Bright Little Cebidcz. 307 



Jack. Indeed, it was a remarkable feat for Jack, and he had 

 a right to feel vain over its accomplishment. All the while 

 he was eating he would chatter in his uncouth guttural 

 tongue, as though he had learned, like his human brethren, 

 that conversation gave relish to a meal and was a powerful 

 aid to digestion. 



While Jack was a very useful fellow to have about, espec- 

 ially where cats without owners abounded, for he was a 

 terror upon these feline nuisances, yet he had a few faults 

 which detracted very much from his otherwise good charac- 

 ter. Like some boys, he was addicted to the habit of throw- 

 ing stones, but I am more than half disposed to believe that 

 this was an acquired propensity, which he had learned by 

 seeing his master engaged in a similar diversion, or perhaps, 

 which is not at all unlikely, he had been trained to such 

 exercise and pastime by his master. Well, he could throw 

 stones with considerable force, and with as much precision 

 as any well-trained lad of fourteen summers could do. Let 

 the master but give him a stone, and say, " Now, Jack, hit 

 that fellow," and Jack needed no second telling. Throwing 

 his right arm back, just as a boy would do, in order to give 

 the necessary impetus to the missile, he would send the 

 stone flying in the right direction. It required no little skill 

 and celeiity of movement to dodge the projectile, as the 

 writer had more than once learned by painful experience, 

 for Jack's wonderful and well-directed aim seldom went 

 astray of its purpose. 



Towards his master Jack showed great deference and 

 attention, and was ever ready to obey his slightest wish. 

 No one's society he enjoyed better. It was always a pleas- 

 ure to be near him, but strangers he seemed to despise and 

 treat as enemies. He would always eye them with a suspic- 

 ious look, and could never tolerate their presence for any 

 considerable length of time without giving vent to his annoy- 

 ance by the most angry vociferations and hideous grimaces. 

 Should this not have the effect of causing them to retire, he 



