110 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Jalj 30, 1874. 



There was a moderate show of Cage Birds, the winner of the 

 cage heing a well-marked Norwich bird. We published the 

 awards last week. 



DOGS.— No. 3. 



OFFICIAL DOGS. 



Lear. — Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar ? 

 Gloucester. — Aye, air. 



Lear. — And the creature ran from the cur? There thou might'st behold 

 the great image of authority; A dog's obeyetl in office ! — Shakspearf, 



There are dogs that may be so called who have less than four 

 legs. If you ever have occasion, good reader, to pay a visit to 

 the office of a London lawyer you will understand my meaning. 

 May that visit be only to inquire about a heavy legacy ; and 

 even then, under those fair circumstances, you will get an alarm 

 — almost a bite, from an official dog. In your innocence you 

 will examine the names on the drab-paiuted doors ou the stair- 

 case, you will read "private" and pass on ; read "clerks," and 

 feel, I hope not haughtily, that your visit is not tor them. You 

 ■will read " Messrs. Grabb & Snap," and knock with a smile, 

 remembering that legacy, and expect to hear a cheery "Come 

 in," such as you hear at the office door of your country legal 

 friend when you make a like tapping. You will image the kind 

 face of the lawyer inside, and his warm grasp and congratulation 

 upon that heavy legacy, and be prepared to pardon his " Well, 

 my dear sir, I must say that I begged my late excellent client 

 to remember his distant relatives ;" wheu lo ! to your great sur- 

 prise there will spring out on you on that dingy oak landing the 

 official dog — the office boy — a horribly precocious youth of four- 

 teen winters, with lank greasy hair, bulging forehead, white 

 face, and black body and legs. He will keep you as effectually 

 from entering that door as the Bull-terrier near your own back 

 kitchen door keeps the wandering beggar. He will make you 

 confess to name and business, and perhaps allow you to come 

 again "to-morrow at 10.30 sharp." That is the otficial dog 

 who really ought to be muzzled. Will he be Attorney-General 

 another day, and be down fiercely upon future Claimants ? or 

 will he be a partner of that firm to whom he is now the office 

 dog'? or will he in fifteen years be like that quiet, business-like, 

 •writing clerk within, who has a small house at Camberwell, and 

 a small wife and three small children, for whom he lovingly 

 works, and whose company makes him happy ? Well, I know 

 not, and I cannot read the fates ; but what that sharp-eyed, 

 sharp-featured, sharp-voiced lad is now is — the official dog ; and 

 " the dog's obeyed in office." 



Next to speak of four footed official dogs. We are told upon 

 the highest authority that tlie dog when wild does not bark at 

 all, and that gradually he, when domesticated, learns to bark. 

 See we not here the wisdom of the great Creator, Who adapts 

 the horse for man's service, and adapts also the domesticated 

 dog for his use ? The great usefulness of the dog to man lies in 

 his bark : as an official dog herein lies his benefit tn man. Not 

 once in many thousand times is the dog wanted to bite. Wheu, 

 indeed, the midnight thief actually breaks in, when (he blackened- 

 faced and disguised burglar is actually inside our home, then 

 we want the good, and powerful, and plucky house dog to be at 

 the throat of one burglar while we send the bullets of the revolver 

 into the others. At all other times the bark is enough, and the 

 resolute look which a good house dog shows to the tramping 

 vagabond to assure him that not only he can, but that he icill Ijite. 

 Now, although I do not in the least agree with what Mr. 

 Darwin would have me believe in his noted or rather notorious 

 book on the Origin of Species — viz., that men came from 

 monkeys, I do not believe with Mr. Darwin that^ 

 '* Man was an ape in the days that were early ; 



Centuries after, hia hair it grew curly ; 



Centuries more gave a thumb to hia wrist, 



Then he became a man and a positivist." 



I do not believe this, because I know Who says that " He 

 made man in His own image," not in the image of a monkey. 

 Yet Mr. Darwin is a very close observer of the habits of animals, 

 and has recorded his observations in clear ringing Euclish. 

 Upon the subject of dogs barking says this close observer, " With 

 the domesticated dog we have tlie bark of eagerness, as in the 

 chase; that of anger; the yelping or howling bark of despair, 

 as when shut up ; that of joy, as when starting for a walk with 

 hia master; and a very distinct one of demand or supplication, 

 as when wishing for a door or window to be opened." These 

 observations are correct enough, but I think Mr. Darwin has 

 omitted one very frequent bark of a dog which for the sake of 

 plainness of expression I call " the bark of funk" — of sheer fear, 

 often ludicrous fear. The dog, one of a timid variety, or a 

 young dog, is frightened at something. I have known a bit of 

 rag blown by the wind frighten a dog, and the creature will bark 

 and back, back and bark, with his tail between his U'gs, though 

 not always this ; and his bark is simply " the bark of funk," 

 shown by his going backwards while barking. I am inclined to 

 think that this is a frequent cause of a dog's barking, as in the 

 little timid lap dog, notably a Blenheim Spaniel. But dogs in 



which there is the least cross of Bulldog blood in them never 

 hark in this cowardly way save when young. Thus, in well-bred 

 Fox-terriers there is a slight touch of bull blood, or pluck there 

 would be none; and these dogs after puppyhood (all children 

 are at times timid), are never guilty of the bark of funk, bat 

 every mongrel is, and especially small pet dogs, who back and 

 bark instead of standing their ground and barking, or, better 

 still, advancing upon the enemy while barking. 



