3i 2 DOG STORIES 



tongs be taken out of the fireplace and 

 given to him, behaves in a most singular 

 manner, whining over them most plaintively, 

 seizing them in his teeth, and then letting 

 them go again, and whining as if begging 

 them not to hurt him, just as in " Robinson 

 Crusoe," Friday is said to have talked to the 

 gun. We can only account for this by the 

 fact that, when a very young dog, one of the 

 servants threatened to pinch him with the 

 tongs perhaps she actually did so ; but the 

 reason for his light-extinguishing propensity 

 is totally an enigma to us. 



ALGERNON WARREN. 



[Sept. 28, 1895.] 



THE story in the Spectator of September 21, 

 reminds me that I once possessed a dog who 

 had precisely the same trick of attacking fire 

 as that mentioned by your correspondent. 

 He was a red Irish terrier that I bought in 

 Kildare when so young that I am sure he 

 had not been taught the trick. He would 

 4< paw " at a lighted match on the ground, or 



