IOO OUR DOGS. 



employment, when one of the boys had surreptitiously got 

 him into bed with them ; he nibbled and variously mal- 

 treated sundry sheets ; and once actually tore up and 

 chewed off a corner of the bedroom carpet, to stay his 

 stomach during the night season. What he did it for, no 

 mortal knows ; certainly it could not be because he was 

 hungry, for there were five little pairs of hands incessantly 

 feeding him from morning till night. Beside which, he 

 had a boundless appetite for shoes, which he mumbled, and 

 shook, and tore, and ruined, greatly to the vexation of 

 their rightful owners, rushing in and carrying them from 

 the bedsides in the night-watches, racing off with them 

 to any out-of-the-way corner that hit his fancy, and leav- 

 ing them when he was tired of the fun. So there is no 

 telling of the disgrace into which he brought his little 

 masters and mistresses, and the tears and threats and 

 scoldings which were all wasted on him, as he would 

 stand quite at his ease, lolling out his red, saucy tongue, 

 and never deigning to tell what he had done with his 

 spoils. 



Notwithstanding all these sins, Rover grew up to dog- 

 hood, the pride and pet of the family, and in truth a 

 very handsome dog he was. 



It is quite evident from his looks that his Newfoundland 

 blood had been mingled with that of some other races ; 

 for he never attained the full size of that race, and his 