Poets, save SUakspeare, are rarely accurate in their obser- 

 vations on natural history. Thus, for instance, Lord Byron 

 speaks of, I quote from memory — 



"'Tig sweet to hear the watch dog's honest bark 

 Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home." 



Now, a dog when he recognises his master does not bark at 

 all, but gives forth a whine of affection. When a dog barks at 

 a sound of one coming, but finds it is his master, he changes hia 

 bark at once to a whine ; and as to baying, that is the sound 

 given forth by a dog when pursuing game; and one has heard 

 of a dog baying at the moon, but he never bays at his master. 



But to return to official dogs. A good dog seems always proud 

 to be a protector : he is up at any suspicious noise, gives forth 

 his bold bark, and seems to take for his motto, " Ready, aye t 

 ready." A lone house should always have its canine protector, 

 a dog on whose head a solitary servant can lay her hand and say 

 to the threatening tramp, " Now you be off, or I will let this 

 dog loose, and at you," and verily that dog will be obeyed iu 

 office. Such a dog is also a meet companion for children when 

 out walking in the country without an elder. I think it is a 

 great point to place a dog in office. Let him feel that he is in 

 an official position, and he will act up to the full the duties oS 

 that office. 



If you want to see a dog who thoroughly knows his official 

 duties, go to the first carrier's cart that you see on a market-day 

 standing in the inn-yard. That cart contains many things of 

 value, at least to their possessors. This parcel for a farmer's 

 wife, that bandbox for the farmer's wife's maid servant, who ia 

 longing for its contents — a smart bonnet, with which she will be 

 armed for conquest on the next Sunday ! That parcel of books 

 for the village curate ; that hamper of goods for the village 

 shopkeeper, &c. Now, the carrier is busy in the town, and leaves 

 his cart and all in it, and leaves it all with a feeling of full 

 security. Why ? Because on his great coat, that old weather- 

 stained garment, he has left his dog lying, usually a coarsely- 

 bred Bull-terrier. Coarsely-bred he may lie, but more like the 

 dogs of Bewick's day, with some hair on him to keep himself 

 warm and healthy. Not the shivering Bull-terrier of the show- 

 bench, or of Birmingham streets, but a much more useful 

 animal, although the judge would despise him. Bless me ! why, 

 the homely and useful are generally despised in this stuck-up 

 age. There, in the carrier's cart, 1 say, lies the official dog, 

 blinking, winking, now and then almost dozing ; but let the 

 light-fingered thief creep near on ever such light footsteps, and 

 he wiU be wide awake and ready for his throat. I respect those 

 carriers' dogs ; brindle-patched, red-eyed, common-looking they 

 may be, but they are as much dogs of utility as the high-bred, 

 silky-coated Setter. Then, has not worthy Dr. John Brown 

 immortalised one such, that glorious old " Eab," of whose 

 " Friends " too, the good doctor has also written so feelingly aa 

 make every reader of his little book shed more than one tear'? 

 I may notice also, that although I have seen many a dog in 

 office, I have never seen him act the part of " a Jack-in-olfice ; " 

 that part he leaves to weak men. He fulfils his duties, but does 

 not inflate himself; he leaves that to 



" Man, proud man, 

 Dress'd in a little brief authority." 



The more sensible dog leaves that part 



" For every pelting, petty officer." 



He, because not condescending to be a Jack-in-office, ia always 

 obeyed iu office.— Wiltshire Kector. 

 (To be continued). 



WHITE MICE. 



These smallest of four-footed pets seem to have been totally 

 neglected by writers on the subject of animals kept for amuse- 

 ment; yet, I venture to say, there is hardly a person who has 

 not during some period of his boyhood had a few of them. 

 Boarding-schools are rarely without some of them, kept by the 

 students; indeed, this is such a noticeable fact, that Dickens, in 

 his story of David Copperfield, mentions the school at which 

 young David spent his early youth as celebrated because of this. 

 Nor is there a pet possessing more elegant proportions, display- 

 ing more agility, or wearing a handsomer coat than this same 

 little white mouse. Their gracefully-shaped limbs and body, 

 and the beautiful shade of pink colouring in their eyes and ears, 

 are surpassed by no animal kept as a pet. They are intelligent, 

 and recognise the step of their feeder, setting up loud squeaks 

 at his approach. With very little trouble they can be taught 



