The Pig 



Helen E. Murphy 

 Phoenix, N. Y. 



The wild hog that once roamed over Europe, Asia and Africa, 

 is the ancestor of our common domesticated pig. It Hkes situa- 

 tions where it may wallow in the water and mud; but it also 

 likes to have close by, woods, thicket, or underbrush to which it 

 can retire for rest and also when in danger. The wild hog is 

 extremely active and powerful; it is fierce and dangerous, par- 

 ticularly when old. Iron gray or dirty brown in color, spotted 

 here and there with black, it is well concealed in the imderbrush, 

 and the thick skin covered with stiff bristly hairs is a fine pro- 

 tection from thorny thickets. When excited or angry, these 

 bristles rise and add fury to its appearance. Twilight, night and 

 early dawn are the favorite times for feeding upon plants, fruits 

 and roots, for sport; for fighting; for adventure. Provided with 

 a bony, wedgeshaped head, a snout that is pointed and also the 

 seat of a highly developed sense of smell, jaws set with strong 

 teeth, a neck that is long and muscular and loins broad and strong, 

 the wild hog is excellently adapted to look out for itself. 



Hunters of wild hogs declare that they are full of cunning and 

 strategy, and we must admit that the domesticated pig of today is 

 very clever. All it needs is a chance. With an affection that 

 causes it to follow a person like a dog, and a memory such that it 

 can be trained to play Yankee-doodle on a violin, we must admit 

 that the pig has brains. The trouble is that most of the time it is 

 so stuffed with fattening foods that no opportunity is given to use 

 its brains, except once in a while when it squeezes thru the fence, and 

 we strive vainly to get it back. Then it remembers to forget 

 everything. 



By nature the pig is very neat; but since it has come in contact 

 with civilization, it rarely gets half a chance. Sparsely clothed 

 with bristles and hair, — ^flies and other insects bite it unmerci- 

 fully, and it has to wallow in the mud to rid itself of these pests; 

 but this wallowing is in the nature of a mud bath, repeated only 

 at intervals. 



The pig has a most unique and beautiful digging apparatus, 

 happily placed on the end of his nose, where it is backed by all 



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