by the Mahometans. 14. My dog, the trustiest of his kind, This THE STORY OF HESTER WILMOT. 1. Hester Wilmot was born in the parish of Weston, in Old England, of parents who maintained themselves by their labour. 2. They were both of them ungodly; it is no wonder, therefore, they were unhappy. They lived badly together, and how could they do otherwise, for their tempers were very different, and they had no religion to smooth down this difference, or to teach them to bear with each other's faults. 3. Rebecca Wilmot was a proof, that people may have some right qualities, and yet be but bad characters. She was clean, notable, and in dustrious. 4. Now, I know, some folks fancy, that the poor, who have these qualities, need have no others; but this is a sad mistake, as I am sure every page in the bible will show; and it is a pity people do not read it more. 5. Rebecca was of a violent, ungovernable temper, and that very neatness, which is in itselt so pleasing, became in her a sin; for almost her only desire seemed to be to have her house reckoned the nicest in the parish. 6. Rebecca was also a proof, that a poor woman may be as vain as a rich one; for it was not so much the comfort of neatness, as the praise of it, which she coveted. A spot on her hearth, or a bit of rust on her brass candlestick, would throw her into a violent passion. 7. Now it is very right to keep the hearth clean, and the candlestick bright; but it is very wrong to set one's affections on an hearth or a candlestick, in such a manner as to make one's self unhappy, if any trifling accident happen to them; and if Rebecca had been as careful to keep her heart without spot, and her life without ble mish, as she was to keep her fire-irons clean and bright, she would have been held up in history, not as a warning, but as a pattern; and in that case, her nicety would have come in for a part of the praise. 8. It was no fault in Rebecca, but a merit, that her oak table was so bright, that you could see your face in it; but it was no merit, but a fault, that when John, her husband, laid down his cup of beer upon it, so as to leave a mark, she would fly out into so terrible a passion, that all the children were forced to run to corners. 9. Now poor John, having no corner to run to, ran to the ale-house, till that which was at first a refuge too soon became a pleasure. 10. Rebecca never wished her children to learn to read, because she said it would only serve to make them lazy, and she herself had done very well without it. She would keep poor Hester from church to stone the space before the door, n fine patterns and whim-whams. 11. I don't pretend to say there was any harm n this little decoration; it looks pretty enough; and it is better to let the children do that, than do nothing. 12. But still, these are not things to set one's heart upon; and besides, Rebecca only did it as a trap for praise; for she was sulky and disappointed, if any ladies happened to call in, and did not seem delighted with the flowers, which she used to draw with a burnt stick on the whitewash of the chimney corners. 13. Besides, all this finery was often done on a Sunday, and there is a great deal of harm in do. |