DEAR SIR,--I can vouch for the absolute accuracy of the following
remarkable instance of canine sense and kindly feeling. My wife has a
little pet dog, with a singular _penchant_ for bones, which he is apt
to litter about in inconvenient places.
The other morning my wife discovered, under her pillow, a half-gnawed
bone, evidently placed there by _Tim_ (the dog), who is accustomed
to sleep at the foot of our bed. Now this is where the extraordinary
intelligence comes in. Our doctor, on the previous day, had told my
wife that she must take nourishment at frequent intervals, even, if
necessary, in the middle of the night; and, when the doctor said
this, _Tim was present!_ The devoted animal evidently thought this
an excellent opportunity for serving his beloved mistress; and
consequently he sacrificed his best and most cherished bone, that
she might have something to eat during the long night watches. What
altruism is displayed by this selection of a hiding-place, and how it
puts us poor humans to the blush!
It certainly was not the dog's fault if a partially-gnawed bone
was not precisely the sort of delicacy likely to tempt my wife's
capricious appetite. A dog cannot be expected to know everything! All
honour to this noble-minded quadruped! "_La plus noble conquéte que
l'homme ait jamais faite_," says BUFFON, _"c'est"--c'est assurément
notre Tim!_
Yours ever, SPECTATOR.
* * * * *
In a letter, published a while ago in the columns of _Truth_, and
pertinently entitled "Cacophonous London," Dr. GEORGE WELDON ably
pointed out the evil effects upon the nervous system of the community
caused by vagrant singers, shrieking newspaper boys, German bands,
piano organs, _et hoc genus omne_. We now notice that Mr. CHARLES FOX,
who is "organising a campaign"--this "_organising_" is evidently
on the hom[oe]opathic principle that "like cures like"--against
the nuisance, has addressed a meeting of the Balloon Society on the
subject. But why the _Balloon_ Society? The "cacophony" complained of
is not, unfortunately, _in nubibus_.
* * * * *