LIABILITY FOR HIRED MEN. 169 



the mere exposing of any poison for that purpose, whether 

 the dog touches it or not, may cost you fifty dollars and the 

 costs of prosecution. And this is very moderate, considering, 

 that, for the malicious poisoning of some other domestic ani- 

 mals, — even a sucking calf, — you may obtain a free residence 

 in that splendid new State building at Concord fox five years, 

 — that is, unless you see fit to break out before that time ! 

 Thus much for the law of dogs. And the only crumb of 

 consolation I can offer on this subject is this : if two dogs, 

 yours and your neighbor's, go off on a joint raid on a flock 

 of sheep, you are bound to pay only for those your dog 

 killed, and not the others, if anybody can find out which Avas 

 which (20 Pick. 477 ; 20 Barb. 479) ; whereas, if the two 

 owners of the dogs go out together to rob a melon-patch, one 

 is liable for all the melons carried away, although the other 

 ate them all (10 Wend. 654 ; 1 Stark. 352) ; so that in one 

 respect the law seems to favor the dogs. On the other hand, 

 as a man is not liable for any sheep, fowls, or other things 

 which his mischievous boys wantonly kill when coming home 

 from an unsuccessful hunt, in this respect again the law is 

 rather against the doG^s. 



LIABILITY FOR HIS ]yiEN. 



The liability of a farmer who employs many hands may 

 prove extremely onerous at times. As a general rule, he is 

 liable for all the injury they do while actually employed in 

 his business : therefore if you send a boy to burn old brush, 

 and the lad leaves his work to look after his partridge-snares 

 or rabbit-boxes in the wood, and the fire runs into the next 

 field, and consumes the crops or fence of your neighbor, you 

 must pay the bill, although you told him to watch it care- 

 fully, and never leave it a minute (5 Gilm. 500 ; 7 Cush. 

 385). If you send a load of farm-produce into town, and 

 the driver falls into a doze and runs into another team, you 

 must pay for the broken spokes. If your man, in going to or 

 from the hayfiekl, carelessly swings his scythe, and cuts an 

 ugly gash in the leg of a passer-by, you had better pay the 

 doctor's bill, and be glad to get off thus easy. If, in cutting 

 your wood, a man accidentally cuts over the line, on your 

 neighbor's lot, you are responsible, although you told him 

 where the line was (23 Mich. 298). And though your man 



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