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guage iu wliicli he is addressed lie can be stimulated to un- 

 usual exertions by the promise of a reward. " I have seen," 

 sa^'s a French writer, " two occupied in beating down a wall 

 which their keepers had desired them to do and encouraged them 

 by a promise of fruits and brand3^" They were left alone and 

 continued at the work, stimulated by the i^romised reward, until 

 it was accomplished. " When a reward is promised to an 

 elephant," says the same author, ^' it is dangerous to disapx)oint 

 him, as he never fails to revenge the insult." Nothing of this 

 could occur without an understanding of the larguage. 



In India they were formerly employed to launch vessels, and 

 it is related that one being directed to force a large ship into 

 the water, the task proved beyond his strength ; whereupon his 

 master, in a sarcastic tone, ordered the keeper to take away 

 this lazy beast and bring another ; the poor animal, as if stung 

 by shame, instantly repeated his efforts, fractured his skull 

 and died on the spot. 



It may be said that the tones of the voice rather than the 

 words are what the animal understands, yet a dog knows his 

 name however spoken, and a horse untlerstands a whole voca- 

 bulary of orders. But the intelligence which comprehends the 

 meaning of a tone, is not less than that required to understand 

 a word or sentence. Mr. Hamorton, the artist, widely known as 

 a lover of animals, mentions a favorite dog which met an un- 

 timely death by drowning, and in his lament over his lost pet, 

 saj^s; ''He Avas a dog of rare gifts, exceptionally intelligent, 

 who would obey a look where another needed an order. He 

 would sit studying his master's face and had become from care- 

 ful observation so acute a physiognomist that he read whatever 

 thoughts of mine had any concern for him." 



The shrewd intelligence of our countrymen is nowhere more 

 clearly seen than in the keen bargains the New Englander is 

 famous for driving. But our domestic animals make bargains 

 with us and sometimes resolutely keep us to them. On this 

 point a pleasant writer relates an anecdote of a favorite mare 

 who was so difficult to catch in the pasture as to often require 

 six men to eflect it; '' but," says he, ''I carried corn to her for 



