OUR DOGS. ID/ 



in dripping from a neighboring swamp, where he had been 

 lying down in the water, because Rover did. 



Once in a while a wild oat or two from Rover's old sack 

 would seem to entangle him. Sometimes, when we were 

 driving out, he would, in his races after the carriage, make 

 a flying leap into a farmer's yard, and, if he lighted in a 

 flock of chickens or turkeys, gobble one off-hand, and be 

 off again and a mile ahead before the mother hen had 

 recovered from her astonishment. Sometimes, too, he would 

 have a race with the steam-engine just for old acquaintance' 

 sake. But these were comparatively transient follies ; in 

 general, no members of the grave institutions around him 

 behaved with more dignity and decorum than Rover. He 

 tried to listen to his master's theological lectures, and to 

 attend chapel on Sundays; but the prejudices of society 

 were against him, and so he meekly submitted to be shut 

 out, and waited outside the door on these occasions. 



He formed a part of every domestic scene. At family 

 prayers, stretched out beside his master, he looked up re- 

 flectively with his great soft eyes, and seemed to join in 

 the serious feeling of the hour. When all were gay, when 

 singing, or frolicking, or games were going on, Rover 

 barked and frisked in higher glee than any. At night it 

 was his joy to stretch his furry length by our bedside, 

 where he slept with one ear on cock for any noise which 

 it might be his business to watch and attend to. It was a 



