Feb. 1. 1!)12 



91 



©000° Dil®m 



A. I. KOOT 



Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's 

 business?— Luke 2 : 49. 



Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom.— Lam- 

 entations 4 :2I. 



Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy.— Lukk 6 :23. 



I have several times remarked that my 

 chickens at times talk by actions ahnost as 

 plainly as words, or sometimes even plainer; 

 but it was a lesson and a revelation when, a 

 few days ago, a dog not only talked to me 

 but he preached to me a most wonderful 

 sermon — the sermon I am going to try to 

 give you this beautiful morning on the sec- 

 ond day of the new year. 1 have read many 

 wonderful stories of canine sagacity, but 

 many of them I did not believe; and I am 

 frank to say that, had I not seen it with my 

 own eyes, I fear I should be loath to credit 

 what I am going to tell you. 



I was sitting at my typewriter, as I am 

 now, when a strange dog came trotting up 

 the cement walk. Supposing him to be a 

 tramp dog that was probably hungry, and 

 that would likely hang around if we fed 

 him, I was about to drive him away as gen- 

 tly as I could, for he seemed after all to be a 

 nice-looking dog. I went toward the screen 

 door just as he came up opposite on the out- 

 side. Before I opened my mouth to speak, 

 however, I i)aused, because of his bright 

 look of intelligence. He was a beautiful 

 shepherd dog, and his appealing look at 

 once attracted my sympathy as well as curi- 

 osity. As soon as he saw he had my atten- 

 tion, he turned partly around and looked 

 toward the gate and then again at me. Fol- 

 lowing his look I was startled to find one 

 cow partly through the open gate, and 

 another inside greedily grabbing the luxuri- 

 ant bright-green Bermuda grass. When he 

 saw I had taken in the condition of things 

 lie made a quick jump toward the cows and 

 gate, then turned back as if waiting permis- 

 sion from me to drive the cows back. Of 

 course I said at once, " You are a real good 

 doggie, and I shall be very glad to have 

 you drive them out; and I am everlastingly 

 obliged to you for having so kindly taken 

 an interest in my property and my prem- 

 ises." 



Now listen while I tell you how he man- 

 aged it. He could not do any thing with 

 the cow that was rapidly getting further 

 and further into the yard until he first got 

 the other cow out of the gateway, where she 

 seemed bound to "hold the fort." Accord- 

 ingly he first tackled her, and with much 

 skill and good judgment crowded her back, 

 clear out of the way. Then he went for the 

 other cow, kept her out of the shrubbery, 

 and, after he had driven her safely outside, 

 came up to n:e for a word of praise for doing 

 so skillfully what very much needed to be 

 done. After I had given him a good i)atting 

 on the head, and called him repeatedly 

 "good doggie," he hurried olT through the 



gate and was off, as if he felt he had, per- 

 haps, delayed some important errand. 



A few davs later, while a drove of town 

 cows were passing he came in again to give 

 us warning. The gate was again unhooked, 

 and was open a little way. This time Mrs. 

 Root was present, and she said the dog 

 should be rewarded for repeatedly rebuking 

 us for our own carelessness. But he was 

 bounding off again just as she succeeded in 

 throwing a piece a biscuit toward him. At 

 first he acted as if he had not time to come 

 back and get it; but finally deciding it would 

 hardly be courtesy to a lady he came back, 

 picked it up, and started on again. He did 

 not stop to eat it, but kept it in his mouth; 

 and when she threw him a second piece he 

 looked at it a minute, and then seemed to 

 decide he must not waste any more time, 

 and was off with big bounds. At present 

 writing I have not been able to decide who 

 is the owner of this remarkable dog that 

 seems to be looking after the affairs of man- 

 kind in general. 



At the risk of having some of you think 

 me irreverent, I am going to confess that 

 this dog made me think of the first of our 

 texts to-day; but I would put it this way: 

 When he decided he could not stop to come 

 back for the second piece of bread, he had 

 in his sagacious mind " Wist ye not I must 

 be about my ynaster's business?" 



Well, the above is, at least to me, surpris- 

 ing; but it is not all of " my dog story." 

 Some time afterward I stopped to leave a 

 package at the express office up town. As 

 I had to go to the grocery, the bank, the 

 drugstore, postoffice, and other errands, my 

 mind was busy for fear I should forget some- 

 thing. By the way, let me tell you I am 

 getting bravely over my forgetfulness. I 

 can now attend to half a dozen errands or 

 more, and not forget any of them. Won- 

 derful, isn't it? Now listen: Ever since I 

 commenced going without a regular supper, 

 and eating only apples, my memory has 

 been constantly improving. In other words, 

 I was losing my memory and getting old 

 prematurely just because of eating three 

 meals a day when tivo were a great plenty. 



\N^ell, on that morning, when I was rush- 

 ing out of the express office because I had 

 left my auto-engine running, a strange dog 

 kept getting in my way. He danced up 

 and down, ran before arid behind me, and 

 nearly jumped over my head while he gave 

 voice to sharp quick barks of joy and anima- 

 tion—bow, ivow, wow! Just as I began to 

 say to myself, " Why, what makes that dog 

 act so strange?" I took a good look at him, 

 and, behold, it was my shepherd-dog friend. 

 He was appealing and pleading for just one 

 word of recognition and a pat on the head, 

 and to be called "good doggie" once more 

 from some one he had in past time served. 



Do you see the point of this dog sermon? 

 Now, when I hatl stopped to talk with him 



