g THE ASS. 



sumptive and delicate persons : the skin is made into leaves 

 for pocket-books, and the tougher part of it is made into 

 shagreen for spectacle-cases, &c. We will now give one 

 or two short anecdotes : " An old man, who for many 

 years sold vegetables in London, employed an Ass to con- 

 vey his baskets from door to door. He kindly and fre- 

 quently fed it ; and gave the industrious little creature 

 handfuls of hay, or pieces of bread or greens, by way of 

 refreshment and reward. The old man had no need of a 

 stick to beat it, nor indeed did he ever lift his hand against 

 it, to drive it on. This kind treatment was noticed, and he 

 was asked whether his beast was not apt to be stubborn ? 

 4 Ah ! master,' he replied, ' IT is OF NO USE TO BE CRUEL ; 

 and as for stubbornness, I can't complain, for he is ready to 

 do anything, or go anywhere. I bred him myself. He is 

 sometimes playful and skittish : and once ran away from 

 me ; and while many people were chasing him, laughing 

 and trying to stop him, he suddenly turned back of himself 

 and didn't stop until he ran his head kindly into my bosom/ 

 " A few years since an Ass was employed at Carisbrook 

 Castle, in the Isle of Wight, to draw water by a large wheel 

 from a very deep well supposed to have been sunk by the 

 Romans. When his keeper wanted water, he would say 

 to the Ass, * Tom, my boy, I want water ; get into the 

 wheel, my good lad.' This Thomas immediately did, 

 with an alacrity and sagacity which would have done 

 credit to a human being ; he knew the precise number of 

 times necessary for the wheel to revolve ; for, every time 

 he brought the bucket to the surface, he instantly stopped 

 and turned round his honest head to observe the moment, 

 when his master laid hold of the bucket to draw it towards 



