1 68 SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOGS. 



yet to make up his mind what to say on the topics of 

 the day. 



Fred is somewhat puzzled to make good the ground of 

 his favorite with Aunt Zeroiah, who does not love dogs, 

 and is constantly casting reflections on them as nuisan- 

 ces, dirt-makers, flea-catchers, and flea-scatterers, and in- 

 sinuating a plea that Prince should be given away, or in 

 some manner sold or otherwise disposed of. 



"Aunt Zeroiah thinks that there is nothing so mean as 

 a dog," said Master Fred to me as he sat with his arm 

 around the neck of his favorite. " She really seems to 

 grudge every morsel of meat a dog eats, and to think that 

 every kindness you show a dog is almost a sin. Now I 

 think dogs are noble creatures, and have noble feelings, 

 they are so faithful, and so kind and loving. Now I 

 do wish you would make haste and write something to 

 show her that dogs have been thought a good deal of." 



"Well, Master Freddy," said I, " I will tell you in the 

 first place about Sir Walter Scott, whose poems and 

 novels have been the delight of whole generations." 



He was just of your opinion about dogs, and he had 

 a great many of them. When Washington Irving visited 

 Sir Walter at Abbotsford, he found him surrounded by 

 his dogs, which formed as much a part of the family as 

 his children. 



In the morning, when they started for a ramble, the 



