﻿THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. 39 



Winter in that wild country is intensely cold, and snow fields extend 

 wider and wider as the storms increase. All living creatures be- 

 take themselves to deep pine forests, or hollows in the rocks, and 

 those who are acquainted with their habits, relate that they are well 

 defended from the cold. In some the fur thickens ; in others the 

 fleeces rather resemble long, soft, and curly hair, than wool. This 

 peculiarity is very obvious in the Newfoundland dog; his coat as- 

 sumes a different aspect from the one which slightly covered him 

 during the heat of summer, and becomes extremely thick and 

 shaggy, resembling that of a bear. 



The sagacity of the Newfoundland dog is equally remarkable as 

 his fidelity and affection. In referring to the former, it will be 

 necessary to speak again of his native country, where, during winter, 

 it happens not unfrequently that the roads are impassable ; and such 

 as venture to even a short distance have to struggle over wastes of 

 snow and bare rocks, with frozen sleet driving in their faces, and a 

 piercing wind chilling them to the heart. Provisions become in 

 consequence often scarce, and the roads being impassable for weeks, 

 perhaps months, supplies cannot be obtained from even the nearest 

 town. When this occurs, the dogs seem to enter into the anxiety 

 of their masters, and if a quantity of food is set before them, they 

 have been known to eat sparingly, and to secure the remainder for 

 another day, by collecting straw, or whatever they can meet with, 

 and covering the dish which holds their food. But this sagacious 

 act is not at all superior to the well-known habit of the economic 

 mouse, which inhabits the coldest regions of the north. 



"It seems to me," wrote one who had visited Newfoundland, and 

 recorded many interesting facts, " that I learned some useful lessens 

 when observing these things, and I wish that we were all careful to 

 gather from the animals by which we are surrounded such instruc- 

 tions as they are designed to convey. We should then be led continu- 

 ally to praise our heavenly Father for the works of His hand, and 

 should be convinced that in this vast creation nothing has been 



O 



made in vain, and that nothing ought to be overlooked. The ways 

 of the ant would be a reproof to the sluggard; the forethought of 

 the Newfoundland dog, or economic mouse, to the wasteful and im- 

 provident ; and every object that we survey would be like a page in 



